Lawmakers try tackling opioid crisis and transportation costs

OLYMPIA — The first cutoff in the session is just a few days away.

After January 31, most committees will be done with public hearings for bills coming from their own house, so lawmakers have been racing to hear as many bills as possible in the policy committees.

It also means after next week, a fleet of bills will be considered dead. We’ll take a walk through the legislative graveyard next week.

But first, let’s look at what legislation still has a chance.

Opioids

It’s been well established by lawmakers in both parties that the opioid crisis is a top priority.

Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Anacortes, has been at the forefront of addressing the opioid crisis, particularly in tribal communities.

Earlier this week, her House Bill 1877 had a hearing in the House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee. The bill would allow for better coordination between the state’s and tribes’ behavioral health systems by including tribal entities under the Involuntary Treatment Act.

The act allows individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis or substance use disorder to be involuntarily committed to a treatment facility if someone concerned for their safety refers them.

Tulalip Tribes Vice Chair Misty Napeahi testified that, since 2017, Tulalip has lost 65 members to drug- and opioid-related deaths.

Napeahi urged the passage of the bill to prevent further lived from being lost, given the inability to involuntarily commit tribal members to treatment through the court system.

The bill was passed out of committee Friday, thus surviving this week’s cutoff.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have introduced their own approach to the opioid crisis, through the “Recovery Washington” package.

At the forefront is education, ensuring both adults and youth are aware of the effects of addiction and overdose. Senate Bill 5906 would instruct the Department of Health to create a statewide campaign to this effect. It’s set for a public hearing in the Ways and Means Committee next Monday.

Travel costs

Early in the week, the Senate Transportation Committee had a nearly 2-hour work session to understand solutions to streamline the state’s many ambitious transportation projects.

Committee chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, said it’s unusual to have a long work session this late in the legislative session.

But given the skyrocketing costs of transportation costs and the “tremendous challenges in program delivery,” he saw it necessary to bring in experts and ponder solutions.

Speakers representing cities and counties, public transit and the state Department of Transportation all testified on their ideas of how to improve lagging projects.

The different agencies urged prioritizing projects that are already funded and improving communications between agencies, cities and the state.

To that end, the Washington State Transportation Commission is expected Monday to up the tolls for express lanes on Interstate 405, stretching from Bellevue to Lynnwood.

The maximum toll during peak hours of congestion is proposed to be $15, with the minimum toll at $1. This change would raise the maximum toll amount from its current $10.

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