We’re starting this year’s short legislative session—like every short 60-day session—with a sprint. Two of our priority bills have already had a hearing this week: HB 1412 (reforming legal financial obligations) and HB 1300 (protecting tenants from unreasonable damage charges). HB 1412 was just successfully voted out of committee this morning.
With the rise of the omicron variant, our legislative session will again be almost fully virtual, just like last year. All committee meetings are being held virtually (and all available to watch for free on TVW). Buildings on the Capitol Campus are not open for legislative meetings. Floor action is limited to a handful of legislators (who will be regularly tested for COVID).
As we close week one of session today, here’s where we’re at on some of our other legislative priorities:
Funding health coverage for all Washingtonians regardless of immigration status: this legislative effort will come in the form of a budget proviso so will not have a policy bill attached. Advocacy with budget writers is already underway. The good news is that Governor Inslee included in his proposed budget administrative funds to set up a state Medicaid-lookalike program for people who are not eligible for Medicaid due to their immigration status. That’s a great signal to legislators that this is a priority for the Governor and should be for the legislature as well.
Creating a process to destroy past juvenile records: building off of our work on juvenile record sealing, this bill language is at the Office of the Code Reviser and should be ready for a hearing by the third week of session. We could have a bill number as early as today.
Providing access to unemployment benefits for WA workers regardless of immigration status: Continuing our equity work for immigrants, this bill is also awaiting imminent introduction, and we expect the bill to be heard in the fourth week of session. Considering the tight deadlines of a short session, this bill will require a strong push, as it will require two votes (out of the policy committee and out of Ways and Means) in the span of a week.
Creating a good cause exception for missing an administrative hearing deadline. Sometimes people, through no fault of their own, miss requesting a hearing related to their health or food assistance. Senator Nguyen has introduced a bill, SB 5729, to add a good cause exception to these deadlines, so that a person facing housing instability or fleeing domestic violence doesn’t lose their opportunity to request a hearing. SB 5729 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Human Services Reentry & Rehabilitation committee on January 20 at 1:30pm.
We are also focusing on protecting legislative victories from prior years. For example, HB 1750 would undermine last year’s legislation codifying overtime eligibility for farm workers. We are working to educate legislators about the harms of this new bill.
We hope this update is helpful, and thank you for your support of this important work.
Antonio Ginatta
Policy Director
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