Tag Archives: legislature

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Preliminary results from the November general election indicate that Democrats will maintain and significantly increase their majorities in the state Senate and state House of Representatives for the 2019 Legislative Session.   Based on election results available at the time of publication, Democrats increased their majority in the House from 50 to 57 and from 25 ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist The 2018 Legislative Session was scheduled as a short, 60-day session, focused on passing supplemental budgets and addressing the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision mandating that the Legislature speed up funding basic education. The Legislature also had carry-over work from last session to complete, including finding a legislative fix to the Supreme Court’s Hirst decision and ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist This Thursday is the last scheduled day of the legislative session. Unlike recent years, there is no talk of a special session. Another important legislative deadline occurred last week, in which all bills must have passed out of both chambers to remain “alive”, unless they are deemed necessary to implement the budget. Over the next ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Today marks the 52nd day of the 2018 Legislative Session. With just more than a week left remaining for the regular session, the legislature is focused on moving the supplemental budget through the final days of the session and passing bills off the floor. This Friday at 5 p.m. is the deadline to pass bills ... Read More »

From the Capital Press A carbon tax bill in the Washington Senate seeks to shelter farmers from higher fuel costs and calls for investing in rural economies with electric vehicles, public transit and a faster internet to encourage telecommuting. Farm groups and rural Republican legislators, however, have not warmed to the bill. Farm groups say they’re worried about increasing off-farm ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG lobbyist Today marks the 44th day of the 2018 Legislative Session. Last Wednesday, the legislature reached a milestone—the deadline to pass bills out of the house of origin. Bills that did not meet that deadline are ineligible to move forward this year unless considered necessary to implement the budget. It is important to note, bills are ... Read More »

More than two dozen wheat growers and staff descended on the state capital last month as part of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers’ annual Olympia Days trip, landing amidst a flurry of Senate and House activity aimed squarely at two of the group’s highest priorities: resolving the fight over permit-exempt wells and passing the capital budget. Growers and staff ... Read More »

From Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Tuesday was is the 30th day of the 2018 legislative Session, and last Friday was the first cutoff of the 2018 Legislative Session. Cutoff dates play a crucial role in the legislative process as any bills that have not made it out of a policy committee are considered dead and are no longer eligible to ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG lobbyist Today marks the 23rd day of the 2018 Legislative Session. There are three days remaining until the first legislative deadline, Feb. 2, 2018, when all policy bills must make it out of their policy committee. The agriculture industry was out in force last week at the hearing on proposed legislation to require four days notice ... Read More »

A group of Washington wheat farmers joined other growers yesterday in Olympia to testify in a Senate Labor and Commerce Committee public hearing on SB 6529, a bill that places unworkable restrictions and onerous reporting requirements on pesticide applicators. The bill would require a pesticide user to provide written notice of an intended pesticide application to the Washington State Department ... Read More »