"I have not aligned myself with any party. Sitting tight waiting for an attractive offer." Will Rogers
Action has centered around floor debate and voting on proposed bills from the opposite house. As explained previously in the TWIO, if any bill is changed/amended by action in the opposite chamber, the ‘reconciliation’ process must take place. The “*” before a bill below indicates that reconciliation will need to occur. If no changes take place and the proposed bill is adopted by the opposite house, the bill is signed and then sent to the Governor for his response.
March 1st is the last day to consider opposite house bills. All attention will then turn to the budget negotiations and reconciling differences between bills. (The negotiations between the houses over the budget occur in some sort of back room.) The release of the budget will come closer to Sine Die on March 7th.
There are unknown actions yet to come, particularly amendments to proposals, as the deadlines approach. There are also many bills on each chamber’s calendars. Some will advance; some will ‘die’. And then of course, there are bills that are deemed necessary to implement the budget (NTIB) which previously were ‘dead’ can be revived, by whim of legislator, bills can also be resurrected. (zombie bill).
Below is a select summary of proposed legislation and status as of the writing of this report.
Retirement Related Proposals
SHB 1985: Providing a benefit increase to certain retirees of the public employees' retirement system plan 1 and the teachers' retirement system plan 1.
Comment: This bill passed House 97/0 and passed the Senate 49/0. It would provide an ad-hoc 3% pension increase in 2024 not to exceed $110/month for TRS1/PERS1 Plan retirees. Once signed by leaders in both Houses, the bill will be sent to the Governor for his action.
HB 2481: Waiving health benefit premiums in the public employees' benefits board.
Comment: This bill would waive, as the title suggests, the health benefit premium of the deceased during the month of one’s death. The survivors, if covered by insurance, would still pay the balance of the premium.
It passed House 97/0 and passed the Senate 49/0 and will be sent to the Governor for action.
Other areas of potential fiscal ($$) impact and (often, unfunded) to districts:
Below are selected titles and brief summaries of proposed bills that may have potential impact to the business operations of districts. The TWIO has a more extensive list and explanations.
*SHB 1105: Requiring public agencies to provide notice for public comment that includes the last date by which such public comment must be submitted.
Comment: This bill requires public agency notices for public comment to include the last date by which public comment must be submitted. • • Establishes penalties for agencies failing to provide the notice.
It passed the House 98/0. It was amended by the Senate and passed 49/0.
ESHB 1248: Concerning pupil transportation.
Comment: This bill provides that school districts may only enter into, renew, or extend pupil transportation services contracts with private nongovernmental entities that provide employee health and retirement benefits comparable to those received by school employees. • Directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to reimburse school districts for increased costs due to providing these benefits and provides a formula for calculating the reimbursement.
It passed the House 57/37/2 and is on the Senate floor calendar awaiting action.
E2SHB 1618: Concerning the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.
Comment: It eliminates the statute of limitations for recovery of damages as a result of childhood sexual abuse for all intentional actions occurring after June 6, 2024.
The bill as amended passed the House 93/0/5 and is on the Senate floor calendar awaiting action.
ESHB 1893: Concerning unemployment insurance benefits for striking or lockout workers.
Comment: This bill allows individuals unemployed due to a labor strike to receive up to four weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits following a specified disqualification period and the waiting week, provided that the labor strike is not found to be prohibited by federal or state law in a final judgment, in which case the disqualification resumes as of the date of the judgment. • Removes the provision disqualifying an individual for UI benefits based on an employer-initiated lockout resulting from a strike against another employer in a multi-employer bargaining unit.
It passed the House 53/44/1 and is on the Senate calendar awaiting further action.
SHB 1905: Including protected classes in the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act.
Comment: This bill extends the prohibitions on discrimination in wages and career advancement opportunities and the remedies to a person's membership in a protected class. • Provides that protected class means a person's age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal by a person with a disability.
This bill passed the House 63/34/1 and passed the Senate 36/13. It will be sent to the Governor for action.
HB 1927: Reducing the number of days that a worker's temporary total disability must continue to receive industrial insurance compensation for the day of an injury and the three-day period following the injury.
Comment: It reduces the number of days – from 14 to 7 – that a temporary total disability must continue to receive workers' compensation time loss benefits for the first three days following the injury.
It passed the House 60/37/1 and is on the Senate floor calendar awaiting further action.
HB 2044: An act relating to standardizing limitations on voter-approved property tax levies.
Comment: This bill removes the restriction on levy lid lift funds supplanting existing funds.
This bill passed the House 56/41/1 and is on the Senate floor calendar awaiting further action.
SHB 2127 - 2023-24 Concerning workers' compensation incentives to return to work.
Comment: This bill modifies certain return-to-work policies and reimbursement amounts under the workers' compensation program. • Increases the maximum amounts of reimbursements paid to employers participating in the Stay at Work Program and Preferred Worker Program by the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). • Increases the maximum amount paid to qualifying employers for job modification costs by L&I. • Allows L&I to authorize payments for basic skills development for qualifying injured workers.
