Week of January 25th: Legislative Update
Welcome to our third week of session!
Our first order of business is to give a big virtual round of applause to the 271 people who signed in “pro” or provided written testimony for our first committee hearing for HB 1099. We know that folks are juggling a lot right now – work, family, Covid stressors, national politics – and we’re beyond thrilled to have so many people across Washington joining us in our efforts to update the GMA. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As we head deeper into session, especially juggling four priority bills, we’re going to need to see a lot of engagement like we saw last week! Thank you for being in this work with us.
Washington Can’t Wait Priorities
HB 1099, sponsored by Rep. Duerr and Rep. Fitzgibbon
Status: After our committee hearing last week, we’re expecting this bill to pass out of committee this week.
HB 1220, sponsored by Rep. Peterson and Rep. Macri
Wahoo! HB 1220, our bill to update the housing element of the GMA, has its first committee hearing in the House Committee on Local Government on Wednesday, January 27th at 10 AM. We’re looking for folks to sign in “pro” and submit written testimony on this bill. Check out this online guide for how to support this bill at Wednesday’s hearing.
Status: Committee hearing on Wednesday, January 27th. We hope to see this bill pass out of committee within a few weeks.
Environmental Justice in the GMA
We will have an update soon on the approach to embedding environmental justice into the GMA. It is anticipated that the environmental justice definition from the environmental justice task force will be included in a new striker to the HB 1099. We are working closely on securing funding for the next update to the health disparities map for further implementation for reductions in emissions impacting communities and how to better address that through the planning process.
SB 5042 , sponsored by Sen. Salomon and Sen. Billig
Status: Our GMA vesting bill had its first hearing the very first week of session. After our committee hearing, we’re expecting this bill to pass out of committee within the next week or two.
