The 105-day 2023 legislative session officially adjourned at 9:50 p.m. on April 23. Click here to watch the Sine Die ceremony.
This session there were 2,317 bills introduced and ultimately 494 passed the legislature and are on their way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. Any bill that did not pass this session will automatically be reintroduced next session. To see a full list of bills that have already passed the legislature and have been signed by the governor, click here.
Housing
Last week, the House concurred with changes the Senate made to the middle housing bill (House Bill 1110) with a 79-18 vote. The legislation will create a path for denser housing options to be built in urban areas that currently only allow single-family homes. It is now on the governor’s desk awaiting signature.
Legislation related to transit-oriented development (Senate Bill 5466) did not pass, but will be back next session. The bill aims to help with traffic congestion and pollution by building denser housing near major transit locations. The proposal ran into issues after there were controversial amendments made in the House Housing Committee.
House Bill 1628, also known as the Affordable Homes Act, did not move forward this session. The bill proposed to pay for affordable housing by increasing state and local Retail Excise Tax (REET) on houses over $5 million. Legislators did not reach an agreement on how to raise additional funds for housing this session; we will see this bill return next year.
The legislature decided not to move forward with Gov. Jay Inslee’s $4 billion housing proposal.
Health Care
House Bill 1850 passed unanimously out of the Senate on Thursday and is awaiting the governor’s signature. This bill deals with Safety Net Assessment Plans and will alleviate some of the financial burden that hospitals have been experiencing since the pandemic, by creating a direct payment process for Medicaid patients.
House Bill 1155, also known as the My Health My Data Act, was a bill requested by the attorney general and concurred on by the House with a 57-40 vote. This legislation will regulate the collection, sharing, and sale of health data in the state. Compliance is phased in overtime and will begin for larger companies on March 30, 2024. The bill now heads to the governor for final signature
Inslee signed the Nurse Staffing legislation, Senate Bill 5235, into law this week. Click here to read more about this issue.
Environment
Clean energy siting legislation House Bill 1216 passed this session. The legislation establishes an interagency clean energy siting council to improve siting and the permitting of clean energy projects.
Also passing this session was Senate Bill 5447, also called the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) bill proposes several elements including a B&O and public utilities tax credit for sales and purchases of alternative jet fuel upon notification of a production facility operating in Washington.
The WRAP Act, House Bill 1131,did not move forward this session. The bill would have made significant changes to our solid waste management systems throughout the state. Bill sponsors have expressed their intention to work on this issue during the interim and have included a budget proviso to fund a study on how to proceed in the 2023-2025 operating budget.
Final Budgets
The final 2023-25 Capital Budget (Senate Bill 5200) includes $8.9 billion in spending, with over $4 billion in new bonds. Some highlights of spending include:
- $694 million in housing investments
- $570 million earmarked for affordable housing
- $613 million for a new forensic hospital at Western State Hospital to help those in need of psychiatric or addiction services
- $588 million for K-12 school construction
- $1.4 billion for higher education projects
- $400 million for the Public Works Board
- Hundreds of millions for conservation, recreation, and the environment.
The budget reserves $95.4 million in spending for next year.
The final 2023-25 Transportation Budget (House Bill 1125) includes spending of $13.4 billion for the 2023-2025 biennium. Major investments go to fund the ferry system, transportation workforce, traffic safety, and ensuring that existing projects continue.
- $5.4 billion has been allotted for major highway projects that include the I-5 bridge that connects Washington and Oregon
- Ferries will receive $1.3 billion
- Workforce gets $2.6 billion
The state got nearly $1 billion from the first Climate Commitment Act auction, which is being spent on electrification projects as well as public transit and pedestrian infrastructure.
The final 2023-25 Operating Budget (SB 5187) includes $69.2 billion in spending, adds about $4.7 billion in new spending without any broad tax increases and leaves $3 billion in reserves. This budget has a heightened focus on spending for K-12 education, housing, prisons, mental health systems, social services, parks, wildfire response, and environmental programs.
