Critical cut-off dates approaching – Please continue the calls and emails

The deadline for bills addressing fiscal matters is Monday, March 1.

Friday, March 5 at 5 pm is the last day to consider opposite house bills – except for the budgets and matters necessary to implement the budgets.

We’re asking you to make a call or send an email to your legislators now.

Please ask your legislators to support the following:

• Fiscal flexibility – ESHB 3179 and ESSB 6424 provides cities and counties flexibility in raising and spending money. ESSB 6424 eliminates non-supplant language and expands purposes for gambling taxes. ESHB 3179 also eliminates non-supplant language, addresses brokered natural gas use tax, city sales tax authority and gambling taxes.
• Local stormwater funding – SHB 3181 would assist cities in meeting their stormwater management requirements. Funds are generated by increasing the Hazardous Substances Tax from 0.7 percent to two percent. The debate is whether to raise the tax, by how much and whether or not to use some of the new revenue temporarily for state general fund needs. Not debated much are the needs of cities for help meeting stormwater requirements.
• Adjusting timelines for local GMA update obligations – SSB 6611 would provide a three year extension for current deadlines for mandated Growth Management Act (GMA) plan reviews and updates in all 281 cities and 39 counties. It passed the Senate unanimously, was heard and moved forward by the House Committee and is awaiting action before the House Ways & Means Committee.
• Open public records – SSB 6367 allows public records requestors to be directed to the specific website links where the responsive documents may be found. Cities believe this bill will lower the cost of responding to public records requests and allow the use of new technology.
• Abatement of nuisances involving criminal street gang activity – SHB 2414 would provide another tool for cities to address growing gang problems.

Please ask your legislators to oppose the following:

• Wrongful death liability expansion – 2ESSB 6508 is an unprecedented expansion of Washington’s wrongful death statute, greatly increasing the number of people who may file a wrongful death claim and ask for damages. This bill is estimated to cost state and local governments millions of dollars each year. If this bill moves forward, please ask your legislators to support amendments to the bill to cap the age of the adult child at 26 and remove joint liability for the state and local governments.
• Requiring delayed collection of residential development impact fees – ESSB 3067 tells cities in King and Snohomish counties that collect impact fees that they must allow residential builders to require homebuyers to pay the impact fees at closing vs. builders paying when applying for a permit. As amended in a Senate Committee, it also relieves escrow companies of liability if the fees aren't paid.

More specifics on these proposals can be found in their respective sections of this Bulletin.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, your legislators need to hear from you. They need to know what is important to their constituents - you have a lot of political influence! For some suggestions on contacting your senator or representative, please see last week’s Bulletin.

Thank you for helping to ensure that legislators know the issues vital to Washington’s cities and towns.

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