The 2022 Legislative Session has come to a close. Here is a synopsis from the amazing Nancy Churchill, one of the co-founders of www.influencingolympia.com. Her ability to organize, email out daily action items, and update a Bill's status truly made a difference. Efforts like these save us from more taxation, so if you have the means, please go to the website and donate a few $$.
IOE Session Wrap UP Pat yourself on the back!
First off, I want to thank everyone for your relentless efforts this session! Every testimony, every one click, every email ... I know you made a difference.
We even discovered that bills in concurrence could be stopped and influenced! Good to know... it's not over till it's over.
I've included the link to the Spreadsheet below because I'm going to continue to update it until every bill we've been tracking is either signed into law or vetoed... :)
Bill Tracking Spreadsheet Nancy's List
I've also added a few new bills to the list so that we can refer to them as we prepare for next session.
It's never too early to suggest new legislation to your Representative. Now is the time to review the bills that passed, and the bills that never got a hearing, and submit a "wish list" to your legislator.
Link List of Recap Articles I could write a recap, but it's already been done. Here's the ones I found especially valuable in understanding the outcome of the session. Best Analysis - What Died and What Passed? Rep. Vicki Kraft Update Rep. Joel Kretz on Mag Ban Rep. J. Maycumber - food will cost more Rep. Joe Schmick - No relief for stressed taxpayers Rep. Skyler Rude - Fix for flawed policies fell short Wilcox/Braun - session didn’t work for all Sen. Wilson - Budget worse for families (Audio) Fake excuses for failure to pass Emergency Power Reform And finally, just for fun - grab your "liberal tears mug" and enjoy the reaction on Twitter when 1099 failed to pass at the very last minute...
Blocks and Stops
Our Republican legislators had some remarkable victories this session despite being the minority in both houses. Let’s take a look at some blocks and stops.
The sudden death of HB 1099
The biggest unexpected win was at 10 pm on the last day of the session with the sudden death of HB 1099. HB 1099 was intended to use comprehensive planning to drive the climate change agenda, and environmentalists were excited. In the Senate, Republicans had succeeded in getting amendments passed which watered down the impact of the legislation. House Progressives refused to concur in the amendments so a conference committee was formed.
The negotiations in conference would have restored the bill to its former environmental glory, but also included the insertion of some new language which was necessary to persuade certain Senators to flip their votes. The new language was challenged by Senate Republicans as being out of scope. Lawyers were consulted, and they delayed the negotiations until the evening of the last day of session. By then, over in the House, the clock was ticking down towards midnight – the constitutionally mandated end of session.
The House Republican caucus, aware of the clock, began vigorously debating the Operating Budget currently on the floor. One after the other, every Republican representative used their full allotment of time to debate the budget. If all the Republicans speak to a bill, it takes about two and a half hours of debate. Far too late, the Democrats realized they had already run out of time to bring 1099 to the floor of the House. They couldn’t finish the debate on the Operating Budget and then have another long debate on 1099 in the time left. Although the bill had finally been voted on in the Senate, the Senate Republicans had held up the bill just long enough to make it too late to bring it up for a successful vote in the House.
By working together, the House and Senate Republican caucus was ready and able to maximize on a rare Democratic caucus mistake to block a final vote on HB 1099. If you want to see how damaging this was to the Democratic leadership, just visit Twitter and look up #YESonHB1099.
Other wins – bills that never made it out of committee I think that thanks to YOUR efforts, we saw numerous bills die in committee. Here's a brief list! 1117 Comp. planning/salmon and 1918 Power equipment emissions both passed the house but got stuck in Senate Ways & Means. 1156 Ranked Choice Voting, 1770 Energy codes, 1838 Salmon habitat, and 2026 Vehicle Per Mile Charge never even made it out of the House. A bill that was stopped last session, 1837 Repetitive Motion Injuries, was resurrected by House Democrats and made it over to the Senate, but died after strong opposition in public hearing from a suddenly united business community. 1868 Hospital Staffing, which would have killed rural Hospitals, likewise made it over to the Senate, but also received stiff opposition in public hearings. Notable bills from the Senate that died in committee: 5188 Washington state public bank, 5543 zero-emission landscaping equipment incentive program, 5636 Automatic Voter Registration, and 5843 False election statements. The following bills made it thru the Senate, but got stuck in their House committee: 5613 Concerning the use of dogs to hunt nuisance wildlife (a local control issue), 5597 Voting rights Violations, and 5662 Right-of-way camping/housing. The extremely weak Emergency Powers Reform bill, 5909, made it over to the floor of the House, but after House Republicans dropped a strong amendment on it, the debate was suddenly shut down by the House Speaker. House Democrats could have easily defeated the amendment, and voted the bill through, but they didn’t want to allow any debate on the merits of the amendment at all. Yes, the Democrats were up to no good, and they managed to pass some awful legislation this session. But, conservative activist groups were more involved in public hearings and our Republican legislators were smart and well prepared! Please take a minute to write a note of thanks to your smart, savvy, and dedicated Republican legislators. They fought hard for you!
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I want to thank you again for all your dedication and determination! Together, we really did Influence Olympia Effectively! All the best, Nancy