Budgets start moving while policy committees face another cutoff deadline

With just about a month left to go in the legislative session, the past week has been dominated by budget and tax debates, while policy committees continued hearing and debating bills in advance of the opposite-house policy cutoff, April 2^nd. Bills in the fiscal committees, in turn, will have to move by April 8^th unless necessary to implement one of the state budgets. Bills that have now cleared committee and are on a floor calendar or in a rules committee have until April 16^th to receive a floor vote in their current chamber. Bills amended in the opposite house have to return to their chamber of origin for reconciliation in the final two weeks of session.  

Top updates and issues from the eleventh week, and coming activity, include:

Budget & Taxes
With the House and Senate Democrats’ revenue packages released the prior week, this week was about the spending plans. Both House and Senate operating budgets were released on Monday, heard in committee on Tuesday, and voted out of both committees with amendments late Thursday. The Senate took to the floor Saturday to debate and pass their $78.5 billion biennial budget, while the House will bring their $77.5 billion plan to the floor on Monday. Both proposals anticipate approximately $6.5 billion in spending reductions over the next four years, but both contain between $4 (House) and $5 (Senate) billion dollars in new policy spending, and both are undergirded by new tax revenue.  The Senate tax package --  the wealth tax, SB 5797,  property tax lid lift, SB 5798, payroll tax on higher-compensated employees of large volume businesses, SB 5796, repeal of multiple preferential B&O tax rates, SB 5794, and 0.5 percent sales tax reduction, SB 5795, is up for public hearing in the Ways & Means Committee on Monday afternoon, while the House Finance Committee will consider its tax package -- a one percent B&O tax surcharge on $250 million+ businesses, HB 2045,; its version of the wealth tax, HB 2046, and its version of the property tax lid lift, HB 2049, on Thursday. The business community is ramping up opposition to the tax packages, including with the budgetbreakdown.org educational campaign online and on television. The Washington Research Council has published a deep dive into the competing budget proposals in this policy brief.

Transportation, Capital Budget & Construction
The House and Senate transportation budgets (HB 1227/SB 5160) and revenue packages (HB 2043/SB 5801) also dropped on Monday, with hearings Tuesday and committee votes on Thursday. The Senate is expected to debate its $16.2 billion biennial budget on Saturday after passing the operating budget, while the House is likely to act on its $15 billion plan Monday. Both budgets aim to fill a $1 billion deficit in the coming biennium and both packages contain an increase in the gas tax – six cents per gallon on the House side and nine cents per gallon on the Senate side, with both increasing annually according to inflation. Both tax plans also include a variety of new or increased fees on a variety of transportation-related uses including, on the Senate side, a $1 per attendee assessment on concerts, sporting events, and other large gatherings at venues with more than 20,000 seat capacity. Also factoring in is SB 5804, addressing the state’s obligations around fish habitat and passage arising from ongoing litigation. The bill, introduced Saturday and up for hearing Tuesday in the Ways & Means Committee, authorizes issuance of up to $5 billion in bonds for fish passage projects, offset by new and increased taxes on light and power utilities.  

The House and Senate capital budget plans (HB 1216/SB 5195) are expected to be announced on Monday with hearings in both chambers on Tuesday and committee votes on Thursday. In bill action, HB 1970, streamlining contracting options for the Department of Transportation, is now scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday. HB 1173, regarding apprenticeships at “high hazard” facilities, was voted out of the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee on Friday. SB 5061, the prevailing wage escalator bill, is set for a vote in the same committee on Tuesday. HB 1183 on building code and development regulation reform, is up for a hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Thursday.  SB 5360 on environmental crimes is now set for a vote in the House Energy & Environment Committee on Monday, with a new striking amendment and 11 Republican-backed amendments, attempting to soften some aspects of the underlying bill, including its impact on accidents and on individual employees. SB 5729, removing building official review authority for stamped plans on land use decisions, appears dead for the session, while HB 1217, imposing rent control on residential units, passed out of the Senate Housing Committee on Wednesday and is before the Ways & Means Committee for a hearing on this Friday.

