Some Legislation Passed: the 2014 Legislature

— from the League of Women Voters —

(Editor’s note: The following report was taken from the League of Women Voters’  March 23 report on the Washington State Legislative Session, the Legislative Newsletter. Italics and bolding added for emphasis):

For the first time in several years the Washington Legislature adjourned on time on March 13th! While the legislative session did not produce many ground-breaking policy bills, legislators did pass a supplemental budget which is their major duty. Now the action moves to the governor… to decide to approve, partially veto, or veto bills.

Agriculture

Most of the bills we advocated for this year, which supported farmland preservation and sustainable agriculture, were holdovers from last session.  E2SHB2493 Land use/Horticulture and SSB5123 Farm Internship Program were the two bills that went on to pass this session.

Children’s Issues

As part of the Early Learning Action Alliance, we can report important successes in the areas of budget and legislation including:

• Nearly $24 million for an 8% base rate increase for child care homes and centers serving families with children whose care is subsidized through Working Connections Child Care (WCCC), Seasonal/Homeless Child Care, and Child Protective Services/Foster Child Care Services.
• Funding for a tiered reimbursement pilot in family child care homes ($2.3 million).
• Authority that allows the Department of Early Learning to serve up to 20% of WCCC households through contracted slots (within funds appropriated for WCCC).
• Passage of HB 2519 to expand access to early learning opportunities for children in the child welfare system.

While the bill we supported and followed closely, HB 2377, to improve quality in the early care and education system did not pass, discussions about the importance of early care and education quality and integration should provide the foundation for future action by the legislature.

Education

The Legislature should have been focused this session on following the January 2014 Supreme Court order: to demonstrate, through immediate, concrete action, that it is making real and measurable progress, not just promises, and to submit a detailed plan no later than April 30 that includes a year by year phase-in schedule for fully funding each component of basic education as defined in the McCleary ruling.

The final budget (ESSB 6002) did include $58 million in new investments for Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs (MSOC). However, the state needs billions of dollars to meet funding requirements by 2018, including educator cost-of-living raises.

The Legislature did not produce the court ordered plan to fully fund education by the 2017-18 school year. Neither phase-in plan, HB 2792 or SB 6574, that could have met that requirement passed. Governor Inslee is expected to bring the four legislative caucuses together with hope that a single plan can be submitted to the Court by April 30th.

The big education bill that did pass, E2SSB 6552, authorizes a new 24-credit high school diploma beginning with the class of 2019. It addresses instructional hours, develops career and technical courses equivalencies, eliminates the culminating project as a requirement, and reallocates $97 million in the budget for science labs, high school counselors and materials, supplies and operating costs to assist districts in implementing the new requirements. It also provides more flexibility for students with different academic or career goals.

No bill was passed to change the teacher and principal evaluation system to require that student test scores on state assessments be used as one of measures when evaluating teachers and principals. The change from may to must was mandated by the federal Department of Education in order to receive a waiver to the No Child Left Behind law. Use of Title 1 federal funding by local school districts remains in doubt.

Government and Elections

LWVWA was very active in supporting bills that would expand voting rights and strengthen access to public records. Two bills League supported to strengthen open government were passed:

SB5964  Mandatory training for elected officials and public records officers on public records, records management, and open public meetings requirements. This will offer citizens greater access to public information. This bill will also avoid costly lawsuits against municipalities, which often are the result of a lack of understanding of the PRS’s requirements.

HB 2105 – Requiring public agencies with governing bodies to post their agendas online in advance of meetings.  The Open Public Meetings Act did not previously require advance publication of the agendas of regular meetings (only special meetings), but now most agendas will be posted online at least 24 hours before the meeting.

League also supported HB 1413, the Washington Voting Rights Act. This was one of our top priorities this year. This bill would have empowered local governments to fix broken election systems that fail to offer equal opportunity for representation. While the bill ultimately died in the Senate Rules Committee during the hectic late days of the session, we are encouraged by the progress made this year. The bill had previously died in committee, but this year it passed out of the Senate Government and Operations Committee unanimously. League will be back with our allies next session to continue to fight for fair and equal representation for all communities.

League also supported a number of other pro-voter bills, including HB 1279, pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds to vote when they become eligible; and HB 1267 that would have extended the deadline to register to vote. These passed the House but died in the Governmental Operations Committee in the Senate.

Gun Safety

The biggest win in the area of Gun Safety came with the passage of HB1840 by a unanimous vote in both Houses of the State Legislature. This bill requires that a person surrender all firearms, dangerous weapons, and concealed weapons permit if they are subject to a court restraining order.

But the emotional highlight of the session came during the House Hearing on I594 and I591 when Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelley testified in support of I594. I594 is an Initiative to the Legislature that requires background checks on all firearms sales and transfers.

I594 and I591will both appear on the ballot in November. The League supports I594 and opposes I591.

