The Washington state legislature is in the middle of its short, even-year session, a 60-day marathon when the members decide how to solve problems and where to send public money in the state (in the odd years, the sessions are 105 days). This year, the legislature is considering bills that look to prevent hospital monopolies, improve renter and strip club worker protections, give more agency and representation to marginalized groups and reduce specific kinds of pollution. We’re especially interested in these bills as they wend their way through committees, destined either to die by one of the many pitfalls that dot the legislative process or receive Gov. Jay Inlee’s signature.
Here are some of them.
Hospital consolidation
In the past two decades, hospitals merged at such a high rate that the percentage of beds in independent hospitals diminished by more than half. In 2000, the ratio of independent hospital beds to beds in conglomerated hospital systems was about 50-50 in the United States; now independent beds represent less than 20%. Researchers found that these mergers reduce access to care and increase prices and readmission rates for patients.
The Washington legislature is considering Senate Bill 5241, as a response to this trend. That law would create new reporting requirements to the state Attorney General for hospitals seeking to merge. It would ask them to report information about “charity care; access to care, including reproductive, gender-affirming, emergency, and end-of-life care; all current policies and procedures; and explanations of how any of these areas would be affected by” any merger, according to the Senate Bill Report for the law.
The AG, using that information, can determine whether a merger would likely result in a less robust healthcare landscape for a given community. The law gives the AG authority to disapprove any acquisition or merger.
SB 5241, Healthcare marketplace
WHERE IT STANDS: The Senate Rules Committee for a second reading.
Who to contact: Sens. Andy Billig-D, Mike Padden-R, Shelly Short-R, and Jeff Holy-R are the Eastern Washington lawmakers on that committee. Hit them up to advocate for or against this bill. Click here for a full list of committee members
Bill Sponsor: Sen. Emily Randall
Bill Supporters: Sponsors: Sens. Randall, Christine Rolfes, Patty Kuderer, Yasmin Trudeau, Jamie Pedersen, Sharon Shewmake, Sam Hunt, Rebecca Saldaña, Claudia Kauffman, Javier Valdez, John Lovick, June Robinson, Liz Lovelett, Marko Liias, Noel Frame, Joe Nguyen, Derek Stanford, Claire Wilson
Rent increases
Housing and homelessness was the driving force behind Washington state – and Inland Northwest – politics in last year’s elections. One of the most intractable elements of this sprawling problem, which is on the minds of some community organizers in Spokane, is making sure people who are housed can stay that way.
To that end, one proposal, SB 5435, aims to tie rent increases to inflation. The bill defines charges for parking, utilities and any other monthly payment to a landlord as rent. It says landlords cannot raise rents more than the inflation rate measured by the Consumer Price Index or 3%, whichever is higher, and never more than 7%. It also declares an emergency around homelessness, which gives the executive branch more flexibility in responding to problems.
A similar, but broader and separate bill, died in the Senate Wednesday, signaling the legislature may not have an appetite for rent reform this session.
Rents in Spokane increased by 1.2% last year, according to data compiled by the rental website ApartmentList. That’s higher than the statewide average of .6%. Nationally, rents actually dropped last year by a small amount. These numbers are largely seen as a stabilization of rents, but they can be misleading when they exclude data from other recent years in which rents in the United States outpaced increases in minimum wage in most states.
SB 5435, Residential rent increases
WHERE IT STANDS: Senate Housing Committee
Who to contact: There are no Eastern Washington lawmakers on that committee. Click here for a full list of committee members
Bill Sponsor: Sen. Yasmin Trudeau
Bill Supporters: Sens. Yasmin Trudeau, Rebecca Saldaña, Noel Frame, Sam Hunt, Karen Keiser, Patty Kuderer, Liz Lovelett, Joe Nguyen, June Robinson, Derek Stanford and Claire Wilson. Groups: Tenant Law Center, Catholic Charities of Western Washington, Habitat of Humanity Seattle, King and Kittitas County.
2SLGBTQIA+ material in public schools
One conversation at the heart of American society over the past few years revolves around what kinds of material should and shouldn’t be included in school curriculums. The most prominent topic is material that includes descriptions of 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Conservative ire against such material has taken the form of book bans that have alarmed free speech? advocates and queer communities. One ban was proposed in 2022 in Liberty Lake and would have excluded the title Gender Queer – a coming-of-age graphic novel about the author’s history as a queer person – from the city library but was killed by the city council.