Labor & Employment
This session’s wide-ranging slate of new employment law regulations continues to move. SB 5041, providing 12 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to workers on strike, is now set for hearing in the House Appropriations Committee on Friday. SB 5463, creating new obligations and penalties on private employers who self-insure for workers’ compensation for violations of “good faith and fair dealing” in handling workers’ claims is also up for hearing in Appropriations, on Thursday. SB 5525, requiring employers with 50 or more employees to provide 60 days’ notice of business closure or large layoffs, was voted out of the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on Friday. On Monday, the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee heard HB 1213, substantially expanding coverage and access to the state’s paid family and medical leave insurance program, and voted it out of committee on Friday. HB 1308, giving workers a private right of action to enforce rights to request and review personnel records was heard on Monday and voted out of committee on Friday. SB 5501, prohibiting employers from posting job solicitations that require applicants to have a valid drivers’ license, was referred to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday.

Insurance
In property and casualty, SB 5108, expanding options for the financial backing of service contracts, remains in the House Rules Committee awaiting a pull to the floor, while its companion, HB 1006, was voted out of the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee on Wednesday and is in Senate Rules. SB 5331, providing authority for the Commissioner to order restitution and levy $10,000 per violation fines on insurers, was originally scheduled for a committee vote on Wednesday but was pulled from the calendar, while committee members consider amendments that would place an aggregate cap on fines. SB 5589, ordering a study of the use of credit history and credit-based insurance scores and other rating factors in underwriting personal lines, was declared dead for the session, but popped up in its original form as an OIC-backed budget proviso in both the Senate and House operating budgets when they were amended and voted of their respective committees Thursday night. SB 5721, requiring an auto repair appraisal policy term and creating an appraisal process for disputes over repair and total loss appraisals, is now set for a hearing in the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee on Tuesday, and a possible vote on Wednesday, but it remains unclear whether a compromise can be achieved to remove the proposal’s one-sided fee-shifting provision against insurers. Other insurance bills moving include HB 1539, creating a wildfire mitigation working group, which is now on the House floor consent calendar, and HB 1516, creating a study of insurance options for affordable housing units, which was voted out of committee on Wednesday and is now in Senate Rules.

In life and disability, SB 5141, excusing disability income insurance carriers from single case filings for experience-rated groups, was placed on the House floor calendar on Tuesday, awaiting a vote, while its House companion, HB 1230, appears idled in the Senate. SB 5351, addressing dental insurance benefits, was voted out of the House Health Care Committee on Tuesday and referred to the Appropriations Committee, where it is set for hearing on Thursday.

Financial Services
HB 1285, requiring financial literacy education in high school graduation standards, appears dead for the session, having received no action in the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. SB 5328, creating a regulatory framework for companies to provide Earned Wage Access services, appeared to have hit a snag in the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee, but it is now set for a public hearing on Tuesday and vote on Wednesday. No amendment has yet been posted on the bill, which in its current form is opposed by the industry that brought it forward due to a consumer-side amendment that was adopted as it left the Senate.  

Civil Justice & Liability
HB 1403, providing new warranty options and liability protections for condominium builders and developers to promote affordable housing units was voted out of the Senate Housing Committee on Wednesday and is now in the Senate Rules Committee. SB 5408, providing notice and a right to cure allegedly defective job postings prior to lawsuits, was heard in the House Labor & Commerce Committee on Tuesday, and, despite containing language agreed upon by employers and the plaintiffs’ bar, attracted the ire of the Seattle law firm most heavily engaged in lawsuit abuse on the issue, which stirred up panels of opposition to the measure. It was voted out of committee on Friday with a poison pill amendment stripping the notice and right to correct provision. The business community will now likely ask that the bill be put down if the committee amendment can not be stripped.

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