Lawmakers wrap up 2020 amid growing concerns about COVID-19

OLYMPIA — State lawmakers wrapped up the 2020 legislative session Thursday and headed home with heavy hearts as an unchecked coronavirus outbreak continues to tear the fabric of communities throughout Washington.

It was a somber ending to a 60-day session in which lawmakers set out to tackle the challenges of homelessness and an opioid crises and wound up digging into reserves and rewriting policies to address the deadly DOVID-19.

In one of their last acts, they agreed to withdraw $200 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to cover the growing tab of state agencies and local health districts responding to the crisis, and to assist the most hard-hit businesses.

“It’s one of the most important bills we’re going to pass this session,” said Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, D-Spokane. “We don’t know what’s ahead. We have to be smart about our response. This is one step in that response.”

The measure passed on a 48-0 vote a few minutes after the Senate, on a party-line vote, approved a supplemental operating budget with a projected emergency reserve of roughly $2 billion

“We’re fortunate to have that money this year,” said Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, the lead Republican budget writer. “We know that (reserve) is about to be tested.”

Concern about COVID-19 overshadowed the final days of the session. And, as the number of diagnosed cases multiplied and death toll rose, the level of partisanship waned as lawmakers’ attention pivoted toward how to individually and collectively respond.

“There are so many unknowns,” said Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor, for whom this was his first session. “I’m glad we’ve got the reserve we’ve got. We might be relying on it through the next budget.”

This year’s session began on a quite a different note.

Democrats arrived in January with an ambitious agenda, and accomplished much of it.

They pushed through laws requiring public schools to have a comprehensive sexual health education curriculum, banning single-use plastic bags statewide, easing barriers to accessing treatment for substance abuse disorder, and creating a new state office focused on compiling data of gun violence in Washington.

But not everything went well.

They hoped their majorities in the House and Senate would be large enough to eliminate the death penalty, ban high-capacity gun magazines and enact a clean fuel standard. None of those made it to the finish line. But they weren’t.

House Democrats wanted to expel Republican Rep. Matt Shea of Spokane Valley who is accused in a House-sanctioned investigation of promoting armed anti-government protests in Nevada, Idaho and Oregon in 2014, 2015 and 2016. But they couldn’t.

Republicans arrived with an agenda of their own. They tried unsuccessfully to push Democrats to act to lower the cost of car tabs and cut the state’s property tax rate.

But House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, said the ranks in his caucus are leaving this session energized.

“It seems like citizen activism is back. That’s good for us,” he said in an interview on TVW. “I think the people are waking up to politics.”

House Republicans derailed the high capacity gun magazine bill by filing more than 100 amendments to signal their distaste. They fought as hard against the sex-ed bill, and are still trying to get Gov. Jay Inslee to veto it.

One of the strongest shows of bipartisanship came on transportation where both parties agreed on how to fill the $453 million hole created by passage of Initiative 976.

Democratic and Republican members also agreed that they while they did it without causing pain this year, it won’t be the same in 2021.

“We had to do a little budget magic,” said Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “We have a lot of work next year.”

This session found lawmakers wading into a protracted international trade dispute between the U.S. and the European Union.

At the request of the Boeing Co., lawmakers repealed a preferential business-and-occupation tax rate for the company that the World Trade Organization targeted as an illegal trade subsidy. They hope the repeal will lead to a settlement.

And in another display of bipartisanship, lawmakers approved the largest expansion of legal gambling in years by allowing sports betting to be conducted in tribal casinos. They considered but decided against allowing such wagering to occur in private card rooms.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@herald net.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.