Editorial: A few bills worth attention in a short session

By The Herald Editorial Board

With just 60 days to get its work done following Monday’s start, the state Legislature already has a full to-do list with issues left over from previous sessions, including the state’s fentanyl crisis, law enforcement reforms, affordable housing, climate solutions, the ferry system and other transportation work and the supplemental budget.

Yet, state lawmakers, not ones to leave aside good ideas — or even the occasional bad one (see 51st state, creation of, by splitting Washington in half) — had proposed and filed more than 400 bills in the weeks leading up to the session. Most will escape the attention of the media, the public and even lawmakers with the focus placed on major concerns, but many remain good ideas, deserving of consideration; if not this year, then next; or the year after that.

House Bill 1879: Sponsored by Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Bow, the bill would name the state’s curriculum regarding its tribal history for the late state Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, who sponsored and advocated for the legislation in 2005, when he was a member of the House. The teaching materials — intended to help students learn the heritage, history, culture, and government of state’s Indian tribes — would be officially named the John McCoy (Lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial curriculum.

McCoy, who died June 6 at the age of 79, stepped down from his Senate seat in 2020 and was honored the following year by lawmakers with an hour-long send-off in a remote session that drew comments from lawmakers including from his successor in both the House and Senate, Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett: “In true Native American philosophical language he always reminded me to think about the future and to think about the long game. You can make this decision now but you can change later,” she said at the time.

Why: Adding McCoy’s names — the second is his Lushootseed name — to the curriculum would help keep the name of a respected lawmaker and tribal leader in collective memory and as a reminder of the past and continuing contributions of the state’s Indigenous people and tribes.

House Bill 2037: Sponsored by Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, and co-sponsored by Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, and Rep. Cindy Ryu, D- Shoreline, the bill would add to the state’s requirements regarding instruction in public schools of the Holocaust. In addition to its requirements for age-appropriate instruction and awareness of the Holocaust and other instances of genocide, the bill would strongly encourage middle and high schools to offer at least one Holocaust stand-alone elective course to students.

Surveys in recent years have shown a decline in the number of Americans with knowledge or understanding of the Holocaust and the genocide of more than six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. More alarmingly, a poll by The Economist and YouGov announced in December, found that one-fifth of Americans, ages 18 to 29, believe the Holocaust to be a myth. State Sen. Jesse Salomon, D-Shoreline, has co-sponsored a companion bill, Senate Bill 5851, with Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia.

Why: With an apparent increase in instances of anti-Semitism and hate speech, school districts should be encouraged to review and strengthen their curriculum addressing the Holocaust and genocide in general.

Two proposals seek to encourage support in training for construction trades and apprenticeships.

House Bill 1944 would require the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to implement a grant program for the trades based on the successful Running Start program that allows high school juniors and seniors to take tuition-free college courses. HB 1944, sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Kent, and co-sponsored by Ryu and Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Everett, would expand pre-apprenticeship opportunities for students.

House Bill 2084, sponsored by Rep. Mary Fosse, D-Everett and Low, seeks to establish an oversight committee to improve training in construction fields and pathways to apprenticeships for those leaving incarceration in state prisons.

Why: Both bills could help steer students and young adults into well-paid careers at a time when those positions for home and building construction, transportation projects and more are going unfilled.

House Bill 1975: Sponsored by Ortiz-Self and cosponsored by Ryu, seeks to offer some relief following the pandemic for those who were overpaid their jobless benefits, beginning in February 2020. The state’s Employment Security Department estimates that about 115,000 state residents received over-payments for their unemployment benefits and have been ordered to repay them. In addition to an existing waiver program, the legislation would forgive or refund interest payments still due on over-payments.

Why: While the state is continuing its waiver program, not all will qualify and will still be on the hook for over-payments. Considering that this was the fault of a state agency swamped during the pandemic, those who were unemployed shouldn’t be on the hook for interest.

Senate Bill 5795: The combined effort by Western states and others to go permanently with daylight saving time — ending the maddening twice-yearly switch between standard and daylight time — has been stuck in Congress for several years now. States, currently just Hawaii and Arizona, have the option of sticking with standard time, without needing Congress’ approval. SB 5795, and a similar effort in Oregon, would have the two states join the ranks of non-time-shifters.

Why: Over the years, the editorial board’s stated preference has been for permanent daylight saving time, meaning later sunsets in the summer, in exchange for later sunrises in the winter. We’re still not convinced standard time offers more benefits than daylight saving time, but we encourage further discussion, with the hope that it moves Congress to stop our endless succession of time warps and provide more dayight in the evenings.

Senate Joint Resolution 8207: Proposed for years, the joint resolution, sought at the request of the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, would allow voters to weigh in on whether bonds for school districts’ construction of new and remodeled schools would be approved by a simple majority as it is for levies, rather than the current 60 percent supermajority. SJR 8207 would put a constitutional amendment before voters, seeking to lower the required approval to a majority of a voters in a district election.

Why: Considering the number of aging schools in districts throughout the state and that increases for school construction funding from the state don’t appear likely beyond current levels — and that one school district that sought that funding lost a lawsuit last year before the state Supreme Court — state lawmakers should at least allow voters to make the call on whether school construction bonds should be determined by a majority of voters, rather than the much higher bar of 60 percent.