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Thursday, legislators continued lengthy floor
sessions — intermingled with multiple political party
caucus meetings — in both the House and Senate. Numerous
bills were adopted between our preparation of
Wednesday’s Update and today’s Update; however, only
four education-related bills had been acted upon. Today,
the House adopted
HB 3182. HB 3182 is a late-arriving bill relating to
state mandates on local governments. As originally
introduced, the bill would have allowed local
governments, including school districts, to choose
whether or not to comply with requirements imposed by
the state, if state funding for the purpose of the
requirements was insufficient to pay the costs of its
implementation. Filled with good intentions, the bill
was a bit unrealistic and was amended before adoption by
the House Ways & Means Committee. As amended, specific
statutory requirements imposed on cities, counties or
other municipalities are made optional. For school
districts, the amended bill modifies state requirements
regarding truancy. Provisions from
HB 3039, which would streamline current
“Becca” truancy provisions, were added to HB 3182. HB
3182, if adopted as amended, will make filing truancy
petitions for six- and seven-year old children optional,
rather than required. Additionally, e-mail
communications and telephone conferences would be
allowed. (Note: similar language was also tacked onto
SB 6604 before it passed the full House on Tuesday.)
The House adopted the amended bill with a vote of 96-2
and now returns to the Senate for its acceptance or
rejection of the amendments.
The Senate today also took action on three
education-related bills: HB 1418, HB 2801 and HB 2621.
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HB 1418 would create a statewide dropout
reengagement system for youth aged 16 to 21 who have
dropped out of school or are not expected to
graduate by age 21. The Senate adopted the bill with
no dissenting votes and will be sent to the governor
for her action.
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HB 2801 would direct OSPI to revise and update
the model harassment, intimidation and bullying
prevention policy and procedure and present it to
the Legislature for review. Senate Ways & Means
Committee amendments add WSSDA as one of the parties
required to be consulted in developing an updated
model policy and procedure. School districts would
be required to adopt or amend policies to
incorporate the revised policy. The Senate adopted
the bill with no dissenting votes. Because it was
amended, it must now return to the House for its
acceptance or rejection of the amendments.
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HB 2621 would direct OSPI to designate up to
three middle schools and three high schools to serve
as “lighthouses” to offer technical assistance and
advice to school districts and communities regarding
best practices in STEM education. The Senate adopted
the bill with no dissenting votes and will be
returned to the House for its action.
Just prior to the preparation of this Update,
HB 2776 was added to the Senate’s next list of
consideration; however, they had not acted on the bill,
yet. HB 2776 is the QEC-related bill that would adopt
new funding distribution formulas for K-12 education.
Adoption of this bill would begin the implementation of
last year’s HB 2261 (Basic Education finance reform) by
attaching numerical values to allocations in the
prototypical school funding formula. We will provide an
update on the Senate’s action on this important bill
tomorrow.
We continue to await action on the budget by the
House; it remains unclear when that action may take
place. Apparently, there are still a number of House
Democrats that are holding out for a “better” budget and
without those members, the necessary 50-vote mark for
adoption is still not achievable. Both the House’s
proposed revenue plan and the Senate’s proposed revenue
plan also continue to languish. While leadership in both
houses continue to search for votes on the respective
plans, discussion continues about other options. In
fact, earlier today we received notice that the Senate
Ways & Means Committee will meet this evening for a
public hearing on a “new” plan. The Committee will
receive testimony on
SB 6250.
SB 6250 was pre-filed before session began and has
received no action — and actually little discussion. As
originally introduced, the bill would (subject to
ratification by the people) establish a Washington state
income tax. This issue (and similar bills) has routinely
been introduced for the last several years, but it is
also routinely ignored. This year, the Committee will
hold a hearing on the issue; however, a substitute
version of SB 6250 will be heard. The proposed
substitute (requested by Senate Majority Leader Lisa
Brown) would impose a “high earners” income tax and be
coupled with the Senate’s proposed three-tenths of a
cent sales tax increase. Here is
Sen. Brown’s description of her idea:
- The Legislature passes the temporary sales tax
increase, which would go into effect immediately to
help alleviate our state’s looming cash-flow
problem;
- It would also pass a referendum to the people,
giving them the opportunity in November to repeal
not just that three-tenths-of-a-cent increase, but
an additional half-cent off the state sales tax —
taking the state rate down to 6 cents, a level not
seen in thirty years; and
- In its place would go a high earners’ income tax
of 4.5 percent on all income over $200,000 for
individuals, $300,000 for heads of households, and
$400,000 for married couples.
Sen. Brown states that under this scenario,
“Washington’s middle class would not only have the
opportunity to protect essential services while asking
wealthier citizens to pay their fair share, but the
middle class would also have the opportunity to lessen
the amount they currently pay."
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