issue area reports
HB 1209 regulating the sale of sodium nitrite
Passed / AWB Neutral sponsor: Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma
HB 1209 banned the sale of 100 % pure sodium nitrite to consumers. This is in response to a number of suicides which have used sodium nitrite after hearing about the use online. AWB was neutral on the bill. Since sodium nitrite has a wide range of industrial uses, AWB engaged to make sure that business-tobusiness exemptions were preserved within the bill and were workable for the majority of the business community. Since the business-to-business exemption was based on programs in other states, we remained neutral on the bill.
HB 1303 environmental justice
Failed / AWB Opposed sponsor: Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma rule. This policy is likely to come back again. AWB will work this process over the interim, as conversations around SEPA seem to be a growing theme.
SB 5360 environmental crimes
Failed / AWB Opposed sponsor: Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma
This bill steeply increased the penalties for environmental penalties, making
processes into felonies and subject to criminal prosecution in addition to the current civil process. The bill was brought with the idea of strengthening existing state environmental protection efforts, given the changes happening at the federal level and concerns that the federal environmental protection regulators would not be as stringent under the current administration. This bill created a lot of concern within the AWB community, specifically over language that individual workers were criminally liable for actions taken by the company.
This was the return of the CURB Act, which put a new element of environmental justice within the State Environmental Policy Act process. What this amounted to was a parallel pre-SEPA process with strong environmental justice elements, in addition to SEPA itself. The bill also changed the definition of several longstanding and widely used definitions within SEPA, preventing economic benefits accruing from economic development to be used in the cost / benefit consideration for new development. The bill was significantly reduced to pass out of the policy committee, but AWB still had some concerns about how this process might work, and remained opposed. The bill ran into the fiscal wall in the Appropriations Committee and didn’ t pass further, given the cost related to implementation of the
Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, serves on the House Environment and Energy Committee.
Bill considered as part of AWB’ s voting record
Favorable outcome for Washington businesses
Missed Opportunities
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