2020 legislative review
Environment & Energy
Peter Godlewski : Climate Change , Energy , Toxics , Water Quality Mike Ennis : Transportation , Infrastructure , Aviation , Telecom , Rural Jobs , Land Use
Despite being a short legislation session , 2020 had an incredibly busy start with a large number of bills seeking to ban everything from batteries to Styrofoam containers . That led to a frenetic first few weeks . Despite seeing over 12 bills seeking to ban or restrict certain products and chemicals , most were winnowed out over the course of the session . Several additional bills which did end up passing were vetoed by Gov . Jay Inslee as part of the cost-cutting measures he took during the early days of the COVID-19 response .
After the passage of the Clean Energy Transformation Act ( CETA ) last year , most legislators were not keen to take on any big energy bills this session . And despite a few bills which went after natural gas usage , it looked like a relatively light year for energy topics . That changed with the state Supreme Court ’ s ruling on the Clean Air Lawsuit , which AWB had brought back in 2016 . By a narrow 5-4 margin , the court ruled in favor of AWB and ruled that the Department of Ecology did not have the authority to regulate indirect greenhouse gas emissions . This ruling invalided a large portion of the Clean Air Rule ( CAR ) and three bills were eventually introduced to address that matter . Due to opposition in the Senate , none of the bills ended up passing .
The Legislature took a more modest approach on land use policy this year . Lawmakers expanded on the progress made last session , encouraging cities to increase urban housing supplies and making some adjustments to the administration of the Growth Management Hearings Board . But in the end , lawmakers did not pass comprehensive Growth Management Act reform or any significant recommendations from the Ruckelshaus Center ’ s study . Lawmakers also punted on a more robust extension of the Multifamily Property Tax Exemption tax credit and they continued applying pressure on landlords by passing another expansion of tenant protections .
energy bills
HB 2311 amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science
Passed / AWB Opposed
House Bill 2311 , sponsored by Rep . Vandetta Slatter , D-Bellevue , was a governor ’ s request bill to update the state ’ s greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets . The original bill from 2008 set reduction targets for 2020 , 2035 , and 2050 benchmarked against 1990 for voters and the business community and 2005 for state agencies . According to the bill , the state was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 , 25 % below 1990 levels by 2035 and 70 % below by 2050 . State agencies were required to reduce levels 15 % from 2005 , 36 % by 2035 , and 57.7 % by 2050 . The new levels for the state mandated by this bill are a reduction to 1990 levels by 2020 , 45 % by 2035 , and 95 % by 2050 . The new levels for state agencies are 15 % from 2005 levels by 2020 , 45 % by 2035 , and 70 % by 2050 .
AWB opposed this bill on numerous grounds , with the principal reason being that the state was 8 million tons short of meeting the 2020 levels and was nowhere close to being on track to meet the original targets outlined by the original bill , to say nothing of the new targets . Additionally , while the state ’ s per capita greenhouse gas emissions have dropped significantly , absolute levels have continued to increase due to population growth and increased economic activity .
While AWB was opposed to this bill , we did manage to achieve a few concessions . Language was added to clarify these emissions were anthropogenic to discount carbon from forest fires and clarity was added to restate that this bill created no new authority that did not exist already . Finally , the section calling for increased carbon sequestration was changed to make it technology-neutral , so as to not favor any one technology . The bill passed the House 55-41 and the Senate 28-21 .
HB 2586 concerning the electrification of homes and buildings
Failed / AWB opposed
House Bill 2586 , sponsored by Rep . Alex Ramel , D-Bellingham , authorized a municipal or public utility district to
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