During short legislative sessions, things tend to
move fairly quickly and, while many committees will hold work sessions
reviewing various issues, many bills are already being heard and being
prepared for rapid action. This morning, the House Select Committee on
Environmental Health heard three returning bills from 2007: HB 1601,
HB 2613 and HB 1806. Each bill includes efforts to
protect children (and adults) from exposure to environmental hazards.
- HB 1601 would create the Children’s Environmental Health and
Protection Advisory Council. The Council would be required to:
review existing rules, regulations and standards to ensure adequate
protection of children’s health from environmental hazards; and
provide recommendations for changes to reduce children’s exposure to
environmental hazards.
- HB 2613 would limit the ability of state agencies to use certain
cleaning supplies. Local governments — including schools — would be
encouraged to follow the same standards.
- HB 1806 would attempt to limit the application of pesticides on
school facilities by requiring all school districts to adopt a
policy supporting the development and use of an integrated pest
management program. WSSDA would be required, with the assistance of
the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, to
develop a model policy for districts to use.
The House Finance Committee held a public hearing on HB 2332.
Returning from last year, HB 2332 would authorize school districts to
request an additional Maintenance & Operations levy before a currently
approved levy has expired, if the Legislature takes action that has
the effect of increasing levy capacity. For example, School District
“A” has a voter approved levy and is at its levy lid (in most cases 24
percent). Additionally, they are in the first year of a four-year
levy. If the Legislature provided an increase in teacher pay (which
would expand the district’s levy capacity), then the district would be
authorized to request an additional levy to capture the additional
levy capacity.
This afternoon, the House Education Committee held a work session
to hear the legislative priorities of the various education
stakeholders. Among other groups, representatives from WSSDA, WASA
(school administrators), AWSP (school principals), WEA (teachers), and
PSE (classified staff) answered the question: “What should the top
three priorities be for the Legislature in Education for the 2008
session?” Each representative discussed similar priorities based on
discussions of the Full Funding Coalition (comprised of the five
groups above, formed last year following the release of the Washington
Learns’ disappointing final report). Among the issues mentioned: full
funding of Basic Education; limitation of unfunded mandates; ensuring
the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance completes its job; and
fulfilling the legislative obligation to fully fund its current
obligations (including special education, student transportation,
Non-Employee Related Costs, etc.).
This
evening, Gov. Gregoire will deliver the annual State of the State
Address to a Joint Session of the Legislature. At the time this Update
was being prepared, Gov. Gregoire had not yet begun her remarks and
her speech was unavailable beforehand. We’ll include information on
her presentation in tomorrow’s Update. |
