Hello friends and neighbors,
The 2024 legislative session is wrapping up in a few short days, and while there’s still work to do passing the three supplemental budgets (Capital, Operating, and Transportation), I’m excited to share with you what I’m advocating for in the budget, and some of the great bills we’ve passed.
Concurrence, Dispute, and Conference
Before we get to bills and budgets, here’s an overview of what happens in the last week before Sine Die (when session officially ends). The House and Senate won’t be hearing any new bills. Instead, we’ll be taking up bills that were amended by the opposite chamber before passing. Three things can happen:
- We can choose to concur with the changes and move the bill forward
- We can dispute the changes and ask the other chamber to recede from their amendments and move the bill forward in same form it was in when it was voted out of the House
- We can request a conference. If differences can’t be resolved, a committee with members from both chambers meet to try and reach agreement. If they can’t, the bill does not move forward.
Bills pass most often through concurrence which happens on the floor. Curious? Tune in at www.tvw.org this week to see democracy at work!
The 2024 supplemental budget
Just in case you needed a quick budget refresher: we pass biennial budgets in odd-numbered years. In 2023 we passed the budget that covers 2024 and 2025. In even-numbered years like this one, we have a chance to revisit the biennial budget to make sure the numbers still compute. It also gives the legislature the opportunity to add funding for needs we may not have foreseen when we passed the original budget.
We’ve made investments in K-12 and higher education, homeless and housing, health care and public health, and so much more, including $270M for behavioral health care in our state.
Funding for our district
Here’s a few projects that were included in the supplemental Capital budget. While the House version still has to be reconciled with the Senate version, I’m hopeful this funding will be approved in the final budget.
Carbon Sequestration Prairie Restoration – $2M
Balancing the demands of urban development, including building much-needed affordable housing, means investing in mitigation techniques, like prairie land. The deep, fibrous root systems of prairieland perform significant carbon sequestration. The City of Tumwater has been working to acquire a portion of Tickner Farm to restore and use as prairie habitat to offset projected development. This funding would support that goal and allow the city to purchase approximately 25 acres.
Boulevard Townhomes Project – $1.54M
This funding would allow Habitat for Humanity to begin sitework on a Net Zero Energy, Passive House certified, low-income housing community. The project includes 112 permanently affordable housing units on a currently undeveloped 10-acre parcel in Thurston County. South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity anticipates building these units in a way that results in residents having a low- to zero-cost energy bill.
A few more requests that were included in either the House or Senate budget include:
- $250,000 for the Medical Equipment Bank
- $50,000 for the City of Lacey Regional Public Safety Training Center
- $250,000 for the Puget Sound Estuarium Property
The bills that made it this session
While nothing is certain until it’s signed by the governor (at least in the legislature), four bills that I sponsored were passed by the Senate last week and are heading to the Governor’s desk. I’m proud of the work we were able to do this session around affordable housing and addressing our healthcare workforce shortage.
Legislators from other districts have been doing great work in these areas as well. Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-University Place, sponsored HB 1892 to create a workforce housing accelerator program to speed up the development and building of affordable workforce housing across Washington.
Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, sponsored bill HB 1939 to allow licensed social workers to practice in multiple states with a single, multistate license. Eliminating the need for social workers to obtain a new license in every state will allow those critical workers to respond to crisis with agility and make it easier to assign resources where needs are greatest.
Farewell to Senator Sam Hunt
When I was elected to the WA House of Representatives in 2021, Senator Sam Hunt was wrapping up his 20th year in the legislature. This isn’t a job for everyone but for Senator Hunt, it’s been more than a job; he’s put his heart into representing the 22nd Legislative District for more than twenty years and his leadership and guidance will be sorely missed.
It’s an honor to represent you. Please feel free to reach out to me with your questions, concerns, suggestions, or ideas for legislation at Jessica.Bateman@leg.wa.gov or follow my Facebook page for more updates.
