Legislative Session Week 6
February 17, 2017 • 5 minutes to read
In this week’s update:
- Policy Bill Cutoff
- Public Health Policy Bills & TV Town Halls
- Nurse Staffing & Rest Breaks
- School Nurse Supervision
- Secure Medicine Return
- Legislator Town Halls
- Congressional Week of Action
- Nurse Legislative Day – Thank You
WSNA’s 2017 Legislative Priorities and issue-based one-pagers can be found here.
Policy Bill Cutoff
Today, February 17th, marks the first cutoff of the 2017 legislative session. It is the last day for policy bills to be voted out of their committee of origin. Next week, policy bills that passed out of committee and have a budget impact will be heard in fiscal committees.
Bills that did not pass out of policy committees are now dead.
Public Health Policy Bills & TV Town Halls
Public Health Policy Bills – Both public health policy bills, HB 1432 and SB 5353, which would put into statute the Foundational Public Health Services framework, passed out of committee.
Public Health TV Town Hall - Did you miss the Public Health TV Town Hall that asked the question: Is our public health system on life support? Both the English and Spanish TV Town Halls are now online – each is about 30 minutes in length.
Nurse Staffing & Rest Breaks
In the House Health Care Committee this morning, a substitute version of the staffing bill was introduced and passed out of committee. The changes can be viewed here.
HB 1715, the Rest Breaks & Mandatory Overtime bill passed out of committee earlier this week.
School Nurse Supervision
The school nurse supervision bill, SB 5325, passed out of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee this week. The House version, HB 1346, passed out of committee last week.
SNOW has also been working on a years of service bill, SB 5283, which passed out of committee yesterday. The companion bill, HB 1374, was heard in House Appropriations on February 2nd, and – because it is “necessary to implement budget” – it is not subject to the policy bill cutoff.
Secure Medicine Return
HB 1047, which creates a statewide producer-funded Secure Medicine Return program, passed out of committee earlier this week.
Legislator Town Halls
It’s the time of session when many state legislators are holding Town Hall Meetings back home in their districts. Attending a Town Hall Meeting is a great way to remind your legislators about the issues you care about.
Some legislators have not yet scheduled their Town Halls, so if you don’t see your district listed, be sure to check back in a couple weeks!
Congressional Week of Actions
Next week, rallies are planned outside several congressional offices. Below is some additional information from the Washington State Labor Council:
Just one month into the Trump administration, workers and families across Washington are concerned. From introducing the National Right to Work Bill to vowing to repeal Obamacare and strip health insurance from 22 million people across the county to sparking chaos and confusion with an unjust immigration ban, we’ve seen what Trump and his Republican Congress’s priorities really are.
Over President’s Day (2/20) week, Congress will be home to hear directly from their constituents. But Republican House members from our state have not scheduled town halls or other public events. Washingtonian’s voices must be heard.
For four days of the congressional recess, in four offices across the state, labor, faith, and community groups will petition and rally to voice their concerns about attacks on workers, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and a “Muslim ban” that has sown chaos in the airports and torn families apart. As elected representatives, it is their duty to hear their constituents’ concerns.
2017 Nurse Legislative Day
Thank you to the more than 600 nurses and nursing students who participated in Nurse Legislative Day on Monday!
In the morning, participants learned about WSNA’s legislative priorities and issues that matter to nurses and patients. Governor Inslee spoke for about 30 minutes, and WSNA streamed the video via Facebook Live – you can check it out on WSNA’s Facebook page!
Members also filled out postcards to legislators on public health funding and to Washington’s congressional delegation on protecting the Affordable Care Act.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a full, productive day in Olympia!