Environmental Stewardship Action during 2019
On May 7th. Gov. Jay Inslee signed an unprecedented suite of clean energy legislation into law, ushering in aggressive timelines for decarbonizing Washington’s economy and transforming the state’s energy. Together, these measures represent the greatest step Washington has ever taken toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Successful bills:
SB 5116 Establishes the clean energy transformation act. Addresses the elimination of coal-fired electricity and the transition of the state’s electricity supply to one hundred percent carbon neutral by 2030. Prime sponsor, Sen. Carlyle, passed the Senate 28-19, House 56-42.
HB 1112 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from hydrofluorocarbons. Rep Fitzgibbon , prime sponsor. Passed the house 55-39, Senate 30-19.
SB 5397 Reducing Plastic pollution by responsible management of plastic packaging . Rep. Wolfes prime sponsor. Passed the house 75-23, Senate 45-4
HB 1257 Increases energy efficiency of buildings and the use of renewable fuels that reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Rep. Doglio prime sponsor. Passed the House 55-37, Senate 25-23.
HB 1114 Reducing food waste in order to fight hunger and reduce environmental impacts, Rep. Doglio, prime sponsor. Passed the House 95-0, Senate 96-0.
HB 1579 Implementing recommendations of the southern resident killer whale task force related to increasing chinook abundance. Prime Sponsor, Rep.Fitzgibbon, passed the House 59-39, Senate 26-20
HB 1578 Reducing threats to southern resident killer whales by improving the safety of oil transportation. Rep.Lekanoff prime sponsor, passed the House 70-28, Senate 32-13
Efforts to continue next session:
SB 5412 HB 1110 Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels
SB 5489 Establishing a healthy environment for all by creating a definition of environmental justice, directing agencies to address environmental health disparities, and creating a task force.
CULVERTS To fully fund culvert removal. The current budget has $100 million for culvert removal, about one-third of what Gov. Jay Inslee requested. Underfunding culvert removal makes it almost impossible to meet the court’s deadline and will slow salmon recovery.