OLYMPIA, Wash. – Wednesday marked a key deadline for lawmakers, as they had to pass all legislation without budgetary impacts out of the chamber they originated from.
A flurry of bills advanced from the senate to the house and vice versa. Proposals ranged from increasing farmer access to climate commitment act fuel exemptions, to creating more rules for online companies and platforms that serve kids and teens, to more funding for special education.
Despite a projected multi-billion dollar budget shortfall, the bill received the unanimous support of all senators in attendance.
“The fact that it’s expensive doesn’t change the fact that on the ground, we’ve got kids with special needs who are in our charge and are relying on us to make sure that they get the education to which they’re entitled under our constitution,” said Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle.
Some of the bills that were not considered by Wednesday’s deadline, meaning they will likely not become law this session, included allowing certain inmates to request resentencing, requiring bars offer testing kits for spiked drinks, and a repeat attempt to raise the penalties for violence against school sporting officials.
Prime sponsor Rep. Suzanne Schmidt, R-Spokane Valley, said while she was disappointed the bill will not become law this year, she is looking forward to trying again next year.
“I thought I had a lot better chance this year, and I think that I did,” she said. “But there was also well over 2000 bills that were dropped this year and some pretty big policy bills that were dropped this year. So they just took priority over the referee bill.”
As a 5 P.M. deadline to consider bills inched closer, the House began debating House Bill 1296 relating to parental and student rights in education.
Similar to legislation passed by the Senate last month, the bill would remove language allowing parents to be notified when a child receives non-emergency medical services or treatment at school, and parents’ access to student medical records.
Democratic proponents argued it protects the established rights of young people to make their own health care decisions. While Republican opponents said the bill puts the state in between parents and their children and undoes the work of last year’s Initiative 2081.
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