See the bills that have been signed by the Governor

“This is a big win for the policy in my legislation and for the people of rural Washington,” said Klicker, R-Walla Walla. “Although the amendment does not include a short-term moratorium on the siting of alternative energy facilities, it does bring this issue to the local level and allows the primary stakeholders to be involved.”

The buffer bill fell victim to a deadline for legislation to pass either a Senate or House committee. Bills that didn't clear that first hurdle were set aside for the rest of the session.

House Bill 1727 would do away with the elections that many voters forget

The larger proposed change is House Bill 1727, which would get rid of most elections in odd-numbered years.

There are some core obligations of the ECA, including the statewide inventory of urban forests; equipping cities with ordinances, management plans, tree inventories, and canopy analyses; and, developing the Evergreen Communities recognition program. That said, there is some flexibility in how our program will be structured and how we will execute the funding.

SB 5126 passed out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee last night, bringing one of the legislature’s most ambitious pieces of climate legislation ever considered one step closer to enactment. The bill creates a system referred to as “cap and invest” where funds generated from auctioning the rights or licenses to create carbon emissions will be invested into capital infrastructure. In the case of the current bill, this would equal between $272m and $551m per year dedicated to transportation infrastructure starting in FY 2023.

This article starts with the good news that the Evergreen Communities Act (ECA), now referred to as Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1216 (E2SHB 1216), has passed the state House of Representatives with a vote of 72-25, plus one excused vote.

A landmark bill in the state Legislature has split environmentalists, with some questioning whether it will reduce pollution in communities hardest hit by it.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Agricultural workers in Washington state would become eligible for overtime pay under a bill moving through the Legislature in Olympia.

While only three amendments passed, none was more consequential than Sen. Steve Hobbs’s amendment 413, which removed the emergency clause from the underlying bill...But, the impact was more profound — for political, electoral and legal reasons.

Pandemic relief, climate change, taxes and more — here’s what we’re watching halfway into the session.

In the 1990s, Washington lost 86,000 acres a year to wildfires. By 2015 the average had climbed to nearly a half million acres a year. Last year? 812,000 acres of forests and grassland were destroyed by wildfires, not to mention homes, businesses, and lives.

Franz says the dedicated fund will fund projects that help rural towns that are vulnerable to wildfires. They include treating forests to lessen the density and creating fire breaks to direct flames away from populated areas.

A bill to make it easier for Washington ranchers to get their meat directly to consumers unanimously passed the state Senate this week. The bill would create a state-run meat and poultry inspection program with requirements equal to those of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Monday, Feb. 22, was the second legislative deadline, when all bills must have been voted out of their respective fiscal committees to remain “alive.” Since then, the Legislature has mostly ceased committee action and is focused on floor action for the time being, which entails the entire chamber (either the House of Representatives or the Senate) considering and voting on bills. Once a bill passes out of its original chamber, it moves to the other chamber, and the entire committee process repeats.

OLYMPIA — A bill to give counties and cities rather than an unelected state board the power to approve or reject solar panel arrays on farmland has failed.

Negotiations continue on legislation dealing with the agricultural overtime issue. An alternative version of SB 5172 passed out of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee by last Monday’s deadline. Unfortunately, the amended bill is not supported by agriculture and came out of committee on a party-line vote, but at least we have a bill that is still moving through the process and made the deadline.

The Washington Green Amendment amends Article I of the Washington State Constitution to recognize the environmental rights of all people of Washington by protecting the “right to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air, healthy ecosystems, and a stable climate, and to the preservation of the natural, cultural, scenic and healthful qualities of the environment” for both present and future generations.

House Bill 1117 doesn't define net ecological gain, besides requiring road, sewer and other projects to aid salmon recovery. Fish and Wildlife, other state agencies and tribes would write the rules.

Legislation titled, “The Climate Commitment Act,” was heard in the Senate Energy, Environment & Technology Committee. The legislation, SB 5126, would establish a “cap and invest” program for greenhouse gas emissions in which emissions would be capped...

Last fall’s wildfires were invoked Friday at a hearing for a new forest health bill in the Washington legislature. The bill is proposed at the request of Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, who reminded members of a House committee that 2020 was the worst wildfire season in years in Washington.