The following are links to other web pages related to the Legislature:
I am sad to report that ESHB 2938, which was scheduled for public hearing on Tuesday, February 26, was pulled from the list and now appears dead for this session. We are attempting to find a vehicle to "hang" our language on and to keep this issue alive during this legislative session. I am disappointed that the Association of Washington Cities, various city mayors and some individuals in the fire service do not want to even discuss the impacts that their annexations have on citizens residing in fire districts. We will be meeting in the near future to outline a plan to present to the WFCA Legislative Committee for interim meetings with legislative leadership to discuss this issue.
The 2008 legislative session is heading into the final three weeks with February 29 being the next committee cut-off date to pass bills from the opposite House. A few surprises have occurred with 2007 bills being resurrected. We will continue to support ESHB 2938 as amended to illustrate the need for reform of the Growth Management Act and annexation statutes in an attempt to level the playing field.
LEGISLATURE PASSES HALFWAY MARK
The 2008 legislative session has passed the halfway mark of 30 days and both fiscal and policy committee cut-off dates have passed. The majority of time from today through Tuesday, February 19 will be in caucus and floor action. Some bills have been deleted from this week's report due to failing to make it out of committee prior to cut-off.
SHB 2938 PASSES LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
The WFCA's number one priority bill, SHB 2938, passed out of House Local Government Committee on a 7-0 vote February 5. We will be working this issue very hard over the next two weeks as February 19 is the last day to pass bills out of the original house. Also today, February 8, is the committee
cut-off date for non-revenue bills. February 12 is the last day to move bills out of the respective revenue committees. Please be ready to email and call your legislators on various issues.
The following bills are updated as of February 1; updates from last week are shown in bold type. I want to thank everyone who attended the Legislative Day last week; your support is appreciated. For additional information on bills, you may access the state legislative homepage at www.leg.wa.gov or call Roger Ferris at 1.800.491.9322.
The 2008 legislature is closing out its second week of this 60-day session. The number of bill introductions, public hearings and floor action will proceed into high gear this week. The following are bills updated to you as of January 25. Starting today, weekly legislative reports will be posted on this website and will be email “blasted” to every member who has signed up. Those of you who attended yesterday's Legislative Day in Olympia received a report dated January 22nd; updates have been made to that report and are shown in this report in bold type. For additional information on bills, you may access the state legislative homepage at www.leg.wa.gov or call Roger Ferris at 1.800.491.9322.
ESSB 5498 (multi-year lid lift authority), the WFCA's number one priority for the 2007 legislative session, was signed into law by Governor Gregoire. Thank you to all who helped in passage of this important legislation.
Capital/State Budget Issues
The state capital budget provided $30,000 to the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED) to conduct a study of small and rural fire districts that have a limited fiscal capacity to finance fire district facilities. The study shall include but is not limited to the following:
CTED will provide all support of the study and will consult with the WFCA, Washington Fire Chiefs and the fiscal committees of the legislature. The Department shall provide a report of the findings to the fiscal committees of the legislature by December 1, 2007.
ESHB 1368: This is the special purpose district legislation to implement cost of living adjustments for commissioner per diem compensation. Fire district commissioners currently receive $70 per day. This legislative proposal will increase the per diem compensation up to $90 per day with a yearly maximum of $8,640. The House concurred with Senate amendments and the bill was signed by Governor Gregoire. Effective date is July 22.
SSB 6119: This bill was amended by the House Appropriations Committee with the following striker amendment language:
SSB 6119 does not impact current funding programs; however, new dedicated fund (15% of insurance premium) has been deleted and apprenticeship program must be funded through state appropriation. Bill was signed by Governor Gregoire. State budget appropriated $250,000 for the program.
LEOFF Plan 2 Retirement Board Request Legislation
The following proposals were request legislation from the LEOFF Plan 2 Retirement Board.
SHB 1679: Provides for one position on the LEOFF 2 Retirement Board to be a retired employee. It does not affect employer representation or increase board membership from its current eleven members. Signed by the Governor.
