The Washington State 2023 legislative session began Jan. 9 and is scheduled to end April 23. State lawmakers have priorities for which bills they consider most essential, so we asked local legislators about their legislative priorities for the current session. Here are their responses:
District 32 – Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace
Sen. Jesse Salomon
Commissions: Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Vice Chair, Local Government, Land Use & Tribal Affairs Vice Chair, Law & Justice
Priorities:
- Legalizing psilocybin for use in treatment centers (SB 5263).
- Salmon habitat protections (SB 5104).
- Expediting no-contact orders for domestic violence incidents (SB 5231).
- 10-day waiting period and mandatory firearm training for all guns (SB 5232).
- Encouraging treatment for people found in possessing of certain counterfeit drugs or controlled substances (SB 5467).
Rep. Lauren Davis
Committees: Appropriations, Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry, Health Care & Wellness, Rules
Priorities:
- Protections for domestic violence victims (HB 1715).
- Youth and young adult mental health (Various, supporting HB 1242, HB 1313, HB 1515).
- Substance use disorder and the Blake decision.
- Addressing the public health impacts of high-potency cannabis (HB 1641, HB 1642).
Rep. Cindy Ryu
Committees: Innovation, Community & Economic Development, & Veterans Chair, Appropriations, Consumer Protection & Business
Priorities:
- Address the state’s housing crisis by authorizing cities to establish Housing Benefit Districts (HB 1111).
- Creating a state broadband map to deploy the $900 million in federal funding that Washington is expected to receive over the next several years. Data on who is served, underserved and not served can be used to promote equitable availability, access and affordability of an increasingly essential utility.
- Deterring catalytic converter theft by funding a law enforcement strategy targeting metal theft, funding Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs training and programs on metal theft that have historically not been funded.
District 1 – Brier
Sen. Derek Stanford
Commissions: Business, Financial Services, Gaming & Trade Chair, Labor & Commerce, Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks
Priorities:
- A “Right to Repair” bill, which makes it easier to extend the life of electronic devices instead of throwing them away (SB 5464)
- Expand battery recycling and improve handling of toxic waste while recovering significant amounts of high-demand resources like lithium and cobalt. (SB 5144)
- Keeping Washington at the forefront of the fight against climate change (SB 5535).
- Salmon recovery (Supporting SB 5104).
- Respect for tribal sovereignty. (SB 5410, supporting various bills).
- Maintaining Washington’s status as one of the top two states in the nation for businesses and the number-one state for workers. (SB 5176, SB 5212, SB 5429).
Rep. Davina Duerr
Committees: Local Government Chair, Environment and Energy, Transportation
Priorities:
- Require populous counties and cities to plan for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and plan around climate resiliency of the impacts of droughts, wildfires, sea level rise and other natural disasters. (HB 1181).
- Buy Clean/Buy Fair requires state capital projects over 50,000 square footage to track embodied carbon in structural materials such as wood, steel, and concrete and report on labor standards of the manufacturer of those materials (HB 1282)
- Ease permitting and permitting processes and other regulations to make middle housing easier to build (HB 1167).
- Requring the state investment board to publicly report on its analysis of the climate-related financial risk, social responsibility, and establishment and use of a proxy voting and corporate governance policies within its private and public market portfolios. (HB 1283).
- Urban Forest Management (HB 1078).
- Electric Power Transmission Planning (HB 1192).
- Adopt residential energy codes in use by the Department of Commerce (HB 1433).
- Adding environmental justice as the element to the Growth Management Act (HB 1181, HB 1723).
Rep. Shelly Kloba
Committees: Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee Co-Chair, Capital Budget, Agriculture & Natural Resources
Priorities:
- The People’s Privacy Act: Introduce transparency and accountability for companies who collect large amounts of data about consumers such as their location, income, religion, sexuality, marital status and political beliefs (HB 1616).
- Affordable housing– 2 bills to offer a property tax incentive for people who create affordable housing. One targeted at accessory dwelling units on single-family properties (HB 1596), the other for owners of small, older multi-family apartment buildings (HB 1343).
- Allowing residential cannabis cultivation (HB 1614).
- Shared Democrat priorities: Reforming the tax code so that everyone pays their fair share, addressing the behavioral health crisis and addressing the variety of workforce challenges across sectors in order to benefit working families and the larger economy.
— By Jasmine Contreras-Lewis
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