HB 2637 is Rep. Hunter's local government tax bill.  It removes the non-supplanting clauses in the 3/10 Public Safety Sales tax, the 1/10 Mental Health Sales Tax and the six-year property tax levy lid lift.  It also provides the authority for counties to impose a limited utility tax within the urban growth areas.  It also allows REET 1 and 2 to be used for parks operation and maintenance.  It allows cities to impose the utility tax on services provided by water and sewer districts.  Finally, it clarifies the brokered natural gas tax for cities.  Many components of this bill are consistent with the WSAC legislative agenda.

 

The bill is scheduled for a public hearing on January 15th at 1:30 pm in the House Finance Committee.

HB 2420 Declares that jobs connected to the forest products industry should be endorsed by the state and federal government as green jobs, or jobs that benefit the local economy in an environmentally sustainable and beneficial manner, and the forest products industry should be endorsed as a green industry.

 

The bill is scheduled for a public hearing on January 13th at 8:00 am in the House Community & Economic Development and Trade Committee.
 

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HB 2481 Allows the department of natural resources to: (1) Maintain a list of all potential sources of forest biomass on state lands for the purposes of identifying and making forest biomass available for sale, exploration, collection, processing, storage, stockpiling, and conversion into energy, biofuels, for use in a biorefinery, or any other similar use; (2) Enter forest biomass supply contracts; (3) Authorize the sale of forest biomass; and (4) Lease state lands, under certain circumstances, for the purpose of the sale, exploration, collection, processing, storage, stockpiling, and conversion of biomass into energy, biofuels, the development of a biorefinery, or for any other resource use derived from biomass.

 

The bill is scheduled for a public hearing on January 13th at 8:00 am in the House Technology, Energy and Communications committee.

 

 

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Despite the conventional wisdom that says this will be a light session for policy bills, there are a large number of land use bills being heard during the first week of session.  In particular, the House Local Government and Housing Committee is kicking off session on Monday with a hearing on four land use bills including HB 2408 (notifying property owners of proposals to modify zoning requirements) and HB 2442 (restructuring the Growth Management Hearings Boards).

 

We also expect to see a bill that will again attempt to address the Supreme Court's Anacortes decision relating to the intersection of the Shoreline Management Act and the Growth Management Act.  There will also likely be two bills dealing with timelines for conducting updates under the Growth Management Act.  One bill will be at the request of the state agencies, and one will be at the request of WSAC.  It is likely that these three bills will be active all session and of major interest to WSAC.

 

 

The Department of Ecology's action over the summer prohibiting the further use of exempt wells in Kittitas County has drawn early legislative action.  Three different bills relate to exempt wells, the intersection of land use and water availability, and Ecology's authority to withdraw basins from further appropriation (HB 2468, HB 2542, and HB 2548).  HB 1998 is a water bill that carried over from last year and is opposed by WSAC.

 

Encouraging the use of biomass will also be a topic of discussion this session, and the Commissioner of Public Lands is requesting legislation that will authorize longer term supply agreements for parties that wish to remove forest biomass materials from state forest lands. 
There is also legislation that changes the definitions of members on the Board of Natural Resources statute.  The bill makes the definitions of the two universities that are on the Board (University of Washington and Washington State University) current, and also corrects the reference to WSAC which is a private nonprofit organization.

 

 

With the debate over climate change shifting so heavily to the federal level, climate change does seem to be as big of an issue for the state at this point.  The one climate change bill (HB 2545) introduced so far relates to the Department of Ecology's rulemaking regarding the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. 

 

 

 

Another Year of Budget Focus for Human Services

 

This session, once again, budget will be a major focus for human services. This week, legislators on the human services committees will be receiving staff and agency presentations on the Governor's proposed 2010 supplemental budget.

 

WSAC will continue to stress the importance of maintaining funding for our human service programs to keep individuals out of more expensive services. As one of our commissioners stated in a hearing last year, "as human service programs are cut, the individuals do not go away and their needs do not go away."  Our message to legislators is that our citizens stay in our communities and access more expensive crisis systems, including the local criminal justice system. Conversations have begun about revenue for human services.  WSAC staff will monitor how these conversations fit in with our larger revenue and flexibility goals.

 

 

The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has spent the interim working on integration of their substance abuse and mental health programs into one Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery. Your human services staff,  through the Association of County Human Service (ACHS), have been working to adjust to new processes and staff assignments.  ACHS continues to regularly work with DSHS management and staff to try to increase communication around changes in policy and timeliness of contracting.

 

 

The Governor's budget includes a proviso for a workgroup to look at the delivery of mental health services in the state. Disabilities Rights Washington has filed a lawsuit against DSHS around services to children. ACHS will be working along with the RSN administrators to monitor any legislative action to ensure that proposed changes in the delivery of mental health services to children are well thought out and do not result in decreased efficiencies and duplication in the current system.

 

 

The Joint Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) has been assigned two studies that impact county human service programs. JLARC is a joint bipartisan legislative committee that reviews and evaluates state agencies, programs and activities. One JLARC study, due May 2010, will evaluate some of the requirements in mental health/substance abuse legislation passed in 2004 and 2005 that intended to "improve communication, collaboration and Medicaid reinstatement for persons released from confinement in a prison, jail or institution for mental disease who have mental health or chemical dependency disorders."  JLARC is also currently engaged in a study of developmental disability employment and day programs administered by the counties. This study will be complete by October 2010 and will compare state and county contracts and program vendor rates in addition to researching best practices for outcome-based contracts.

The significance of the Lakewood tragedy and its impact on the 2010 Legislative Session cannot be overstated.  Expect to see a substantial amount of effort spent on determining the appropriate Legislative response, and despite a $2.6 billion funding shortfall it is highly unlikely that there will be any substantial reductions to public safety agency budgets, shifting a greater share of the burden to human services.

 

On December 30, 2009 representatives from the Department of Corrections (DOC), the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs (WACOPS), the Superior Court Judges Association (SCJA), the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (WAPA), and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) met to discuss each associations review of the murders of the four Lakewood Police Officers in late November.
The representatives discussed what lessons they believed could be learned from the tragedy and then the group developed a set of recommendations that they presented to the Governor:

 

 

WSAC staff believe recommendations that require state resources will have a difficult time passing this session, however, it is very likely that a bill or possibly even some bills pertaining to bail revisions will.  We need to ensure that the conversation is mindful of the impact to locals and work with our local partners in the criminal justice system to accurate characterize the fiscal impacts of risk assessments, adjustments to the bail schedule, additional notification and alerts.

 

On Wednesday, the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee will be hearing two bills that tackle the issue of Legalization of Marijuana.  HB 1177 legalizes possession of 40 grams or less, while HB 2401 legalizes, regulates, and taxes marijuana.  In fact, travel writer and television host Rick Steves, an ardent supporter of marijuana legalization, will host a forum in Olympia Tuesday at the Capitol Theater at 6:30 p.m.  WSAC staff believe at this time there is not unanimous support for these bills.