Legislative Session Week 5
Fifth week of Session
This week marked the house of origin fiscal committee cutoff, and legislators are now on the floor voting on bills. All bills must be out of their house of origin by Feb. 14 cutoff. Then committee hearings start up again on Feb.15 as bills move to the opposite chamber – and the Rest Breaks bill is one of the first bills up for hearing post-cutoff. Next weekend, on Feb. 17, many legislators will hold Town Hall meetings – see the link below to look for a Town Hall in your district.
In this week’s update:
- Secure medicine
- Rest breaks hearing in the Senate
- Attend your legislator’s Town Hall
- Revenue forecast and supplemental budgets
WSNA’s 2018 Legislative Priorities can be found here.
Secure Medicine Return passes House
This afternoon the Secure Medicine Return bill, ESHB 1047, passed out of the House with a bipartisan vote of 86-12. Congratulations to the bill’s sponsor and champion, Rep. Strom Peterson (D-21), who gave a moving floor speech prior to the bill’s passage.
The bill that passed out of the House includes pre-emption, which means that the statewide secure medicine return program will phase out and replace local programs in those counties that currently have – or are in process of implementing – their own programs.
“I believe this may be the most important bill we pass this session.”
-Rep. Tina Orwall
Rest Breaks hearing in the Senate
Next Thursday, Feb. 15, the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the Rest Breaks bill, HB 1715.
It’s a great time to email your Senators and ask them to support HB 1715 in the Senate. Just click on the “Take Action” button below, and take two minutes to send your Senator an email.
Attend your legislator’s Town Hall
Many legislators are holding Town Hall meetings on Feb. 17. WSNA has compiled a list of Town Halls by legislative district. You can access that list here.
If you don’t know your legislative district, you can look it up by entering your home address in the legislature’s district finder.
Revenue forecast and supplemental budgets
The State Revenue and Economic Forecast Council meets quarterly to discuss the current and projected economic outlook for the state budget. The Council will release its report on Feb. 15, which will give the legislature the figures they need to finalize their 2018 supplement budget proposals.
Legislative budget writers are expected to release supplement budget proposals sometime the following week.
Please look for regular email updates on legislative action as session continues – we look forward to your participation in the process!