Committee Work resumes as House and Senate complete their house of origin cutoffs in Olympia

Wednesday marked a major milestone in this year’s session, which all non-budgetary bills needing to pass from their chamber of origin by 5 p.m. Now, with 45 days left in the session, focus returns to the committees as they consider bills that came over from the opposite house. Policy committees have until April 2^nd to hear and vote out bills, while fiscal committees have until April 8^th.

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

Budget & Taxes
Most budget and tax conversations are taking place behind closed doors in anticipation of next Tuesday’s economic and revenue forecast and release the following week of the House and Senate budget proposals. However, Senate Republicans took a first step this week, holding a press conference on Tuesday to announce their “$ave Washington” budget proposal, which proposes to fund all necessary programs of state government without relying on new or increased taxes. This budget, the overarching details of which can be found here, spends an additional 5 percent over the prior biennium, within previously forecast revenue increases, for $75.6 billion in total. New spending is heavily aimed at K-12 and higher education, at $2 billion, with additional spending aimed at social services to preserve and maintain existing service levels. This Republican approach is perhaps unlikely to factor heavily into the forthcoming House and Senate majority proposals, but may catch the attention of Governor Bob Ferguson, who has publicly stated on numerous occasions that he prefers a budget that stays within existing revenues, using new taxes as a last resort. 

Transportation, Capital Budget & Construction
While stakeholders wait for budget and fiscal bills to start dropping in the coming weeks for the transportation and capital budgets, a few bills around this area continue to move. HB 1970, streamlining contracting options for the Department of Transportation, is now before the Senate Transportation Committee awaiting a hearing, having passed the House unanimously last week. SB 5360, the “environmental crimes” bill, creating criminal sanctions including for accidental actions under state environmental laws, was heard in the House Environment & Energy Committee on Thursday. HB 1173 which originally extended prevailing wage requirements to private sector employees in “high hazard” occupations such as oil refineries passed off the House floor with a vote 82-13.  An agreement has been reached to remove the requirements from the prevailing wage statute and shift the requirements to applicable occupations and scopes of work for specifics trades and occupations.

Business Regulations
SB 5729 which would remove building officials review authority for stamped plans on land use decisions is scheduled to receive a public hearing in the House Local Government Committee on March 18th at 10:30am.  HB 1170, requiring disclosure and detection tools for AI-created content, failed to clear cutoff this week, meaning all the general data privacy and artificial intelligence regulatory measures proposed this year will not move. On the other hand, HB 1217, the residential rent control bill, passed the House on Monday after a lengthy and controversial floor debate. It is now scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Housing Committee next Thursday.  SB 5090 and its companion SHB 1104, which Revised the Professional Engineers' Registration Act related to pro tem members of the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, failed to advance past the cutoff. 

Labor & Employment
Labor & employment expansions continue to be among the session’s most active areas, with only one bill of consequence failing to clear the cross-over cutoff, HB 1155, barring non-compete agreements. SB 5041, providing 12 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to workers on strike, is now up for hearing next Tuesday in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee, with a scheduled committee vote on Friday. HB 1875, giving workers the right to use accrued paid sick leave to prepare for or attend proceedings related to their immigration status, is now set for a hearing Tuesday in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee, with a committee vote set for next Friday. Major bills that crossed over and are likely to be heard in the Senate committee the week after next include HB 1213, substantially expanding coverage and access to the state’s paid family and medical leave insurance program, HB 1308, giving workers a private right of action to enforce rights to request and review personnel records, and HB 1402, prohibiting an employer from requiring applicants to have a valid drivers’ license when advertising a position, enforced by a new private right of action.

 Insurance
On Thursday, the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee held a hearing on HB 1006, improving options for financial guarantees of service contracts, while the House Consumer & Protection Committee will hear the companion, SB 5108, on Friday. Also Friday, the House committee will hear SB 5141, while the Senate committee will hear its House companion, HB 1230, next Thursday. SB 5331, providing authority for the Commissioner to order restitution and levy $10,000 per violation fines on insurers, is up for a committee hearing next Wednesday, where the insurance trades will continue to advocate for an aggregate cap on fines and distinction between willful and non-willful violations. SB 5589, ordering a study of the use of credit history and credit-based insurance scores and other rating factors in underwriting personal lines is now before the House committee but has not been scheduled for a hearing. SB 5721, requiring an auto repair appraisal policy term and creating an appraisal process for disputes over repair and total loss appraisals, is also before the House committee and has not been scheduled for a hearing, but discussions are underway whether a compromise amendment can be settled in the House. Currently, the bill has a one-sided fee-shifting provision charging insurers with costs and attorneys’ fees if the appraisal process leads to a $500 or more increase in the determined loss.  Other insurance bills moving include HB 1539, creating a wildfire mitigation working group, which was heard Thursday in the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee and is set for a committee vote next Thursday, and HB 1516, creating a study of insurance options for affordable housing units, which is up for hearing in the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee next Wednesday. SB 5351, the Dental Loss Ratio bill, passed the Senate on a unanimous vote on Monday in a form that was agreed upon by the parties at the table, which now addresses coverage for same day procedures, use of credit cards for reimbursement claims, and a referral to the “Ruckleshaus Center” to convene a discussion amongst the various parties to cover DLR and out-of-network payments. SB 5351 is scheduled to receive a public hearing in the House Health Care Committee on March 19^th.

Financial Services
HB 1285, requiring financial literacy education in high school graduation standards, is still waiting for a hearing to be scheduled in the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, having previously cleared the House with broad bipartisan support. SB 5328, creating a regulatory framework for companies to provide Earned Wage Access services, passed the Senate last Friday on a 29-20 mostly party-line vote, after a “poison pill” amendment was adopted putting the framework under the Consumer Protection Act and severely limiting fees companies may charge for providing the service.  

Civil Justice & Liability
HB 1403, addressing warranty provisions and other details related to condominium construction defect disputes, survived cutoff, clearing the House 89-7 on Tuesday with an amendment that removed elements such as mandatory arbitration of higher value disputes and a requirement that claimants’ pay costs and attorneys’ fees in litigation if they fail to improve their position. It now heads to the Senate Housing Committee. SB 5408, providing notice and a right to cure allegedly defective job postings prior to suit, having previously passed the Senate, awaits consideration in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee where it has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

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