EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to show that SHB 1389 was referred to the House Rules Committee as of Friday.
By Paul Gottlieb
Special to Peninsula Daily News
OLYMPIA — State lawmakers filed more than 2,000 bills and resolutions during the 2023 legislative session, including a month before proceedings Jan. 9.
Listed below is a sample of those being considered that includes updates on bills written about in Peninsula Daily News’ ongoing legislative coverage. The texts of all bills filed, fiscal notes with monetary impact, and staff reports with pro and con summaries are at leg.wa.gov under “Bill Information,” by number, or “Bill Status Report” by topic, key word or sponsor name.
HB 1401: Allows cities and counties to simplify and standardize the housing permit process to expedite the creation of affordable housing, defined as single-family, duplex, triplex or accessory dwelling housing units with less than 1, 801 square feet. Passed by Rules Committee.
SB 5334: Allows local governments to impose an excise tax on short-term rentals to fund affordable housing programs. Passed by Rules Committee.
HB 1133: Allows accessory dwelling units (ADUs) outside urban growth areas if they are subject to regulations within limits including no more than one unit per parcel and a floor area not exceeding 1,296 square feet. In Rules Committee.
SHB 1074: Requires a landlord to document the cost of damages withheld from a tenant deposit and prohibits withholding a deposit for certain items. Approved by House.
2nd SHB1389: Prohibits rental increases for rental home and apartment tenants and manufactured-mobile home property renters over a 12-month period greater than the inflation rate or 3 percent, whichever is greater, up to 7 percent. Prohibits landlords from charging move-in fees or deposits greater than one month’s rent. Referred to House Rules Committee.
2nd SSB 5198: Requires landlords of manufactured-mobile home communities to provide two years notice to tenants for closure or conversion of a community, requires landlords to provide written notice of sale to each tenant and give a tenant organization an opportunity to purchase the community. The landlord must pay relocation assistance of up to $15,000 and compensation of 50 percent of the assessed value of the home depending on notice of 18 months or 12 months. Approved by Rules Committee.
Senate Bill 5236: Proposed hospital nurse-staffing standards were changed from requiring the state Department of Labor and Industries to adopt minimum standards for all hospitals to requiring Labor and Industries and the Department of Health to regulate and enforce standards devised by hospital staffing committee. Compliance reporting requirements would not apply to small rural hospitals on the North Olympic Peninsula. In Rules Committee as of Friday afternoon while a nurses’ union and the state Hospital Association, which announced an agreement this week, work on a compromise.
House Bill 1436: Fully funds school district special education services by the 2027-28 school year, gradually removing the special education funding limit of 13.5 percent of students enrolled, after which school districts must now cover the cost. Approved in the House.
2nd Substitute SB 5311: Increase special education funding cap from 13.5 percent of enrollment to 15 percent of enrollment. Approved by Rules Committee making it eligible for floor vote.
Substitute SB 5127: Exempts from public disclosure requirements the personal information of children enrolled in a school district contained in any nonstudent records, including in correspondence such as emails. Approved by House.
HB 1586: Requires the Criminal Justice Training Commission to form a work group and grant program related to law enforcement vehicular pursuits. In Rules Committee.
HB 1363: Lowers threshold for an officer to engage in a vehicular pursuit from probable cause to reasonable suspicion the person has committed or is committing a violent offense, a sex offense, a vehicular assault, a domestic violence assault, or an escape, or is driving under the influence. Pursuits allowed only if the driver poses a risk of serious harm to others. In Rules Committee.
SB 5002: Reduces blood alcohol concentration limit for driving under the influence from .08 to .05. Approved by Rules Committee.
SB 5033: Known as Kimberly Bender’s Law for a Forks Jail inmate who died by suicide after she alleged abuse at the hands of former Corrections Officer John Gray, it increases second-degree custodial sexual misconduct from a gross misdemeanor to a felony. Approved in the Senate and referred to the House Community Safety, Justice and Reentry Committee. A hearing is March 9.
SHB 1789: Authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to contract for ecosystem services projects, defined as “benefits that the public enjoys as a result of natural processes and biological diversity.” Projects include carbon sequestration and storage, air and water filtration and climate stabilization. They must result in no net decrease in agricultural production or decadal sustainable harvest volume and operable forestland acres. In Rules Committee.
HB 1181: Updates the state’s planning framework for responding to climate change. Provisions include requiring certain counties to include climate change and resiliency elements in their comprehensive plans. The resiliency element is mandatory for all counties and cities planning under the Growth Management Act. Climate resilience is the degree to which something withstands and recovers from natural hazards made worse by climate change. Passed by Rules committee.
SB 5094: Adds a climate resilience element to water system plans under program administered by the state Department of Health that requires water system plans for systems serving 1,000 or more connections have a climate resilience element beginning June 30, 2025. Passed by Rules Committee.
HB 1018: Hog fuel-tax exemption that affects 12 taxpayers, including McKinley Paper Co. in Port Angeles and Port Townsend Paper Co., that extends sales and use tax exemption for hog fuel from June 30, 2024 to June 30,2034. Applies to wood waste and other wood residuals including forest derived biomass and excluding firewood or wood pellets. In Rules Committee.
HB 1177: Creates a cold case unit in the state Attorney General’s Office to assist law enforcement agencies in solving cold cases involving missing and murdered indigenous persons. Recommended by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force in the Attorney General’s Office. Passed in the House, referred to Senate Law and Justice Committee.
HB 1290: Requires the Criminal Justice Training Commission to provide training to tribal police officers and other law enforcement employees. Tribal agencies reimburse the CJTC for 25 percent of training costs if they have a written agreement and fully reimburse without an agreement. Passed in the House, referred to Senate Law and Justice Committee.
HB 1481: Allows full-time tribal police officers certified by the CJTC to participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System Plan 2. Passed the House, referred to Senate Ways and Means Committee.
HB 1228: Establishes grant programs for dual-language and tribal language education programs, establishes stipends for teachers and paraeducators with multilingual skills. Referred to House Appropriations Committee.
HB 1151: Requires large group-health plans to cover diagnosis of infertility, infertility treatment and fertility preservation services. In Rules Committee.
HB 1221: Exempts from public disclosure a state lottery player’s personal and financial information except for a player’s name and city or town of residence, and any other information allowed by the player. Approved by House, in Senate State Government and Elections Committee.
SHB 1267: Extends expiration of the 0.09 rural county sales and use tax from 25 years after the tax was imposed to Dec. 31, 2054. Passed the House.
