The Legislature is finished with policy and fiscal committee hearings and will be taking floor votes on bills until April 12. Budget negotiations will need to be finished before the end of the regular session, April 23; otherwise there will need to be at least one special session.
The Bar-Request Bills
Senate Bill 5011 passed the Legislature with unanimous votes in both the Senate and the House, and is now awaiting the governor’s consideration. Prime-sponsored by Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-43, SB 5011 modernizes the state’s Corporate Act to make Washington more business friendly. SB 5011 is Washington State Bar Association request legislation and originates from the Corporate Act Revisions Committee within the WSBA Business Law Section.
Watch floor debate.
Similarly, Substitute Senate Bill 5012 also passed the Legislature with unanimous votes in both the Senate and the House, and is now awaiting the Governor’s consideration. Prime-sponsored by Sen. Pedersen, SSB 5012 creates a nonjudicial process for amending irrevocable trusts. SSB 5012 is joint request legislation by the Washington State Bar Association and the Uniform Law Commission.
Bills of Interest
Senate Bill 5040, also sponsored by Sen. Pedersen, which makes technical corrections to the Uniform Business Organizations Code to clarify recent statutory changes, has now passed the Legislature and awaits the Governor’s consideration. WSBA’s Business Law Section previously testified in support of this bill.
Second Substitute Senate Bill 5236, prime sponsored by Sen. Hans Zeiger, R-25, which creates the civic learning public-private partnership, failed to pass the policy committee cutoff. The Board of Governors’ Legislative Committee had approved support of this bill.
Also this week, the Senate passed its transportation budget, and the House unveiled its capital budget proposal, PSHB 1075, sponsored by Rep. Tharinger, (D-24). The House Finance Committee held a hearing on a revenue bill, HB 2186, prime-sponsored by Rep. Lytton, (D-40), which calls for about $2.6 billion in new revenue.
Watch public hearing.
Bill Action
For a list of the bills that have been referred by WSBA’s Office of Legislative Affairs thus far, please see the Bill Referrals List.
The next cutoff, Opposite House Cutoff, is April 12, 2017. For additional session dates, please see the 2017 Session Cutoff Calendar.
Clark McIsaac. Clark began his employment at the WSBA as a legislative assistant in the summer of 2016 after his recent move from California. His career is built on years of campaign, governmental, and community relations experience. He earned his B.A. in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He can be reached at clarkm@wsba.org.
