Guest Commentary

OLYMPIA–The life of a bill is truly a mysterious thing. For example, let’s follow the journey of two different bipartisan sponsored bills: HB 1067 (state dinosaur) and HB 1020 (emergency powers reform). Both bills were pre-filed before session started. Both bills were referred to the same committee. Only one of these bills, however, has been scheduled for a public hearing and executive action. Based on the experience of Washingtonians over the past year, can you guess which one?

That’s right, the winner for the committee’s time is declaring the state dinosaur.

Now my family loves dinosaurs as much as the next, and in a normal session may be excited for the new state dino merchandise. But these are not normal times and Washingtonians have been itching for nearly nine months to discuss ways to ensure more voices have a seat at the table when decisions are made impacting their lives.

Explaining this fact, here what Stateline said about one of the bipartisan sponsors of HB 1020:

“Some Democrats also back limits on governors’ emergency powers. Washington state Rep. Steve Kirby is co-sponsoring two bills: one that would restrict the governor’s emergency orders to 30 days, unless the legislature votes to extend them, and another that would similarly restrict the state health department’s emergency orders.

Kirby said he signed on because Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has made decisions without much consultation with lawmakers, such as shutting down businesses—which has resulted in layoffs and economic strain.

‘I’ve been getting emails, every day, for months, from people who are downright desperate,’ Kirby said, ‘and it just frustrates me to no end that I haven’t been able to do anything about it.’

Kirby said he’s not committed to voting for either bill and doubts they’ll even make it to a vote. But, he said, he hopes his co-sponsorship will encourage fellow Democrats to air their concerns about emergency orders.”

There are several bills proposing reforms to the state’s emergency powers. As we’ve previously noted, other states require legislative approval after 30 or 60 days for emergency declarations. A similar bipartisan proposal in the Senate (SB 5039) is also still waiting to receive a public hearing.

I asked Sen. Lynda Wilson, prime sponsor of SB 5039, if she has received word if it would be scheduled for a public hearing. This is what she told me this morning:

“Given the frustration I heard from our constituents over the course of this past 10 months that the voices of their legislators were not at the table and that it’s a bipartisan bill with 1/3 of the Senate signed on to it l, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more consideration for hearing this bill by the Chair. I’m sure he heard from his constituents like I did. We can’t risk going through something like this again without some parameters for emergency powers in place.”

The cutoff for bills to be passed out of committee is February 15. Obviously, there is still time to hear the emergency powers reform bills but the time for action grows short as the pressure on committee agendas increases with each passing day.

As for the state dinosaur, since the bill has been scheduled for a committee vote this week, I’ll be watching to see if anyone proposes an amendment to declare it to be the Taxasaurus instead. That is truly the fiercest predator of them all.