Friends & Neighbors,

We are wrapping up our third week of the 2019 Legislative Session and it has been bustling down here in the Capitol.

Here are a few highlights of what we have been up to this session:

Tackling our homelessness and affordability crisis

Each year increasing homelessness and lack of affordable housing have dominated the conversation both across King County and up and down the west coast. That is why this week I introduced the most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) legislation in the nation, House Bill 1797. ADUs are commonly known as backyard cottages, basement apartments and in-law units.

This bipartisan legislation would allow urban cities with a population of more than 2,500 to:

• Permit two ADUs per lot wherever there is a single-family home, duplex, triplex, or townhome.
• Eliminate off-street parking, owner-occupancy, and minimum lot size requirements.
• Cap impact fees at 50 percent of those for single-family homes.
• Set utility connection fees and capacity charges in proportion to the ADU’s burden on the utility system.
• Increase design flexibility via more generous setback, height, and size limits.

This approach allows homeowners to make decisions about their own property with the ultimate goal of ensuring all our neighbors have a warm, dry place to come home to each day.

Collaboration leads to consensus on deadly force initiative

When police shoot or kill someone, and the law doesn’t offer a clear path to justice for the victim, it does damage to the community, to the reputation of law enforcement, and to the notion of justice. For years, communities, especially communities of color, have been frustrated by the outcomes of interactions between police and members of the community. There have been too many instances where people in a mental health crisis end up injured or dead instead of receiving help.

Last fall voters approved Initiative 940, which updates Washington’s statute on police use of deadly force. While I-940 was a great step forward in repairing the trust between the public and law enforcement, there are provisions that need to be more defined. Last session, community groups and representatives of law enforcement worked with lawmakers on language to clarify and strengthen the initiative.

Before the 2019 session began, that coalition of stakeholders called on the Legislature to move quickly and pass the clarifying and strengthening language agreed upon last year. That language is mirrored in House Bill 1064, which was introduced this session by my colleague, Rep. Roger Goodman. Together, I-940 and HB 1064 will improve public safety and interactions between police and the communities they serve by providing law enforcement with the tools to carry out their difficult jobs, while ensuring that victims of unnecessary violence can get justice.

I’m pleased to report that HB 1064 passed the House this week on a unanimous vote!

Cleaning up our own House

The Washington state House of Representatives took its first vote of the year on Thursday, which aimed at protecting the legislative community from sexual harassment and bullying. The problem of harassment in the Legislature festered for decades until more than 200 women in the legislative community came together to sign a “Stand With Us” letter. Since then, the Legislature has taken significant steps to end this culture of harassment, including creating the House Workgroup on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment. Today, the House passed House Concurrent Resolution 4401 establishing the Legislature’s Code of Conduct.

From now on, all members of the legislative community — legislators, staff, and people who conduct business with the legislature — are expected to:

• Conduct themselves with self-awareness, self-respect, and professionalism;
• Treat all others with respect, dignity and civility, regardless of status or position;
• Refrain from engaging in hostile, intimidating, offensive, or unlawful activities or behaviors that may amount to discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, or bullying.

As my colleague Nicole Macri, a member of the workgroup said, “If we can’t protect our staff here in the House and Senate, then we have no moral authority to legislate how any other employer should protect their workers.”

I was proud to vote for this resolution to create a workplace where everyone is treated with respect.

In Service,

Rep. Mia Gregerson