Through much of 2020, state legislative leaders urged Governor Inslee to call a special session so the legislature could pass measures to deal with the ongoing COVID pandemic. Instead, the governor issued repeated emergency orders on his own for nearly a year, without consulting elected lawmakers.

When this year’s regular legislative session convened last month, lawmakers introduced a number of bills to limit the governor’s emergency powers and re-assert the legislature’s role as an equal branch of government.

So far this session, the only legislation related to the governor’s emergency powers that has passed is SCR 8402, extending the governor’s orders indefinitely. The measure passed both houses, which are controlled by Democrats, along mostly partisan lines by 28-19 votes in the Senate, and 54-44 votes in the House.

On Monday, the House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee held a hearing on HB 1029, to put limits on the governor’s power to declare a state of emergency. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Brad Klippert (R-Kennewick) and Matt Boehnke (R-Kennewick), would require the governor to get approval from the legislature 14 days after any emergency proclamation. If the Legislature is not in session, the governor would need to get approval from the majority and minority party leaders in the House and Senate.

More than a dozen people testified online saying that Washington state lawmakers need more oversight power to control the governor’s emergency declarations, and more than 150 people added their names in support of the measure. No further action on the bill has been scheduled. The deadline for committee action is next Monday, so the bill is likely dead for the session.

A bi-partisan proposal,SB 5114, to speed up re-opening of businesses across the state, got a public hearing by the Senate State Government and Elections Committee on January 20th. More than 1,500 people signed up in support of the measure, but public testimony was limited by the Committee Chair and the hearing was not extended.

Since then, Senate Democrats have blocked attempts by Republicans to move the bill out of committee and bring it to a full vote on the Senate floor. The blocking action means the bill is likely dead for the year.

Another bi-partisan bill, SB 5037, to safely reopen schools in communities with low levels of infection, had a public hearing in the Senate Education Committee last month. As reflected in testimony before the committee, the bill has the support of thousands of parents concerned about their children missing a year of school and over the social and emotional well-being of children stuck at home for months at a time.

Shortly after the hearing, the Committee Chair, Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island) blocked a vote on the bill, effectively killing it for this session. Sen. Wellman defended her decision by saying she would go along with the state’s teachers’ union, the Washington Education Association (WEA), and follow union rules against school openings. The national Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that schools can safely re-open, and private schools in Washington and public schools in many other states have reopened.

 Washington Votes.org is a free service provided by Washington Policy Center and is the go-to tracking tool to keep up with all the action in Olympia, especially during this mostly virtual session. Please check in often and follow us on Facebook and Twitter at #waleg.

From Washington Votes.org – 2/11/2021