2024 Legislative Session Update
as of Monday, March 4, 2024
Today marks the 56th day of the 2024 Legislative session in Olympia and we are in the final week of this session. Friday, March 1st was the final cutoff and is the last day to consider (pass) opposite house bills (5 p.m.) (except initiatives and alternatives to initiatives, budgets and matters necessary to implement budgets, differences between the houses, and matters incident to the interim and closing of the session). Legislators were busy today as they rushed to pass as many bills as possible up until the 5pm deadline. As mentioned, initiatives are exempt from those cutoff requirements and as there are three initiatives that could be voted on before the end of session.
The last day of the 60-Day Legislative session is on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
Attached is an updated report of top priority bills that we have been tracking:
PDF LINK
2024 INITIATIVE RECAP
Three initiatives had a public hearing last week which include:
Initiative 2081, that would create a “parents’ bill of rights”;
Passed Legislature
Passed House: yeas, 82; nays, 15; absent, 0; excused, 1.
Passed Senate: yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0.
Initiative 2113 which would allow police to give chase if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person they’re pursuing has violated the law and poses “a threat to the safety of others,”; and
Passed Legislature
Passed House: yeas, 77; nays, 20; absent, 0; excused, 1.
Passed Senate: yeas, 36; nays, 13; absent, 0; excused, 0.
Initiative 2111, which would prohibit the state or local governments from creating an income tax.
Passed Legislature
Passed House: yeas, 76; nays, 21; absent, 0; excused, 1
Passed Senate: yeas, 38; nays, 11; absent, 0; and excused, 0. (View Roll Calls)
Last week executive action (vote out of committee) was taken on each of these initiatives in both the House and Senate and all three initiatives passed the legislature today Monday, March 4.
There are three more initiatives this year, to repeal key parts of the state’s Climate Commitment Act, repeal the capital gains tax and make the WA Cares long-term health care payroll tax optional, which did not get hearings and are heading directly to voters in November.
ESHB 1589 || Banning Natural Gas through Gas Companies Update
On Friday, March 1, the last day of the cutoff for bills to move out of the opposite house ESHB 1589, banning natural gas through gas companies, after extensive debate on the Senate Floor passed the Senate with a vote of 27 yeas; 22 nays; 0 absent; and 0 excused.
This legislation is a natural gas ban for new residential and commercial buildings. The originally introduced version of the bill essentially means Puget Sound Energy (PSE) does not have to offer natural gas service to new and existing customers if it determines it is no longer financially beneficial for the company to do so. The Senate version of the bill in the form of Engross Substitute House Bill 1589, removes the ban on natural gas line hookups in new construction.
Talking Points:
Recent action of the State Building Code Council did not include an outright ban on national gas.
Prohibiting new natural gas for housing will increase the cost of new middle housing between $6,200 to $13,100 more per unit. This doesn't include the annual operating costs of using natural gas which is one third of the cost of electricity.
In some areas where there is not adequate electrical infrastructure to serve new construction a requirement exists for natural gas to be provided in the land deeds for the undeveloped lots. If this bill were to pass the families who have purchased these lots will not be able to build a home, and their investment could be lost.
If new natural gas connections are prohibited, it will result in significant cost impacts for struggling hospitality businesses, as the demand for rent for the spaces with existing natural gas service will skyrocket. Rents may become unaffordable for small, locally owned family businesses.
Many Washington homeowners in the Puget Sound region need access to natural gas in order to have fireplaces and other supplemental heating devices during power outages. They may not have the ability to have woodstoves or woodburning fireplaces because of air quality ordinances.
This bill negatively impacts independent grocers and convenience stores. These stores often rely on natural gas to run refrigeration systems and to offset expensive electrical costs for stores that must have these systems running at certain temperatures at all times, to comply with the health code. The costs for running new grocery stores may exceed what people are willing to pay in food costs, increasing the possibility of food deserts in Washington State.
This bill would dramatically increase rates for 800,000 PSE residential and business customers.
The language is so unclear that even some senators don't know how detrimental it will be for Washington families who are already facing some of the highest energy costs in the nation. It is important to distinguish that the proposal doesn't outright implement a ban on natural gas. It's a convoluted bill that provides the legal and financial framework for PSE specifically to "decarbonize" their energy and restructure their business model and rates for residential customers.
Adopted Floor Senate Amendments
AMD 756 Pg 16 Ln 20 (Nguyen) -
The UTC may approve, reject, or conditionally approve an application for a certificate of necessity if the construction, investment, or purchase is in the public interest and complies with the UTC's administrative rules governing electric resource procurement.
Project owner, not the utility, and the prime contractor and subcontractors have the “absolute right” to select bids for the award of contracts on a specified project under an integrated system plan that is part of a competitive solicitation and costs more than $10,000,000. (Think of a project-labor agreement. Protects unions.)
AMD 797 Pg 19 Ln 9 (Nguyen) -
Removes the requirement that the UTC must avoid commercial and residential rate classes subsidizing industrial rate classes when approving a merger of a gas and electric rate base.
Removes authorization of PSE to provide a customer with any approved non-emitting energy under the utility's obligation to serve statute.