HB 1680: Provides for service credit calculations and transfer provisions. Signed by the Governor.
Firefighter Disability Legislation
SHB 2147: A legislative proposal which provides vocational rehabilitation services to volunteer firefighters who are injured and/or disabled "in the line of duty". This is a new benefit which will be provided through the Board for Volunteer Firefighters and Reserve Police Officers Relief and Pension Program, without increase in disability payments by fire districts. Governor Gregoire signed the bill which became effective immediately.
ESHB 1833: This bill will expand the firefighter presumptive disease statutes in workers' compensation laws to include stomach cancer, intestinal cancer, multiple myeloma, testicular cancer and prostate cancer. Also presumes that strenuous exercise resulting in injury to the heart is presumed to be occupationally related. This legislation amends the presumptive disease rebuttal language from current preponderance of the evidence, to be rebutted by clear, cogent and convincing evidence. Also, if the employee prevails and the presumption is upheld, the employee will be awarded full benefits, attorneys' fees, expert witness costs and all other costs. This bill was proposed by the State Council of Fire Fighters and supported by the Washington Fire Chiefs. Amendments were added to restore preponderance of evidence for rebuttal, clarifies attorney fees, and deletes stomach cancer and amends prostate cancer. Employer cost impacts were reduced significantly with House floor striking amendment. Governor Gregoire signed ESHB 1833 which has an effective date of July 22.
ESB 5498 Scheduled for Bill Signing
ESB 5498 (multi-year lid lifts bill) is scheduled to be signed by Governor
Gregoire on Tuesday, May 8. The signing will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the
Governor's Conference Room (Governor's Office) in Olympia.
By late next week, a sample resolution and ballot title for use by fire
districts to implement the multi-year lid lift will be available through the
association office--a copy will be emailed to all individuals on the
association's email list and the information will be posted on the WFCA website.
We will notify you when ESHB 1368 (commissioner per diem bill) is scheduled for
bill signing.
ESSB 5498 On the Way to Governor for Signature
As many of you know, last Friday ESSB 5498 passed the House of Representatives on a 74-23 vote. There were 14 amendments offered and after extensive debate and floor speeches, all 14 amendments were defeated. The bill will be delivered to the Governor for signature. This week we have scheduled meetings with the Governor's office, Department of Revenue and various legislative leaders to answer any questions that they may have. There is no known opposition to ESSB 5498; however, we cannot take anything for granted as we enter the final process for codification into state law. The effective date for this legislation is July 22, 2007 (90 days after sine die). A full report with detailed information and recognition of key legislative members and associated lobbyists involved will be provided after the Governor has signed the bill.
ESB 5498 Passes the House!!!
This afternoon, ESB 5498 (multi-year lid lifts bill) passed the House of Representatives on a 74-23 vote without any amendments.
Also, last night ESHB 1368 (commissioner per diem bill) passed the Senate 48-0.
A full report will be sent out on Tuesday, April 17. Please note that today is the last day to pass bills out of the opposite house.
Thank you to everyone.
ALERT--WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW!
There's little time left to get ESB 5498, our multi-year levy lid lift, scheduled for a floor vote in the House of Representatives.
Our number one priority, SSB 5498 (multi-year lid lift authority) is still very much alive and has retained its place on the current Senate floor calendar. We continue to work with leadership of House and Senate to schedule this very important bill for Senate floor action.
We continue to work with Senate Democratic and Republican leadership to schedule SB 5448 (Multi-Year Lid Lift) for a vote under special procedural rules. We have made considerable progress and still list this legislation as alive. We will provide a special update as soon as more information is received. Stay tuned--there's more to come on this issue. Also, the NASCAR Race Track Legislation (SB 6040) will be heard Monday in Senate Ways & Means Committee. We will be supporting the Washington Fire Chiefs with clarifying language to ensure that fire protection and EMS contracts are fully funded.
