This is the Federation Hotline updated Jan. 10.
House committee unanimously votes to move Capital Construction Budget
The House Capital Budget Committee on Tuesday (Jan. 9) voted 19-0 to kick start movement on the long-stalled state Capital Construction Budget, 2SHB 1075.
This first vote came on just the second day of the 2018 session – and Day 268 since the bill was iced by the old Senate majority over an unrelated water-rights issue. The House has always strongly supported the measure, having passed it 92-1 last year.
The accompanying bond bill (SHB 1080) passed the committee 14-5.
The governor and top legislative leaders have called for quick action on the Capital Construction Budget.
Affordable Housing bill introduced
Rep. Nicole Macri’s affordable housing bill inspired by AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) members who no longer can afford to live where they work was introduced Tuesday (Jan. 9).
House Bill 2583, sponsored by Macri of the 43rd Dist., has been referred to the House Community Development, Housing and Tribal Affairs Committee. Macri is vice chair of that committee.
Macri’s affordable housing bill declares “there is a housing emergency throughout Washington state. Safe, accessible and affordable housing is a cornerstone of a civil and human society. Yet, because of steep rent costs, thousands of families throughout our state do not have access to this fundamental human necessity.”
That crisis has hurt businesses because workers look for jobs closer to where they can afford to live. The lack of affordable housing causes more homelessness, a burden on local school districts, cities, counties and other local governments.
Yet, it’s state law that has tied the hands of local governments and HB 2583 would fix that.
Macri’s bill would give local governments the freedom to address the crisis in affordable housing by abolishing the statewide bans on local laws that regulate rent.
This is one of our major priorities in the 2018 legislative session. And Lobby Days are a great way for member advocates to tell their stories directly to legislators about the need for HB 2583.
- RSVP FOR LOBBY DAY: https://wfse.org/lobby-days
supplemental budget advocacy moves to Senate
AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) gave applause and raised concerns on the governor’s supplemental budget proposal Tuesday (Jan. 9), this time in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on SB 6032.
Committee Chair Sen. Christine Rolfes (23rd Dist.) praised AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) and all who testified because the governor’s proposal is the first draft of the separate proposals that the House and Senate will write. Identifying concerns now will help form those later proposals that will become the final supplemental budget.
With that in mind, our Lobbyist Matt Zuvich praised the governor’s plan for investing in more staff in Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Juvenile Rehabilitation.
“Those staffing level bumps are going to help a lot to provide services,” Zuvich said. “That population often takes more than one-on-one staffing.”
Zuvich also called for provisions to build on progress made on recruitment and retention of staff and urged support for the request for additional police officers at The Evergreen State College.
He also repeated concerns about the potential reduction in Community Corrections officers from the state’s proposed concurrent consecutive sentencing and the need for caseload help for social workers in the new Department of Children, Youth and Families.
And he called for action on funding of state parks.
“Continuing to use parks user fees as a major method to fund state parks is not the direction we need to continue on,” Zuvich said.
See his testimony at:
https://www.tvw.org/watch/?clientID=9375922947&eventID=2018011078&eventID=2018011078&startStreamAt=4038&stopStreamAt=4177&autoStartStream=true
That’s it for now.
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