The first few months of every year are Washingtonians’ chance to urge state lawmakers to pass good policies for our communities, natural places, and the climate. We rally our supporters behind policies we’re particularly excited about with our Legislative Action Team emails — make sure you’re getting them so you can contact your senator or representatives at key moments during the lawmaking process.
Here’s how it works: Washington state laws are passed each year during the state’s legislative session, beginning in early January. Short sessions happen during even-numbered years and last 60 days, while long sessions happen during odd-numbered years and last for 105 days, from January 13th to April 27th this year. In these whirlwind weeks, elected officials introduce bills, advance them through various House and Senate committees, hash out the differences between the two chambers’ version of a bill, and finally send them to the Governor for signing into law (or vetoing).
RE Sources’ priority bills and budget items
This page will be updated during the legislative session — not all bills have been introduced yet, and we may support or oppose new bills/budget items as we learn more about them. Many of our priorities are tough to categorize, but we’ve done our best below; the climate, waterways, forests, and our ability to support communities and schools are deeply interconnected.
Forests & Watersheds
Budgetary asks:
- Natural Climate Solutions budget provisio: Now that the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) has survived the attempt to repeal it, we want to establish continuity in using CCA funds for natural climate solutions like mature forest protection and forest health projects. We have an opportunity to fix the compensation mechanism to allow flexibility in meeting short- and long-term financial needs of counties/beneficiaries who are setting aside trust lands for conservation. Whatcom County has embraced climate resilience as a county goal and recognizes that mature forest protection is one of the best ways to preserve what we already have in these natural systems. We have additional opportunities to conserve currently unprotected older, structurally complex forests in our county and can refine the funding tool to better address the needs of beneficiaries like Mount Baker School District who may want the option to receive some funds up front.
- SB 5491 & HB 1563: Establishing a Prescribed Fire Claims fund. Prescribed fire reduces dead or dying vegetation, leaf litter, and small trees that can fuel wildfires. This prevents catastrophic wildfires and helps restore resilience to our forests, grasslands, and rangelands. Modeled after a program pilot launched in Oregon last year, the Prescribed Fire Claims fund decreases financial barriers to implementing prescribed burns by establishing a state liability fund to cover claims costs for cleanup and recovery in event of an escaped fire. Coast Salish and other peoples west of the Cascades have utilized fire for millennia to manage lowland and alpine landscapes for a variety of cultural and ecological values. Increasing the amount of prescribed and cultural burning supported statewide is a crucial step in moving toward more ecologically sound, climate resilient forest management after an era of fire suppression. Learn more in this one-pager from Washington Environmental Council, who we collaborate with during the legislative session.
Educating for the Environment
Budgetary asks:
- $2 billion public education package: Superintendent Chris Reykdal, who sits on the Board of Natural Resources, recognizes the value of mature forests is greater left standing than harvested for just 1% of the Common School Fund. This package would move K-12 public schools toward being fully funded, taking pressure off of timber revenues to be relied on for operating budget of beneficiary school districts in financial hardship for many systemic reasons. It’s critical for all public education in Whatcom County, but especially for rural schools like those in the Mount Baker School District. If we can sustainably, fully fund our schools from a stable source, we reduce the pressure to rely on timber revenues to make ends meet at the cost of the climate resilience of their communities.
Climate Action
- HB 1303: The Cumulative Risk Burden (CuRB) Pollution Act, integrating environmental justice considerations into certain project decisions. From our friends at Front & Centered on why this matters: “Communities that have historically borne the worst effects of pollution due to redlining and institutional racism shouldn’t continue to bear the ongoing harm being inflicted on their health, well-being, and even life expectancy today. Yet under current laws, the process that permits businesses to pollute is not required to consider the effects of our history of environmental racism and the cumulative health risk and burden the most impacted communities face.”
- HB 1135: Ensuring that local government planning complies with the Growth Management Act (GMA). This will close a legal loophole that could prevent accountability from local governments for land use planning. Jurisdictions that run into challenges in complying with GMA should be encouraged to get support from the state rather than circumventing important GMA mandates that will help communities plan for their futures.
- HB 1689: Reducing pollution from ships idling at Washington ports through shore power usage. This bill would enable ocean-going vessels such as cargo vessels and cruise ships to plug into clean electricity while at port, instead of burning fossil fuels while docked.
Ending Waste
- HB 1150 & SB 5284: The Recycling Reform Act, a bill that will require packaging and paper product companies and brands to fund our recycling system. This will bring consistent and accessible recycling to all state residents. It will reduce packaging and excess waste, and create education programs to reduce confusion.
Fighting Pollution
- SB 5450: Establishes public facing database with maps and records of sewage spills. This allows the public to see data around potentially dangerous spills before on-site postings happen. In communities like Bellingham, Anacortes and Mount Vernon, climate-driven increases in the frequency and severity of heavy rainfall will translate to an increase in combined sewage overflow events, where stormwater and wastewater systems combine when overwhelmed and send stormwater containing untreated sewage into open waters where people fish, swim, work and play.
- SB 5033: Initiates a testing program for toxic PFAS (Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances), also known as “Forever Chemicals”, in biosolids that are produced in Washington. In addition to releasing effluent, many wastewater treatment facilities across our state also produce biosolids, a waste product often repurposed as a fertilizer for croplands and gardens. A recent EPA risk assessment found that soils containing 1 ppb of PFAS could pose an unacceptable risk to human health, and multiple states have investigated the landspreading of biosolids after farmers have attributed contaminated wells, dead cattle, and crop failures to PFAS. The bill isn’t perfect, but would be a crucial first step in understanding how contaminated Washington’s biosolids are and where PFAS may be concentrated. It may also provide insight into the quality of our food and crops grown on land where biosolids have been routinely spread. See our one-pager on this bill here.
Check this page throughout early 2025 for updates!