Washington Business Fall 2018 | Legislative Review & Vote Record | Page 28

2018 legislative review
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
The 2018 legislative session began with strong momentum to pass
a comprehensive carbon tax and preempt a carbon price from being
placed on the November 2018 ballot via an initiative. Despite the
efforts of carbon tax supporters to mediate environmentalist and
business concerns to reach agreement on a carbon tax proposal,
they failed to win the support necessary to pass a bill. Shortly
after the session ended, backers of Initiative 1631 filed it with the
Secretary of State’s office. I-1631 proposes to enact a steep carbon
tax rate and create a new body of unelected appointees to oversee
a network of programs that are not necessarily aimed at reducing
emissions. In June, supporters turned in approximately 375,000
petition signatures — far more than the 260,000 required to be
placed on the November ballot.
AWB’s Mary Catherine McAleer with Irene Plenefisch of
Microsoft and Sheri Call of the Washington Trucking Association.
A newly-secured Democratic majority in both House and Senate
chambers also allowed for the introduction of many policy ideas
previously stifled by bipartisan control of the legislative chambers. Unlike other legislative sessions, most of these dozens of
energy and environmental policy proposals were moved to the House Rules Committee without being fully negotiated by House
and Senate leadership teams. Energy-related bills introduced ranged from on-bill asset repayment and fuel content standards
to utility renewable-energy mandates and carbon taxes. Ultimately, a prevailing combination of political factors caused most
of these policies to fail: legislators being unwilling to take risky tax votes immediately prior to an election year, a short, 60-day
timeline, and political tension between the legislative and executive branches of state government.
Lawmakers also delivered on two AWB priorities this session by passing a legislative fix for the Supreme Court’s Hirst water
rights decision and reforming the State Building Code Council (SBCC). Identified as a top issue coming out of AWB’s Rural Jobs
Summits last year, the Hirst bill provides property owners with access to water, allowing county officials to issue building permits
again. And AWB worked with stakeholders for the last few years on finding a set of reforms that would establish a functioning
and efficient administration of the SBCC. For many in the business community, the SBCC became an impediment to consistent
and predictable building codes and this year’s legislation will provide needed reforms.
climate and energy policy
HB 1144
amending the state’s
greenhouse gas reduction
targets
Failed/AWB Opposed
House Bill 1144, sponsored by Rep. Joe
Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, follows years of
debate regarding the state’s statutor y
greenhouse gas targets. HB 1144 attempted
to amend the existing statute to codify
these new, more stringent, reduction
targets. AWB opposed HB 1144 in 2017
and 2018. The bill would have increased
26 association of washington business
the stringency of Washington’s emission
reduction goals. AWB members argued that
the goals don’t make sense because they
ignore Washington state’s relatively clean
baseline, they include emissions occurring
outside of the state, and they are legally
unenforceable. Additionally, Washington’s
other energ y statutes fail to recognize
emissions-free hydropower and nuclear
energy, which are sources of power in many
of the nations participating in the Paris
Climate Accord, and HB 1144 would not
have provided parity with regard to electric
power production. The existing emissions
reduction targets also expose the state to
litigation, which we have already seen in
Zoe and Stella Foster, et. al. v. Washington
State and Juliana v. United States. HB 1144
moved out of the House on a party-line vote,
but failed to pass in the Senate.
HB 2328
making changes to the
clean car standards and
clean car program
Failed/AWB Opposed
Hou se Bi l l 2328 , spon sored by Rep.
Jef f Morris, D-Mount Vernon, would
have mandated that Washington adopt
California’s Clean Car Standards program
requiring manufacturers to deliver certain