February 13, 2023

The Legislative Bulletin is produced weekly during the legislative session.

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Legislative Bulletin headlines and articles.

Legislators show their love for cities by scheduling Valentine's Day hearing on property tax cap fix
Tying the cap on property taxes to inflation and population growth would help cities keep up with the increasing costs of services. A bill to revise the cap for local governments to account for inflation and population growth up to 3% is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday. While your city is in town for City Action Days, talk to your legislators about your support for local revenue flexibility in SB 5618 and HB 1670, a similar bill in the House. More

Over 200 city leaders representing over 100 cities and towns urge the Legislature to act on police pursuit changes
Thank you to everyone who took the time to sign the letter and support this effort. Washingtonians need a reasonable suspicion standard fix to the vehicular pursuit law now, along with more funding and best practices for law enforcement departments. More

Share your support for city budget priorities in AWC’s letter to budget leaders
Shortly after the state’s next revenue forecast on March 20, the House and Senate will release their proposed budgets for the 2023-25 biennium. That means discussions by budget leaders are taking place now. Read AWC’s letter to budget leaders and share these budget priorities with your legislators. More

AWC city action calls
Fridays at 12:30 pm | Online
Join our city action calls each Friday to hear updates directly from your team of AWC lobbyists on the latest action on the hill and progress on bills of importance to cities. Make sure to sign up in advance each week. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link for that week’s call. Register now for this Friday's call.

AWC legislative update on public safety bills

Candice Bock, AWC’s Government Relations Director shares what’s needed to move forward with the police vehicle pursuits bill, HB 1363 that allows for a reasonable suspicion standard, as well as response to the Blake decision (bills SB 5536 and SB 5467), to increase treatment options in leu of criminal charges. Watch now, and then make your voice heard on these important city priorities. More

We love cities! Happy Valentine’s Day – Share your love of cities with your legislators
This week we are celebrating Valentine’s Day and cities! We are so excited to have 360 city officials from across Washington coming to Olympia for City Action Days. We will come together to share our love for our cities and raise our collective city voice before the Legislature. You can still share your love for your city with your legislators even if you can’t make it to Olympia this week. Take this opportunity to reach out and let them know which bills you love and how they help your city. AWC’s weekly Bill Hot Sheet can help you pick out your favorite bills to share.

Affordable housing
Proposal on conversion of buildings to housing passes House. The innovative proposal we covered in the first week of session unanimously passed the House, receiving only minor amendments. The general idea behind HB 1042 is to reduce barriers to building “reuse” – putting vacant buildings back into productive use to address the housing crises. More

Budget & finance
Bill authorizing additional sales tax for police hiring steps up to the plate this week. The House version (HB 1446) of a bill that would allow cities to institute a new sales tax to fund police hiring and criminal justice activities is scheduled for a hearing and a vote this week in the House. More

Cannabis
House introduces their version of social equity in cannabis bill. Both bills would allow new or additional social equity licenses to be issued in cities that allow cannabis businesses, incentivize licensees to submit a social equity plan, require a third party contractor to review and score applicants, amend definitions, and extend the program to July 2032. More

Energy
Implementation of extreme heat utility shutoff proposal clarified, improved. After a productive stakeholder engagement process, HB 1329 was successfully amended to reflect city input. More

Environment & natural resources
PFAS restrictions and cleanup levels for land application of biosolids. Recent years have shown that the PFAS chemical family are perniciously persistent bio-accumulative chemicals, referred to as “forever chemicals.” A bill proposes to establish PFAS pollutant limits for biosolids, and Ecology releases PFAS cleanup guidance that is out for public comment. More

General government
Ban on police qualified immunity advances out of committee. HB 1025, an important bill that eliminates qualified immunity for police and increases liability for cities, was amended and moved out of its policy committee ahead of committee cutoffs. Read about some changes that were made. More

Small city leaders – House looks to increase contract limits between cities and municipal officers. HB 1577 would double the allowed limit for contracts between cities and municipal officers, but only for first class cities. We need your help to fix the bill and bring updated contract limits to second class cities, towns, and noncharter optional code cities. More

HR & labor relations
Bill to make pandemic-era COVID infections a presumptive occupational disease. A new bill, HB 1785, would make pandemic-era COVID-19 infections a presumptive occupational disease for workers’ comp. The bill is scheduled for a hearing this week. More

House version of personnel records bill takes a swing this week. HB 1320, could set new requirements and deadlines for providing personnel records and is scheduled for action this week. The bill is a companion to SB 5061, which AWC has also been working on. More

Union-privilege bill passes out of committee with new lineup of exceptions. The bill creating a new legal privilege between unions and union members, HB 1187, saw long-anticipated committee action late last week. The new amendments change the exceptions to the potential new privilege. More

Land use & planning
Rulemaking for online case management system for land use appeals. The Washington State Environmental and Land Use Hearings Office (ELUHO) will launch an online case management system in spring 2023 that will allow people to file appeals, petitions, and other case documents with ELUHO’s three boards online. The ELUHO is updating its rules of practice and procedure to reflect the new way of doing business. More

Public safety & criminal justice
U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assictance (BJA) grant open for applications. Apply by May 1 for grant funding through the BJA’s Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Response Program.

One Blake bill to move forward. The Senate Law & Justice Committee heard four different Blake-related bills and opted to advance SB 5536. AWC supports this bill – as it creates a clear criminal penalty for drug possession while focusing on diverting individuals into treatment. Substantive amendments were included before passing the bill on to Senate Ways & Means. More

Authorizing a second deferred prosecution for DUI. HB 1104 would alter the current requirements for deferred prosecution for those charged with multiple driving under the influence (DUI) or physical control of a vehicle under the influence (PC) charges in their lifetime. More

House votes on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People cold case investigations unit. The House voted last week on HB 1177, which creates a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Cold Case Investigations Unit in the Attorney General’s Office. More

Bills attempt to crack down on illegal street racing. Companion bills SB 5606 and HB 1631 were drafted based on input specifically from the cities of Kent and Tacoma, which have experienced an increase in dangerous illegal street racing. More

State may study creating pool of law enforcement applicants for police departments. A substitute version of HB 1387 would create a study on a proposed program allowing the Criminal Justice Training Commission to recruit and train a pool of applicants who would be available for employment by a city law enforcement agency with a population of 100,000 or fewer. More

Bill would allow use of traffic safety and toll system cameras for other criminal investigations. Images and data from traffic safety cameras and toll systems would be available to law enforcement agencies and officers with a warrant. More

Public works & infrastructure
Separate prevailing wage proposals reappear, combine in a new bill with major impacts for cities. SB 5726 addresses how the prevailing wage rate is set and contested under certain conditions, and when it is updated within a public works contract. More

Transportation
Stakeholder input helps shape Freight Mobility Board’s new path. HB 1084 was further refined last week, clarifying the Board’s new duties and guidelines. More

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