Week of March 9, 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.

• Hot List for the State House

• Hot List for the State Senate

HOUSE FLOOR ACTION

SHB 1060: Updating the weatherization statute.
POSITION: SUPPORT
• The bill addresses human concerns, and has environmental and financial benefits. It updates the weatherization program to reflect modern technologies to promote sustainable weatherization efforts for low-income residents. It allows for a broader scope of weatherization efforts, including repairs.
• Weatherization activities authorized by the bill will employ local contractors and will benefit low-income households.

2SHB 1165: Providing safe collection and disposal of unwanted drugs from residential sources.
POSITION: SUPPORT
• Drug producers will provide residents with secure and convenient collection of unneeded prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines. Medicine return programs work! A producer-provided program in British Columbia collected and properly disposed over 78,000 pounds of medicines in 2008 – medicines that will not cause accidental poisonings, be used illicitly by a teenager, or contaminate water.
• Budget-neutral to the State. The drug producers set up and pay for the program, and the Board of Pharmacy provides oversight to ensure security. A fee paid by the producers recovers the agency oversight costs.

SHB 1413: Concerning water discharge fees.
POSITION: SUPPORT
• This bill would adjust water quality permit fees to help fill a large gap in program funding.
• It is supported by the AWB, environmental groups, and local governments.

2SHB 1469: Establishing the product stewardship recycling act for mercury-containing lights.
POSITION: SUPPORT
• Creates a producer-provided recycling program for CFLs and other mercury-containing lights from residents, small businesses and small school districts. The program will properly handle the mercury while also bolstering consumer confidence in using energy-efficient lights that reduce greenhouse gases.
• Budget-neutral to the State. A fee paid by producers of mercury-containing lights recovers agency oversight costs.

HB 1481: Regarding electric vehicles.
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.

SHB 1490: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through land use and transportation requirements. (a.k.a. Creating Transit Oriented Communities; Rep. Sharon Nelson, Prime Sponsor).
POSITION: SUPPORT
• The Transit-Oriented Communities bill incorporates climate change consideration into land use and transportation planning, helping to increase transportation choices, reduce traffic congestion, save taxpayer dollars, and significantly lessen the state's greenhouse gas emissions. This bill will make it easier for communities to grown in an economically sustainable way, avoiding unnecessary and duplicative infrastructure investments.
• The bill is a work in progress. Proponents have significantly altered the original bill in response to input from local governments and other stakeholders and will continue to work with those stakeholders on additional changes.

HB 1653: Clarifying the integration of the shoreline management act policies with the growth management act.
POSITION: SUPPORT the Simpson Substitute
• In 2003, interests representing business, agricultural, environmental, and local governments agreed on a law to clarify how and when existing protections apply on the state’s shorelands. Last fall, the Supreme Court issued a split decision causing confusion as to the status of that agreement.
• This bill, supported by many of the original interests, restores the 2003 agreement. It creates no new protections or exemptions.

2SHB 1747: Reducing climate pollution in the built environment (a.k.a. Efficiency First; Rep. Christine Rolfes, Prime Sponsor)
POSITION: SUPPORT
• A House striker incorporates language that is the result of negotiations with the Association of Washington Business, whose concerns have been addressed.
• The striker represents a balanced approach to achieve energy efficiency in new and existing buildings, which will stimulate our economy and save residents and businesses money through energy savings.

SHB 1819: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (a.k.a. Cap and Invest; Rep. Dave Upthegrove, Prime Sponsor).
POSITION: SUPPORT
• This bill moves forward with implementing a cap on global warming pollution starting in 2012, enabling Washington to achieve the emission limits enacted by the Legislature last year and to reduce our spending on imported fossil fuels, keeping more of our energy dollars here in Washington.
• We expect there will be new language on this bill before a floor vote. We remain supportive of a bill moving forward that includes significant emissions reductions, and keeps Washington engaged in influencing the development of regional and national cap and trade programs, to keep momentum on for addressing climate change and to protect Washington’s unique interests. It is important to continue moving forward this year toward meeting our climate and clean energy goals, and this bill is the foundation of the state’s overall strategy.