HB 1369/SB 5498 was a casualty of Wednesday's procedural "meltdown" which caused the Senate to adjourn over two hours early. SB 5498 was ready to be voted on in the last schedule of bills prior to the 5:00 p.m. cut-off. The good news is that many influential legislators in both the House and Senate are working with the WFCA, Washington Fire Chiefs, Washington State Council of Firefighters, Association of Washington Cities, Association of Washington Counties, State Library Association and the municipal and county employees to resurrect SB 5498. We have already met with various legislators and have more meetings scheduled next week. I know that many are disappointed; however, this bill is not dead and we will continue to push for passage through various procedural rules available.
SB 5498 Heads to the Senate Floor
The Senate Rules Committee pulled Senate Bill 5498 to the Second Reading Floor Calendar; the bill is now eligible to be considered by the Senate at any time! The next key cut-off date is Wednesday, March 14, when all bills must be voted out of their "House of Origin". Our focus is to get HB 1369 and SB 5498 out of their respective Houses, and scheduled for hearings after the March 14 cut-off. We expect the Legislature to work into the weekend with the possibility of a few late nights. We will keep everyone posted as the WFCA priority bill moves forward. This is a critical time, so please be prepared to contact your respective legislators if alerted by your lobbying team.
HB 1369 Passes Out of Finance Committee
The House Finance Committee passed HB 1369 out of committee on a 6-3 vote. The next step is to have members of the House Rules Committee
"pull" HB 1369 to the Second Floor Reading Calendar. SB 5498 is still being pushed and there are three more Senate Ways & Means Committee meetings scheduled with executive sessions prior to the March 5 committee cut-off. We will keep you informed as our top priority bill moves forward.
The following bills are reported to you as of February 23. The next week will be interesting as the first cut-off to pass bills out of non-fiscal committees is February 28. Monday, March 5 is the cut-off date for fiscal committees and transportation committees. Fiscal committees include Senate Ways & Means, House Appropriations and House Finance Committee. We are looking very closely at various health care issues and the potential impacts that they may have on the bottom line in your fire district budgets. Also, we continue to work with other governmental entities to ensure that E-911 funds are retained in the E-911 account and are not used for other purposes. REMINDER: The WFC/WFCA Joint Legislative Day is Monday, March 5; I hope to see you all there!
The following bills are reported to you as of February 16. This was "annexation" week as numerous bills were introduced and heard in committee. We expect next week to be a position week as a number of bills that we support and/or have proposed are up for hearings.
The following bills are updated as of Friday, February 9. The Legislature has been in session for 33 days and new proposals continue to be introduced. It appears that growth management and annexation legislation have increased over the past week and we are in the process of reviewing numerous bills which may affect fire district operations. More introductions are expected next week, so new bills will continue to be added until the February 28 non-fiscal committee cut-off.
HB 1369 & SB 5498 Scheduled for Hearings Next Week
HB 1369 and SB 5498 are both scheduled for public hearings in their respective committees next week. This issue is a top priority for the WFCA. The WFCA has received numerous telephone calls asking, "What can I do to help?" The WFCA is coordinating a panel to testify on both bills and encourages members to attend the hearings to show support; however, no testimony will be necessary outside of the panel. If you visit Olympia for hearings, please sign in to support the bill but do not sign up to testify. There are many bills scheduled for hearings and having too many people repeating the same message may be counterproductive. The WFCA will provide email blasts when it is the right time to email your legislators to request support and "yes" votes.
The following are bills reported to you as of Friday, Jan. 26. Legislative activity has increased and numerous bills have been added to this week's report. Updates from the last report are shown here in bold type. The print media has been reporting on the fact that property tax "reform" has been the buzzword this week. Over 25 different property tax bills have been introduced which would increase thresholds of current tax exemptions, limit growth in assessed valuation, create a homestead exemption for residential properties and reaffirmation of the 101% growth rate, just to name a few! We will report on these and other revenue bills if they appear to gain momentum.
Commissioner Compensation Increase Effective July 21!
IRS Increases Mileage Reimbursement Rate.
2008 NAEFO Convention is set!
Volunteer Compensation Memorandum to Districts by Attorneys Brian Snure and Joe Quinn.