The state senate has leaned the opposite direction, passing SB 5462 on Jan. 17, which creates new teaching standards in Washington state that require public schools to incorporate “histories, contributions, and perspectives of LGBTQ people” before December. The bill still needs to go through the house.
The law would direct the executive branch to create those standards and would work with the Washington State School Directors Association to design a curriculum around them. Schools would have until October 2025 to implement the requirements.
SB 5462, Inclusive learning standards.
WHERE IT STANDS: The House Education Committee.
Who to contact: There aren’t any Eastern Washington lawmakers on that committee, but click here for a full list of committee members
Bill Sponsor: Sen. Marko Liias
Bill Supporters: Sens. Marko Liias, Claire Wilson, Patty Kuderer, Liz Lovelett, Joe Nguyen, Jamie Pedersen, Emily Randall, Rebecca Saldaña and Javier Valdez. Groups: N/A so far
Protections for strippers
Work adjacent to the sex industry has long been unregulated and in many ways criminalized, resulting in “a predatory business model that strips workers of rights and fair pay,” according to the Washington-based advocacy group Strippers are Workers.
That group is promoting House Bill (HB) 2036, which would establish basic workplace requirements that many industries currently have to follow. It would make strip clubs provide workplace training on first aid, conflict de-escalation and sexual harassment; employ security personnel; and install keypad locks on locker rooms and safety signs.
But it would also implement industry-specific changes. Gabriella Reeve, a single mother to an autistic child and a therapist, started dancing in 2014 in part to fund two master’s degrees, one in social work, the other in public administration. She testified before the legislature last year that she had to pay $120 every time she went to work as a “house fee,” which some strip clubs charge their dancers to go onstage. HB 2036 would cap those fees and bar local governments from enforcing physical distance between strippers and clients.
Some advocates also wanted to legalize alcohol sales in strip clubs, saying it would reduce unregulated drinking. And because it would create another revenue stream, it has potential to blunt the impact of “house fees,” which many establishments require dancers to pay at the beginning of their shifts. But a provision to allow liquor sales did not make it into the bill. Strippers are Workers enjoyed a victory in 2019, when they successfully pushed a bill that mandated panic buttons in strip clubs and created customer blacklists and a dancer-led advisory committee under the Department of Labor and Industries, according to the Washington State Standard.
HB 2036, Adult entertainment.
WHERE IT STANDS: The House Rules Committee
Who to contact: Reps. Suzanne Schmidt – R and Jaquelin Maycumber- R are the Eastern Washington lawmakers on that committee. Click here for a full list of committee members
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Amy Walen
Bill Supporters: Reps. Amy Walen, Melanie Morgan, Liz Berry, Joe Fitzgibbon, Cindy Ryu, Davina Duerr, Darya Farivar, Kristine Reeves, Tarra Simmons, Julia Reed, Timm Ormsby, Jamila Taylor, Emily Alvarado, Strom Peterson, Mia Gregerson, Roger Goodman, My-Linh Thai, Debra Lekanoff, Beth Doglio and Nicole Macri. Groups: Strippers are People
Leaded gasoline at airports
In most of the United States, leaded gasoline joined other lead products – leaded paint, water pipes made of lead – in 1996 on the growing list of toxic products that could not be used. Lead was included in gas because it improved the efficiency of engines, but it was banned in fuel for road cars because it was linked to severe health effects, including brain damage. One recent study said that, before 1996, the use of leaded gas reduced the IQ of half the US population by more than two points.
But the US continued to allow leaded gas in special machines and processes where it worked especially well, including small-engine airplanes that need the higher octane of leaded gas (which the industry calls “avgas”) for safe flying, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). HB 1554, aims to ban the sale of leaded gasoline at Washington airports.
At the national level the Environmental Protection Agency declared in October that leaded gasoline emissions from airplanes are a public health hazard, and the FAA is creating a plan to phase out its use at airports across the country.
An identical bill was passed last year by the House but was killed by the Senate. Spokane International Airport CEO Larry Krauter testified against that bill during a hearing.
HB 1554, Lead impacts
WHERE IT STANDS: The House Rules Committee
Who to contact: Reps. Suzanne Schmidt – R and Jaquelin Maycumber- R are the Eastern Washington lawmakers on that committee. Click here for a full list of committee members
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Beth Doglio
Bill Supporters: Reps. Beth Doglio, Gerry Pollet, Joe Fitzgibbon, Liz Berry, Alex Ramel, Tina Orwall, Cindy Ryu, Mary Fosse, Shelley Kloba, Nicole Macri and Davina Duerr.
