Week of February 16, 2009
For the seventh year in a row, the environmental community will prepare weekly Hot Lists detailing positions on no more than ten of the highest priority issues being considered that week in the House and Senate. If you are interested in receiving pdf version of the hotlist by Monday morning of each week, please email sudha (at) wcvoters.org.
HOUSE
HOUSE COMMITTEE ACTION
HB 1133: Modifying provisions of chapter 19.285 RCW, the energy independence act. Technology, Energy & Communications: Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•Washington’s Initiative 937 that was passed by voters to require the state’s major utilities to diversify their electricity supply by gradually increasing the amount of new renewable resources and acquiring all cost-effective energy conservation resources.
•This bill allows modifications that are narrow in scope, and address implementation barriers based on feedback in a stakeholder process convened by Chairman McCoy. This bill maintains the law’s overall intended impact.
SHB 1165: Providing safe collection and disposal of unwanted drugs from residential sources.
General Government Appropriations Committee: Public Hearing
POSITION: SUPPORT
•Reduces risks of accidental poisonings, drug diversion, and contamination of surface and ground water by requiring drug producers to provide residents with a secure and convenient statewide program for disposing unwanted and left-over prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines.
•Budget-neutral to the State. The drug producers set up and pay for the program, and a fee paid by the producers recovers agency oversight costs.
HB 1266: Regarding sufficient cause for the nonuse of water
HB 1267: Clarifying that the legislature intends that RCW 90.14.140 be liberally construed.
HB 1268: Concerning the relinquishment of a water right.
HB 1269: Defining "crop rotation" for the purposes of RCW 90.14.140(1)(k).
Agriculture and Natural Resources Commitee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: OPPOSE ALL FOUR BILLS
•Water is a limited and publicly owned resource that is asked to meet many demands. Water policies must fairly balance multiple needs for critical fish habitat, agriculture, industry, and use in our homes.
•These four bills weaken or remove the long-standing principle that water users relinquish the right to water that has not been used for five or more years. Undermining this principle encourages water hording and financial speculation and may seriously impact to the rights of other water users.
HB 1334: Concerning water resource management on the Columbia and Snake rivers.
Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee: Executive Session
POSITION: OPPOSE
•This bill is inconsistent with the Columbia River Management Program, which requires that conservation and other management tools benefit both instream flows and out-of-stream uses, by unilaterally amending statutory language that was agreed to in 2006 by both agricultural and environmental communities. The bill also raises serious legal questions by retroactively eliminating relinquishment, which may impact the rights of other water users.
•Although water conservation should be encouraged, it is not in the public interest to reduce the benefits of conservation by irrigating new land in dry areas of the state, increasing water demand unnecessarily, and reducing flows in already burdened rivers and streams.
HB 1481: Regarding electric vehicles.
Technology, Energy & Communications Committee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•Promotes the use of electric vehicles through the creation of an electric infrastructure that will support the use of electric vehicles. This approach was recommended by the Governor’s Climate Advisory Team (CAT) and will spur economic development while reducing emissions.
•One element of the bill is to promote having the state motor pool switch to electric vehicles in the future and to provide electric infrastructure at all of the state owned motor pool lots.
HB 1490: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through land use and transportation requirements (a.k.a. Transit Oriented Communities; Rep. Nelson, Prime Sponsor).
Local Government & Housing Committee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT Nelson Substitute
•One of the four environmental priorities for 2009, the bill incorporates climate change consideration into land use and transportation planning, helping to significantly reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions and pollution of Puget Sound by accommodating future population growth with minimal environmental impacts.
•The proposed substitute addresses many stakeholder concerns and is
still a work in progress. The bill includes strong protections
increasing housing affordability and mitigating displacement in
communities closest to major transit stations.
PSHB 1614: Reducing the amount of petroleum pollution in stormwater (a.k.a. Invest in Clean Water; Rep. Ormsby, Prime Sponsor).
Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee: Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•One of the four environmental priorities for 2009, this bill would raise new money for clean water infrastructure by imposing a fee on petroleum products that contribute to stormwater pollution.
•This polluter-pays fee will be spent on stormwater projects throughout the entire the State of Washington, not just in Puget Sound.
HB 1747: Reducing climate pollution in the built environment (a.k.a. Efficiency First; Rep. Rolfes, Prime Sponsor)
Technology, Energy and Communications Committee: Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•This bill requires super efficient energy codes, disclosure of buildings’ energy use scores to prospective buyers, makes our public buildings models of energy efficiency, and provides financing energy-saving upgrades to existing buildings. Washington.
•Please maintain the upfront finance sections for energy efficiency. It is key to robust funding at local levels that is replicable and sustainable.
HB 1819: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (a.k.a. Cap and Invest; Rep. Dave Upthegrove, Prime Sponsor).
Ecology and Parks Committee: Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•This bill moves forward with implementing a cap on global warming pollution, to enable Washington to achieve the emission limits enacted by the Legislature last year.
•Discussions continue around the bill, which is a work in progress. It is important to continue moving forward this year toward meeting our climate goals, and this bill is the foundation of the state’s overall strategy.
