Opening week concludes, while initiatives come barreling in

OLYMPIA – We near the end of the state Legislature’s opening week. And in the House of Representatives, it started off with a sprint.

Not even two hours after gaveling in, the House passed three bills leftover from last year and sent them off to their colleagues in the state Senate, who went home for the day after their 40-minute opening ceremony.

A ban on child marriage passed unanimously and a bill allowing for lot splitting passed handily. The third measure, to implement a grant program to allow local governments to provide extreme weather shelters, passed with some Republican resistance.

But before we go any further, your eyes do not deceive you. There’s a new writer for this newsletter.

This isn’t the Cornfield Report anymore, because, well, I’m not Jerry Cornfield, but I’ll try my best to deliver quality legislative reporting as he did for many years at the Daily Herald.

I’ve been working as the Herald’s state government reporter since August, covering a myriad of topics. Now, I’m working in Olympia covering the 2024 legislative session.

Before this job, I studied political science and journalism at Western Washington University and had a brief stint as a news intern with Cascadia Daily News in Bellingham. I originally hail from Yakima.

It’s my first legislative session, so I look forward to lots of learning, bill reading and discussions with lawmakers.

This newsletter will appear in your inbox once a week on Fridays, recapping notable events from the past week.

Speaking of new deliveries, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs gave the Senate Ways & Means committee an estimated arrival date Tuesday for six conservative-backed initiatives.

All six initiatives should be certified and delivered to the lawmakers by Feb. 9, if not sooner.

The initiatives are aimed at undoing some of the Democratic majority’s new policies over the past few years. Here’s what they entail:

I-2117: Repeal the Climate Commitment Act

I-2109: Repeal the capital gains tax

I-2124: Opt-out of long-term care payroll tax

I-2113: Remove certain restrictions on vehicular police pursuits

I-2081: Allow parents to review instructional material and student records in schools

I-2111: Prohibit the state from imposing a state income tax

On Thursday, Hobbs informed the Legislature of the police pursuit initiative’s official certification. The other five have been granted “provisional certification while signatures are verified.”

Dealing with this many initiatives is unusual for the state, said Hobbs, a former Democratic state senator from Lake Stevens. There are typically one or two every other year. The most the state has seen was three initiatives in 1972.

Once they are with lawmakers, they can either pass them as is, pass an alternative, or completely ignore them. In the case of the latter, they will show up on your November ballot for your consent.

Finally, here are a few bills I’ll be keeping my eye on as the session progresses:

House Bill 2276, sponsored by Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, would increase the supply of affordable housing by raising the real estate excise transfer tax on properties sold for over $3 million.

House Bill 2002, sponsored by Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, would increase the criminal penalties for public drug use around a child from a gross misdemeanor to a class C felony.

Senate Bill 5002, sponsored by Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, and Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, would reduce the legal limit while driving from a 0.08% blood alcohol concentration to 0.05%.

House Bill 1979, sponsored by Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, would place a cap of $35 on inhalers and epinephrine medications.

Senate Bill 5804 would require all school districts to maintain at least one dosage of opioid overdose reversal medication in their schools.

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