HB 1967: Prohibiting urban growth area expansions in one hundred year floodplains.
POSITION: SUPPORT the White Substitute
• Just in the past two years, flooding has caused over $1 billion dollars damage to the state, not to mention threatening lives and property and damaging the environment.
• With limited exceptions, this bill will prohibit further urbanization of Western Washington’s floodplains. The substitute addresses concerns from the Association of WA Cities.

SENATE FLOOR ACTION

SENATE FLOOR ACTION
SB 5280: Recognizing conservation achieved in excess of biennial conservation targets as an eligible renewable resource under chapter 19.285 RCW, the energy independence act.
POSITION: OPPOSE
• In a nutshell, we need to do as much energy conservation as we can and develop as many new, clean renewable energy sources as we can. This bill would allow utilities to forgo the development of new renewable resources by doing more energy conservation instead. The underlying law, however, already requires utilities to achieve all cost effective conservation.
• The renewable and conservation standards were designed to work together to cover long-term forecasts of increased electricity needs. Blending the renewable and conservation standards could reduce the development of new renewables by 505-570 aMW by 2025, leaving open the potential for getting at least a portion of that energy from environmentally harmful sources instead of clean renewables.

SSB 5430: Concerning water discharge fees.
POSITION: SUPPORT
• This bill would adjust water quality permit fees to help fill a large gap in program funding.
• It is supported by the AWB, environmental groups, and local governments

SSB 5687: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through land use and transportation requirements (a.k.a. Transit Oriented Communities; Sen. Chris Marr, Prime Sponsor). POSITION: SUPPORT
• The Transit-Oriented Communities bill incorporates climate change consideration into land use and transportation planning, helping to increase transportation choices, reduce traffic congestion, save taxpayer dollars, and significantly lessen the state's greenhouse gas emissions. This bill will make it easier for communities to grown in an economically sustainable way, avoiding unnecessary and duplicative infrastructure investments.
• The bill is a work in progress. Proponents have significantly altered the original bill in response to input from local governments and other stakeholders and will continue to work with those stakeholders on additional changes.

SB 5735: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (a.k.a. Cap and Invest; Sen. Phil Rockefeller, Prime Sponsor).
POSITION: SUPPORT
• This bill moves forward with action to help Washington work toward the emission limits enacted by the Legislature last year, as well as reducing our spending on imported fossil fuels, keeping more of our energy dollars here in Washington.
• We expect there will be new language on this bill before a floor vote. We remain supportive of a bill moving forward that includes significant emissions reductions, and keeps Washington engaged in influencing the development of regional and national cap and trade programs, to keep momentum on for addressing climate change and to protect Washington’s unique interests. It is important to continue moving forward this year toward meeting our climate and clean energy goals, and this bill is the foundation of the state’s overall strategy.

SSB 5840: Modifying the energy independence act.
POSITION: OPPOSE
• In its current form, the bill severely weakens I-937, the Clean Energy Act, by including current provisions capping development at load growth, grandfathering in existing resources to count as eligible renewables, and allowing conservation to substitute for renewable resources. Such amendments essentially eliminate all of the new renewables that would have been produced through the citizens’ initiative.
• We owe it to you to make sure you understand the significance of this legislation. In its current form, the bill essentially wipes out the renewable standard. At a time when states around the country are increasing their renewable standards, this bill would make Washington the first and only state to rollback its clean energy requirements.

2SSB 5854: Reducing climate pollution in the built environment (a.k.a. Efficiency First; Sen. Derek Kilmer, Prime Sponsor). POSITION: SUPPORT
• A Senate striker incorporates language that is the result of negotiations with the Association of Washington Business, whose concerns have been addressed.
• The striker represents a balanced approach to achieve energy efficiency in new and existing buildings, which will stimulate our economy and save residents and businesses money through energy savings.

SB 6083: Consolidating the growth management hearings boards.
POSITION: OPPOSE
• The state has three hearings boards, Eastern, Western and Central, so that the different regions of the state and their different concerns can be considered when implementing the Growth Management Act.
• Consolidating the Boards into a single board based in Olympia will take away this regional perspective.