Healthcare

After much work by the legislature during the past three years in setting up the Health Benefit Exchange and Medicaid Expansion, these programs have been enrolling the uninsured since October 1, 2013.  Washington State’s Health Benefit Exchange and Medicaid Expansion enrollment has been encouraging, with the last day of enrollment this year being March 31, 2014. The legislative work in past sessions really paid off, making Washington State one of the nation’s most productive state, enrolling approximately 840,000 uninsured.

Health Care Legislation that passed during the 2014 session were few, but two important pieces of legislation were:

1. SB 6312 – Concerning state purchasing of mental health and chemical dependency treatment services.  This bill set up a task force which will begin work on April 1, 2014, to give guidance on the creation of common regional service areas for purchasing behavior health and medical care services.
2. SB 5859 – Providing enhanced payment to small rural hospitals that meet the criteria of a sole community hospital.  This bill will increase payments for recipients eligible for certain medical assistance programs for services provided by a hospital when the hospital meets specific criteria.

Native American Recognition

With League’s help, two bills were passed that recognize tribal rights. HB2080 vacates past convictions for certain tribal fishing activities, and SB 6078 that establishes Native American Heritage Day on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

State Parks

The League supported ESB 6034, Concerning state parks partnership opportunities, and it passed! Thanks to all League members who contacted their legislators in support of this bill.

This is a request bill of the Parks and Recreation Commission that will allow Parks to enter into partnerships and expand the topics for interpretation at State Parks. The underlying statute did not permit “commercial advertising” in parks in certain situations. The original bill removed this prohibition. The League was concerned that there would be no restrictions on advertising.

With an amendment offered by Senator Pearson, advertising will only be allowed if it meets all requirements including federal park standards and oversight by the state Agency on Archeology and Historic Preservation. The amendment also prohibits naming a State Park for a corporation, business or service. With these restrictions, the League could support the bill. It passed the House with minor changes which further restricted advertising. Both houses voted to concur, and it awaits the Governor’s signature.

The final Supplemental Budget contained a modest increase for operations of State Parks. There is also money for the creation of a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Outdoor Recreation. The purpose of this is to come up with recommendations for much needed long-term funding of State Parks. Hopefully this will be productive for action next session.

Reproductive Rights

The Legislature failed to pass HB 2148, the Pregnancy Parity Act, which would have required all health plans covering maternity care to provide equivalent coverage for the voluntary termination of a pregnancy. While this bill passed the House with 54 members in favor and 44 opposed, and was referred to the Senate, the Senate did not bring the bill to a public hearing and ultimately did not pass the bill.

Transportation

This session was not helpful for transportation throughout the state.  There was no new funding package, no local transit funding options were passed, and very little other legislation was considered.  The distance between the legislative caucuses appears to have widened, rather than shrunk.

However, there is still some discussion about possibly having a special session next December (after the election in November) to adopt a new transportation funding package. There is mixed feedback about how realistic that is, particularly in light of the Senate change – Sen. Eide, who has taken a leadership role for several years is not running for reelection

Water Resources and Columbia River

The planned massive influx of oil transported by trains and vessels in our state, is a major community safety and environmental concern. The LWVWA, as a member of the Environmental Priorities Coalition, worked on the two priorities, the Oil Transport Safety Bill (HB 2347, SB 6340) and Closing the Big Oil Tax Loophole. Though the measures successfully passed the House, they could not gather sufficient support in the Senate.

However, the funding for a one year comprehensive study by the Department of Ecology (DOE) of our state’s preparedness and response ability for oil train and vessel transportation was included in the final supplemental budget. The study by DOE is to be reported to the Legislature by December 1, 2014, with a final report by March 1, 2015.

This insures that oil transport safety and oil spill preparedness will be on high on the 2015 legislative agenda. The whole issue of corporate tax loopholes will also receive more scrutiny. In the meantime, there is much that we can do to follow oil transport activity in our state and widen support for taking action.

Tips for Contacting the Legislature:

• Phone Call: Call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and leave a message for your Senator or Representatives and/or find out who your legislators are.
• Email your legislator: E-mail Representatives or Senators using this format: firstname.lastname@leg.wa.gov
• Use the WA State Legislature Home Page: Bill Information, committees, hearings, hearing agendas and more: https://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/visitingthelegislature.aspx
• E-Comments:
  • Go to the bill information page, enter the bill number, and press enter.
  • Click the comment on this bill section at the top of the bill page; a new comment page is now available.
  • Enter your address, your e-mail information and other required information.
  • Indicate if you support, oppose, or are neutral in the box outlined.
  • Add your comments (optional)
  • Press Submit Form the e-comment to your legislator.

  This e-comment will be sent to your legislators and a database and any legislator can see comments on the bill. This new feature will offer more easily tallied bill information to legislators.

  League of Women Voters of Washington 1402 Third Avenue, Suite 430, Seattle, WA 98101 206-622-8961 | 1-800-419-2596 | www.lwvwa.org

  to read the full report, go to: participate.lwv.org/legislative_summary

  and to see an alternative view of the legislative session, go to this link from Crosscut.com, regional “News of the Great Nearby”: crosscut.com/under-the-dome/2014-overachievers-only-weirdness/