Washington Business Fall 2017 | Legislative Review & Vote Record | Page 33

issue area reports | environment Environment Mary Catherine McAleer: Climate Change, Energy, Chemical and Solid Waste Management and Water Quality Michael Ennis: Land Use/Construction, Water Resources and Regulatory Reform With the Legislature’s core focus on education funding this year, the discussion around environmental policy was mainly revenue-focused. Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed biennial budget included $4.4 billion in new tax revenue to fund K-12 education, with $3.9 billion coming from a $25 per ton carbon tax. The Legislature declined to consider the governor’s carbon tax proposal, but legislators introduced four more carbon tax proposals of their own, possibly motivated by the threat of a 2018 carbon tax ballot initiative, in their search for a budget panacea, or the opportunity for tax reform elsewhere. Ultimately, no carbon tax proposals advanced and the employer community influenced the discussion to include consideration of business-friendly elements new to Washington climate policy dialogue. AWB remained opposed to carbon pricing throughout the legislative session for three primary reasons: even with business exemptions, the administrative burden of complying with carbon taxes still would make Washington less competitive for business growth; no proposal would have “protected” revenues constitutionally (to prevent them from being used for other state programs in the future); and, AWB member businesses continue to believe they are the solution — not the problem. Alongside the carbon tax proposals in the Legislature, AWB is continuing its work on the state Department of Ecology’s (DOE) Clean Air Rule (CAR). While AWB worked with DOE in the drafting the rule, the collaboration Mary Catherine McAleer, AWB government affairs director for environmental policy, testifies ultimately failed to produce a regulation before the House Environment Committee. that was workable for the employer community. As a result, AWB filed suit against the department. The case is pending. AWB members remain mindful that this regulatory mandate creates a competitive disadvantage to business counterparts in other jurisdictions and hits our state’s manufacturing sector especially hard, jeopardizing family-wage jobs. Additionally, changes to environmental policy at the federal level have increased the pressure on state and local gover nments to maintain agency budget growth. The potential for reductions in pass-through dollars from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to state agencies has caused state and local governments to search for new operating revenue in the form of increased fees and taxes. AWB is working to prevent private backfilling of these funds. Additionally, Executive Order 13777, Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda, created several opportunities for AWB member businesses to submit feedback on burdensome federal regulations in need of review. A federal Regulatory Reform Task Force was directed to solicit public input, evaluate existing regulations, and make recommendations to agency heads on their eventual repeal, replacement or modification. Periodic progress reports are required of federal agencies, and employers could expect regulatory changes as early as 2018. Meanwhile, the EPA partially disapproved Washington state’s proposed surface water quality standards and instead adopted more stringent standards for background and legacy contaminants. The business community responded with an ongoing Petition for Reconsideration as the state DOE began issuing permits based on the new water quality standards. special edition 2017 31