HB 2180: Concerning sales and use tax exemptions for certain plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Technology, Energy & Communications Committee: Public Hearing and possible Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•Several major car manufacturers are scheduled to have plug-in hybrid electric vehicles hitting the market in the next twelve months. These vehicles, which can go more than 40 miles on a single battery charge, will help significantly reduce global warming pollution from the transportation sector.
•This tax incentive makes sense because it will help put more of these climate-friendlier vehicles on the road sooner, which, in turn, helps the state achieve its greenhouse gas reduction targets more quickly.
SENATE
SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
SB 5114: Eliminating the partial relinquishment of water rights.
SB 5692: Regarding sufficient cause for the nonuse of water.
Environment, Water, and Energy Committee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: OPPOSE BOTH BILLS
•Water is a limited and publicly owned resource that is asked to meet many demands. Water policies must fairly balance multiple needs for critical fish habitat, agriculture, industry, and use in our homes.
•These bills weaken or remove the long-standing principle that
water users relinquish the right to water that has not been used for
five or more years. Undermining this principle encourages water hording
and financial speculation and may seriously impact to the rights of
other water users.
Health & Long-Term Care Committee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•Reduces risks of accidental poisonings, drug diversion, and contamination of surface and ground water by requiring drug producers to provide residents with a secure and convenient statewide program for disposing unwanted and left-over prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines.
•Budget-neutral to the State. The drug producers set up and pay for the program, and a fee paid by the producers recovers agency oversight costs.
SB 5299: Concerning water resource management on the Columbia and Snake rivers.Environment, Water, and Energy Committee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: OPPOSE
•This bill is inconsistent with the Columbia River Management
Program, which requires that conservation and other management tools
benefit both instream flows and out-of-stream uses, by unilaterally
amending statutory language that was agreed to in 2006 by both
agricultural and environmental communities. The bill also raises
serious legal questions by retroactively eliminating relinquishment,
which may impact the rights of other water users.
•Although water conservation should be encouraged, it is not in the
public interest to reduce the benefits of conservation by irrigating
new land in dry areas of the state, increasing water demand
unnecessarily, and reducing flows in already burdened rivers and
streams.
Environment, Water and Energy Committee: Possible Executive Session
•This bill weakens Washington’s first-in-the-nation green buildings law, which was a 2005 Environmental Priority. The law currently requires most public buildings to be built to the widely-used and highly-respected LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard. The bill adds Green Globes as an allowable standard.
•The Green Globes standard is a less rigorous and transparent
program than LEED. In addition, the bill would raise state costs for
program implementation by requiring additional staff training around
another standard. In 2005, the timber industry and environmental
community were able to agree upon language which recognized Washington
wood products, which led to the bill moving forward. This bill
undermines that agreement.
Government Operations & Elections Committee: Public Hearing
•One of the four environmental priorities for 2009, the bill incorporates climate change consideration into land use and transportation planning, helping to significantly reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions and pollution of Puget Sound by accommodating future population growth with minimal environmental impacts.
•The proposed substitute addresses many stakeholder concerns and is still a work in progress. The bill includes strong protections increasing housing affordability and mitigating displacement in communities closest to the major transit stations.
SB 5726: Clarifying the integration of the shoreline management act policies with the growth management act.
Environment, Water & Energy Committee: Possible Executive Session
•This bill would eliminate the confusion caused by a Supreme Court decision and restore the original legislative intent that regulates critical areas in shorelines through the SMA—upon the next update of a jurisdiction’s SMA regulations. The bill creates no new protections, it just clarifies how and when existing protections apply on the state’s shorelands.
•The environmental community, local governments and ports are united
in their support for the need for clarification and are working with
the Departments of CTED & Ecology on the exact language.
Environment, Water and Energy Committee: Possible Executive Session
POSITION: SUPPORT
•This bill moves forward with implementing a cap on global warming pollution, to enable Washington to achieve the emission limits enacted by the Legislature last year.
•Discussions continue around the bill, which is a work in progress. It is important to continue moving forward this year toward meeting our climate goals, and this bill is the foundation of the state’s overall strategy.
SB 5754: Establishing sustainable instream flows.
Environment, Water, and Energy Committee: Public Hearing
•Instream flows have all the benefits of a regular water right and are set in watersheds around the state to protect wildlife, fish, recreation, and other environmental and navigational values. In order to manage water resources successfully, we must balance both instream flows and out-of-stream demands.
•This bill weakens instream flows in two critical ways: (1) by giving water used for agriculture elevated status over instream flow rights, and (2) by undermining the science used to establish a “base flow” and replacing it with a standard that benefits water users and harms fish and other aquatic life.
SB 5854: Reducing climate pollution in the built environment (a.k.a. Efficiency First, Sen. Kilmer, Prime Sponsor).
Environment, Water & Energy Committee: Possible Executive Session
•This bill requires super efficient energy codes, disclosure
of buildings’ energy use scores to prospective buyers, makes our public
buildings models of energy efficiency, and provides financing for
energy-saving upgrades to existing buildings.
•This bill provides tax incentives for existing buildings that operate super-efficiently.
