Feb 23, 2021 SCRP WA State Legislative Update
Please take two minutes to register your position. After hearings you can make comment on the bill information page and call the Legislative hotline @ 1-800-562-6000. To register for committee hearings and to further comment on bills click link here.
Good Bills we are supporting:
Senate Bill 5358 – This proposal would provide a tax incentive to businesses that hire hard to place job seekers such as individuals who are homeless and those with a prior felony conviction. It creates a pathway to stability and self-sufficiency.
Senate Bill 5359 – This bill weans us off the gas tax and funds construction of our transportation infrastructure without raising taxes. Specifically, it re-directs existing taxes on the sale of motor vehicles to the transportation budget as opposed to the operating budget. It just makes sense.
Senate Bill 5283 – Remember the title-only bills from two years ago that contained all the last minute surprise taxes? This prohibits that practice and ensures you have a chance to voice an opinion before the legislature votes.
Senate Bill 5039 – This legislation brings a balance of power back to Olympia. Specifically, it requires the legislature to approve the extension of all gubernatorial emergency proclamations that go beyond 30 days.
Senate Bill 5000 – This bill would establish a pilot program to encourage the use of zero emission hydrogen vehicles by offering the same tax exemption as that received on the purchase of an electric vehicle.
Controversial bills to weigh in on
Senate Bill 5176 – This would require getting a boater safety card or a human-propelled boater education card to operate canoes, kayaks, rafts, paddleboards, or vessels with 15 or fewer horsepower. Boater safety cards currently cost $10.
Senate Bill 5160 – This bill extends the evection moratorium for two years after the pandemic is over. Taxpayers would cover the cost of any legal representation for tenants during any eviction proceedings. Homeowners would pay for their own representation.
Senate Bill 5096 –This imposes a 7% tax on the selling of long-term capital assets, or on receiving Washington capital gains. It also includes an emergency implementation clause even though it does not begin until Jan 1, 2022. This emergency clause is not necessary and is only included to prevent a referendum vote next November. Voters have previously turned this down 10 times.
Senate Bill 5185 – This bill would allow adolescents who are of the “age of consent” to make health care decisions without notification of parents or guardians. The age of consent is 13 for mental health treatment, 14 for STD testing, and any age for birth control, abortion, or prenatal care.
Senate Bill 5078 – This bill bans magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
Interesting bills
Senate Bill 5382 – Called the State Elections Confidence Using Rigorous Examination Act (SECURE Act), this proposal would require the Secretary of State to contract with individuals to test the security of our voter registration system.
Senate Bill 5300 – This bill prohibits feeding garbage to swine. Is this really a thing?
Senate Bill 5174 – This bill creates a wind turbine blade stewardship program. Evidently these huge blades are very difficult to recycle and have been filling landfills so much that Europe already banned them from landfills! Unintended consequences…
Senate Bill 5135 – Prohibits unlawfully summoning police. Why do people even do this? Don’t call the cops if you don’t need them!
Senate Bill 5056 – Creates a state licensing requirement for wilderness therapy programs. Many of these programs already exist and are successful. This just creates a state licensing requirement. More government bureaucracy.
Share This Post...