Legislation We Watched
Employment Law
The bill was heard this week in the House Labor and Workforce Standards Committee. The committee adopted one amendment that changes the start of the Paid Family and Medical Leave pilot program to July 1, 2024, rather than January 1, 2024. The bill was passed out of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on March 21. and is now on governor’s desk to be signed into law
HB 1762 – Protecting warehouse employees
This bill would restrict the use of quotas in warehouse facilities. Unlike the Senate version, the House version has a private right of action. The bill passed the House, 53-42. The bill passed out of the Senate on April 11, 29-20. The House refused to concur with the Senate amendments. After returning to the Senate, the House concurred on the newest version and the bill received final passage. The final negotiated bill will require warehouse distribution center employers with 100 or more employees at a single warehouse distribution center, or 1,000 or more employees at one or more warehouse distribution centers in the state to provide written descriptions of quotas to employees in certain circumstances. It will now be delivered to the governor for signing.
Economic Development
HB 1258/ SB 5465 – Increasing tourism to Washington state through enhancement of the statewide tourism marketing account and changing necessary match requirements
This legislation will implement multiple measures to expand tourism in Washington State, including increasing the revenue collected into the Statewide Tourism Marketing Account from $3 million to $9 million per biennium. The final 2023-25 Operating Budget included a $9 million appropriation from the statewide tourism marketing account for the statewide tourism marketing program and operation of the statewide tourism marketing authority.
HB 1717/ SB 5379 – Supporting innovation at associate development organizations
This legislation requires the Department of Commerce to establish an annual competitive grant program to support and catalyze initiatives that foster innovation, sustainability, partnerships, and equity at associate development organizations. The bill did not move forward this session.
Housing Affordability and Homelessness
HB 1474 – Creating the covenant homeownership account and program to address the history of housing discrimination due to racially restrictive real estate covenants in Washington state
This legislation creates the Covenant Homeownership Account and program to address the history of housing discrimination due to racially restrictive real estate covenants in Washington State. The account is funded with a $100 document recording assessment fee. On April 17, the House concurred with Senate amendments to the bill, and it is now headed to the governor to be signed into law.
HB 1337– Expanding housing options by easing barriers to the construction and use of accessory dwelling units
This legislation will require cities and counties to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in urban growth areas (with some restrictions) and permit homeowners to convert garages into ADUs. The bill was amended in the Senate and on April 21 the House voted to concur with the changes made in the Senate. The final bill will now head to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Public Safety
HB 1638 – Creating a state trooper expedited recruitment incentive program
This legislation creates the State Trooper Expedited Recruitment Incentive Program and directs Washington State Patrol to establish hiring procedures and an accelerating training program for lateral hires from other law enforcement agencies. The bill passed the House, 94-1. This bill passed the Senate, 48-0, and the House concurred with the changes made in the Senate. The final bill has now been delivered to the governor to be signed into law.
SB 5536 – Concerning controlled substances, counterfeit substances, and legend drug possession and treatment
After the Washington State Supreme Court struck down the state’s felony drug-possession law (the Blake Decision) during the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers passed a quick fix to classify possession as a misdemeanor but refer people to treatment before charging them. That law sunsets in July, so the legislature has put a lot of attention on how to address the issue this session. The bill increases the penalty for knowing possession of a controlled substance or counterfeit substance to a gross misdemeanor, creates a pretrial diversion program for individuals charged with possession of prohibited substances, and provides for vacating possession convictions contingent on the individual completing substance use disorder treatment. The bill was brought to the floor of the House for a lengthy floor debate. The bill passed the House, 54-41. You can view the bill passed by the House here. The bill ultimately ended up in a conference committee where designated legislators in both chambers were tasked with negotiating a final bill. On April 22 the conference report was released, which retained the provisions from the Senate version that classified possession of a controlled substance as a gross misdemeanor. This language was controversial among the House democratic caucus and when the compromise bill was brought to the floor on April 23, it failed to pass, 43-55. This means that either Inslee could call lawmakers back for a special session to deal with this issue or the current law will expire and cities and counties would be allowed to adopt their own drug possession ordinances.
Transportation
HB 1791 – Studying the need for increased commercial aviation services
This legislation would replace the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC), which was tasked in 2019 with identifying locations for a new large airport in Western Washington, with a Commercial Aviation Coordinating Work Group. The new work group would evaluate the commercial aviation needs of Washington within the broader context of state transportation needs and the specific needs of Western Washington. It would also require the work group to investigate the expansion of existing aviation facilities and possible locations for new greenfield aviation facilities and report on the strengths and weaknesses of each site considered. This substitute was passed out of the House Transportation Committee on Feb. 23. The House passed the bill, 88-9. Last week the bill passed the Senate, 31-17. The House concurred with the changes made in the Senate and the bill was delivered to the governor to be signed into law.
