By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org
See our comprehensive bill tracker for week 14.
April 8th marked the date by which bills from the opposite chamber needed to be passed out of fiscal committees. Starting the next day, work turned to floor action, with the Senate finishing business Friday night and the House working through Saturday.
The next deadline is Wednesday, April 16 at 5 PM. This is the date and time that bills from the opposite chamber must pass off the floor. Any bill left in Rules committees or stranded on the Second Reading calendar is considered “dead” for the session. The exceptions are any bills necessary to implement the budget, which means they result in a savings to the state or raise revenues.
SSB 5570 ended its journey in the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Bow, said the reason they decided not to advance the bill is because it would put undue pressure on school districts to comply with the requirement when no resources were available to them for implementation. She also said that the federally recognized Indian tribes also needed resources to build curriculum and to support incorporation into school district social studies curriculum.
Also not meeting the April 8th deadline were:
- HB 1503 would have modified the state’s Digital Equity program, shifting responsibilities among different state agencies and adding some requirements.
- SB 5105 would have expanded the offenses prohibiting dealing, in, sending or bringing into the state, possessing, or viewing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct to include circumstances involving visual or printed matter that has been digitally created or altered and is obscene, regardless of whether the depicted minor is identifiable.
- SB 5268 would have required the court to impose one year of community custody when sentencing a person for an offense involving the unlawful possession of a firearm, regardless of whether the person is a criminal street gang member or associate.
- SB 5327 would have required the State Board of Education to align learning standards and graduation requirements regarding computer science competency and financial education with their work regarding updates to the state’s graduation requirements.
Special education and MSOC
E2SSB 5263 is the funding bill for special education. The bill has been pulled to the House floor for a vote. Ultimately the bill’s policy changes (e.g., removing the cap, changing the multiplier, lowering the safety net threshold) are dependent on the spending and revenue decisions legislators make over the next 13 days.
Last week the House placed the bill on the 2nd reading calendar, which means it is ready for floor action. House Democrats are likely going to push for the bill as it was amended in the House Appropriations Committee, which maintains the 16% cap and includes only a slight change to the multiplier – increased from 1.12 to 1.186 for students who spent at least 80% of their time in a general education classroom, and from 1.06 to 1.09 for students who spend less than 80% of their time in a general education classroom.
The amended bill also includes the intention to “review the state auditor report on the prevalence of disabilities in consideration of further increases or elimination of the enrollment limit on special education funding.”
Other amendments from the House Appropriations Committee striker are:
- Allowing OSPI to reserve up to 0.006 of new funding generated under the increased multiplier for technical assistance, professional development, maintaining common templates and resources (including a statewide tool for individualized education programs), and supporting inclusionary practices.
- Providing up to 20 grants for pilot schools to support school-wide centers of excellence for inclusionary practices. Selected schools will generate a grant equivalent to the amount needed to bring the school to a multiplier of 1.5 for all students eligible for special education services.
- Offering a multiplier of 1.2 for the Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (birth to three) program for students who are eligible for intervention services. The multiplier is changed to tie it to the multiplier for students ages 3-5 in future years.
- Requiring OSPI to distribute safety net awards on a quarterly basis when certain criteria are met, including if the school district successfully applied for and received a safety net award for the high-cost student in a prior school year and the student’s placement has not changed since that safety net award was granted. If adopted, this practice would begin next school year.
- Requiring OSPI to distribute safety net awards to districts with fewer than 1,000 students on a quarterly basis, beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
- Continuing two-year demonstration site projects to build school-wide systems to support students in distress and prevent crisis escalation cycles that may result in restraint or isolation.
- Directing OSPI to develop a strategy and timeline to implement a prohibition on isolating students in prekindergarten through grade 5. The goal date for the prohibition is July 1, 2031. The plan is required by December 1, 2027.
- Changing the allocation and cost accounting methodology for special education to shift 25% of the basic education allocation amount for special education students to the school district’s special education program for expenditure.
ESSB 5192 passed out of the House Appropriations committee as reported last week. The increased per student amount is inflationary only, representing about $45.99 per base-level student. The bill remains in the House Rules Committee. It is possible to make the funding adjustments in the omnibus budget, which means a bill isn’t necessary this session. This is another bill that will truly depend on what investments are included in the final operating budget.
Two weeks to go in the regular session
While the rank-and-file legislators are focused on bills and floor action, House and Senate budget negotiators for the operating, capital and transportation budgets are starting to sit down and discuss the differences between their respective budgets. This includes conversations about which tax proposals that raise funds have the necessary votes and will win the approval of Governor Bob Ferguson.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said the wealth tax was off the table. The most likely options to garner the prerequisite 50 votes in the House, 25 votes in the Senate, and Governor’s signature are ones that are well known, easy to implement, and result in funding beginning in the FY26 fiscal year (July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026). Those ideas include increasing property taxes and the business and occupation tax and adding a high-wage earner or payroll tax. Other tax proposals on various items (e.g., tobacco, wine, beer) or removal of tax preferences are also in play.
Look for additional bills to be introduced in the next week to achieve savings to the state budget, at least in a temporary way. For example, while the House and Senate seemed to take a pass at eliminating the bonuses for National Board Certified Teachers, they might be forced to return to at least a small reduction for at least two years to the bonus to save the state money in the next biennium. Another example is mandating furloughs for state employees, which has not gone well with state employees who traveled to Olympia last week to protest the concept.
Any bills introduced in only one chamber will need to go through at least a streamlined process of a public hearing, executive action, and then floor action. When identical bills have a hearing in their respective chamber, it is possible to bypass the public hearing in the other chamber and just vote the bill out of committee.
Bill watch
E2SHB 1163, changing requirements permits and training to purchase, transfer or possess firearms, was pulled from Senate Rules and is on the Senate floor calendar. The bill has had a few changes to address various exceptions or requests and is eligible for a vote.
Also eligible for a vote – but in the House – is E2SSB 5098, restricting the possession of weapons on the premises of state or local public buildings, parks or playground facilities where children are likely to be present, and county fairs. The bill was modified in the House Appropriations Committee, adding a few exceptions to restrictions on weapons in these sensitive locations.
The House Finance Committee has scheduled HB 2049 for a vote Friday, April 18th. No amendment has been posted yet; the bill as drafted would:
- Increase the 101% revenue growth limit for state and local property taxes to 100% plus population change and inflation, with a limit of 103%.
- Increase the maximum per-pupil limit used for school enrichment levies, beginning with a $500 per student increase, and gradual increase over several years up to $5,035 in the 2031 calendar year.
- Increase the per-student state Local Effort Assistance (LEA) threshold by $200 above inflation in 2026, and $300 above inflation in 2027, and then $200 per student in 2030 and 2031.
- Remove the 16% cap on funded enrollment for special education excess cost funding in the 2028-29 school year.
- Require OSPI to convene a K-12 funding equity workgroup to analyze options for revising K-12 funding formulas.
If this is part of a final deal, the bill is likely to be fast-tracked and get a hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
Check the Bill Status Report for additional bills still under consideration.
Bill signings
Over the past two weeks, Governor Ferguson has been holding bill signing ceremonies in his conference room in the Legislative Building. For any bill that is delivered before April 22nd, the Governor has five days (not counting Sundays) to sign the bill. If the bill is delivered after April 22nd, the Governor will have 20 days (not counting Saturdays or Sundays) after April 27th, the last regular day of the session, to sign the bill.
The Week Ahead – Schedule Subject to Change
The House and Senate are scheduled to be on the floor, typically starting around the 9 AM mark.
Finance (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 4/18 @ 8:00am