This bill passed the House 97/0. It passed the Senate 46/0/3 and will be sent to the Governor for further action.
HB 2246: Concerning vacation leave accrual for state employees.
Comment: This bill increases the annual cap on the accrual of unused vacation leave for state employees from 240 hours to 280 hours.
This bill passed the House 97/0/1 and is on the Senate calendar awaiting further action.
*SHB 2381: Increasing eligibility for economy and efficiency flexible school calendar waivers.
Comment: This bill expands eligibility for economy and efficiency waivers to the 180-day school year requirement to school districts with 1000 or fewer students, rather than 500 or fewer students, and increases the cap on the total number of districts that may seek such a waiver from 10 to 30. • Requires school districts to include the following additional information in the waiver application when explaining the impact on employees in education support positions: expected position and work hour reductions, reductions in force, and the loss of work benefits or eligibility for work benefits.
This bill passed the House 97/0/1 and was amended and is currently on the Senate calendar awaiting further action.
E2SSB 5670: Permitting 10th grade students to participate in running start in online settings.
Comment: This bill permits rising 11th grade students to participate in Running Start courses during the summer academic term. • Requires that rising 11th grade Running Start students take no more than ten quarter credits per summer academic term, or the semester equivalent. • Requires school districts to provide information about Running Start enrollment opportunities during the summer academic term.
This bill passed the Senate 48/0/1 and is on the House calendar awaiting further action.
*ESB 5790: An act relating to bleeding control equipment in schools.
Comment: This bill requires school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools to maintain and make available certain bleeding control equipment and acquire and maintain at least one semiautomatic external defibrillator on each school campus beginning in the 2026-27 school year. • Specifies that schools must have a certain number of employees trained to use the bleeding control equipment. • Directs school districts to comply with existing requirements regarding semiautomatic external defibrillators.
This bill passed the Senate 47/0. It was amended and passed the House 95/0.
ESSB 5793: Concerning paid sick leave.
Comment: This bill allows an employee or transportation network company driver to use paid sick leave when their child's school or place of care is closed after the declaration of an emergency. • Modifies the definition of family member for the purpose of using paid sick leave to include any individual who regularly resides in the employee's home or where the relationship creates an expectation the employee care for the person, and that individual depends on the employee for care, except it does not include an individual who simply resides in the same home with no expectation the employee care for the individual. • • Provides that a child also includes a child's spouse. Requires the Department of Labor and Industries to develop materials and conduct outreach to inform individuals and businesses about the new provisions of the act.
It passed the Senate 28/21 and the House 76/19/3 and has been sent to the Governor for action.
*SSB 5804: Concerning opioid overdose reversal medication in public schools.
Comment: This bill requires all school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools, not just those with 2000 or more students, to obtain and maintain at least one set of opioid overdose reversal medication doses in each of the public schools and to adopt a related policy.
It passed the Senate 49/0 and was amended and passed the House 95/0.
*ESB 5824: Concerning the dissolution of libraries and library districts.
Comment: This bill changes the number of signatures required to file a petition to dissolve a library created by a county, city, or town from 100 taxpayers to 25 percent of qualified electors of that county, city, or town. • Increases the percentage of voters required to file a petition to dissolve a library district, and consequently a library created by that district, from 10 percent of eligible voters residing outside of incorporated cities or towns to 25 percent of all eligible voters residing in the library district. • Removes the exclusion of qualified electors residing in incorporated cities or towns within library districts from voting on propositions to dissolve a library district. • Authorizes a library created by a county, city, town, or library district to also be dissolved by independent action of the legislative body of the governmental unit in which the library is located.
The bill passed the Senate 49/0. The House amended the bill and passed 90/5/3.
SB 5883: Concerning the burden of proof for special education due process hearings.
Comment. This bill provides that a school district has the burden of proof when it is a party to a special education due process hearing. • Creates an exception to this burden of proof requirement in circumstances when a parent seeks reimbursement for a unilateral parental placement.
This bill passed the Senate 48/0/1. It passed the House 94/1/3 and has been sent to the Governor for action.
ESSB 6031: Modifying the student transportation allocation to accommodate multiple vehicle types for transporting students.
Comment: This bill provides that the pupil transportation funding formula may not be construed to mandate the type of vehicle used for pupil transportation and encourages districts to use the vehicle type that the district deems to be the safest and most cost-effective. • Requires district-owned cars to be included in the overall transportation allocation rather than being subject to a private reimbursement rate and requires additional district-owned ridership data to be considered. • Requires school districts to report the number of miles driven per vehicle type when reporting transportation data to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. • Expands the school bus purchase and reimbursement process to include passenger vans used in lieu of school buses. • • Requires that training and qualification rules that apply to school bus drivers must also apply to drivers transporting students in Washington State Patrol-inspected school vehicles other than school buses.
This bill passed the Senate 48/0 and is on the House calendar awaiting further action.
Fred Yancey
The Nexus Group LLC