Dear friends,
Some important deadlines are coming up in the Washington State Legislative Session. This Wednesday, February 4th, is the policy committee cutoff, meaning it’s the last day for bills that originated in a policy committee to be voted out of that committee in order to stay alive this year.
Bills that are in fiscal committees, including the House and Senate transportation committees, have until the fiscal committee cutoff next Monday, February 9th, to move forward. We expect the policy committees to spend the next couple of days in executive session and the fiscal committees to schedule more bills for hearings this week.
Last week, two of our priority bills were voted out of their respective committees:
- Senate Bill 6148 would allow Sound Transit to issue 75 year bonds, giving them more financial flexibility to build light rail faster. You can read more about this bill in our recent blog post.
- House Bill 2134 would ensure that regional transportation planning organizations provide for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. Learn about this bill in our blog post and fact sheet.
Now we need to ensure these bills are passed out of their respective rules committees and get support from the full Senate and House. Keep an eye out for action alerts from us to contact your legislators and keep these bills moving.
On Thursday, TCC’s Education and Engagement Manager, Iz Berrang, and Advocacy Manager, Holden Ringer, went to Olympia as part of a lobby day for transportation demand management programs and commute trip reduction. These are policies that require and encourage large employers to reduce single-occupancy vehicle commuting by supporting transit, carpooling, active transportation, and flexible work arrangements. House Bill 2307 would update Washington’s Commute Trip Reduction law, expanding the commute hours allowed under the law to support more low-income and shift workers. Iz and Holden met with Representative Joe Fitzgibbon and Senator Bob Hasegawa to share information about transportation demand management programs in Washington, why funding these programs is important, and to discuss the important changes HB 2307 proposes.
We also testified last week in support of House Bill 2550, which proposes free transit for certain students at community and technical colleges. The bill had a productive hearing, with legislators hearing from community college students about the opportunities that free transit would open up for them. They also heard from TCC and others about the need to fully fund this proposal and ensure it’s easy for transit agencies to implement.
Senate Bill 6243, which deals with the operation of autonomous motor vehicles, was pulled from the hearing schedule last week. We had concerns about the bill, including the potential preemption of local jurisdictions’ ability to enact laws regulating autonomous vehicles. We’ll be watching to see if this bill or a new version of it is heard in the next couple of weeks.
This week, you can join us in supporting two transportation bills: Senate Bill 6311, which requires continuous accessible pedestrian ways around construction zones (sign in PRO here), and Senate Bill 6252, the companion of House Bill 2250 that would bring free public transit to students at community and technical colleges (sign in PRO here).
Find more details below, and check out our Bill Tracker for updates on bills that we’re tracking this session.
Ride on!
– Transportation Choices Coalition
What’s Coming Up This Week
A bill that requires continuous accessible pedestrian ways around construction zones (SB 6311) has a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee TODAY, February 2nd, at 4 PM. This bill would help ensure people walking and rolling can get where they need to go when a sidewalk is closed. Sign in PRO here.
A bill proposing free transit for certain students at community and technical colleges (SB 6252, the Senate companion of HB 2550) has a hearing tomorrow, February 3rd, at 4 PM. Sign in PRO here.
What Happened Last Week
A bill to allow Sound Transit to issue 75-year bonds (SB 6148) passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee.
A bill to update regional transportation planning rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled (HB 2134) passed out of the House Transportation Committee.
A bill to create a clear distinction between electric bicycles and electric motorcycles (SB 6110) passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee.
A bill proposing free transit for certain students at community and technical colleges (HB 2550) had a hearing in the House Transportation Committee.
