Olympia, WA – April 23, 2021 – Heading into the last two days of this year’s 105-day regular session, lawmakers are working this weekend to reach final agreement on major bills that have passed both chambers with key differences between versions. The session is scheduled to end at midnight this Sunday, April 25th.
Led by majority House and Senate Democrats, budget writers appear to have negotiated an agreement on a 2021-23 state operating budget. However, the final bill, running to several hundred pages, will not be released until Saturday.
House leaders plan to bring the budget bill for debate and vote to the floor on Saturday, while the Senate will likely wait until Sunday to take up the bill. In either case, other legislators and the public will have very little time to review what is likely to be a $58-59 billion two-year spending plan.
The controversial income tax on capital gains bill, SB 5096, passed the House on Wednesday by a 52-46 on a re-vote, after Rep. Bruce Chandler (R-Yakima) mistakenly cast a “Yes” vote, making the first tally 53-45. See how legislators voted on the bill, including on key amendments, on washingtonvotes.org.
The Senate yesterday refused to agree to changes made to the bill by the House, including what opponents called a “stealth” emergency clause, which would prevent a referendum vote by the people on the measure this fall. The bill had passed the Senate earlier this session by a narrow 25-24 vote only after an emergency clause had been removed. A conference committee will now seek to iron out the differences between the chambers and bring a final version to a vote before the session ends on Sunday.
The “cap-and-trade” bill passed by the Senate, SB 5126, is on the House floor calendar for a possible vote later today. The low-carbon fuel standards bill, HB 1091, was passed by both houses, but differences between House and Senate versions still need to be worked out before final passage.
Both bills are tied into a multi-billion dollar tax and spending package for new transportation projects proposed by Democrats. If agreement on them is not reached, funding for major transportation projects, including a new I-5 bridge over the Columbia River, would likely be delayed.
Also on the House floor calendar for action before the session ends is SB 5476, to respond to the state Supreme Court’s “Blake” decisions that held Washington’s drug possession laws are unconstitutional. The Senate passed the bill by a 28-20 vote, changing certain drug possession violations from a felony to a gross misdemeanor. As introduced, the bill had sought to eliminate penalties for personal-use possession of drugs altogether. If the House changes the Senate version as passed, the bill would have to go back to the Senate for concurrence.
These, and dozens of other concurrence votes that still need to be taken mean a busy weekend ahead for lawmakers. WashingtonVotes will continue to track all of the issues and wrap up this year’s session with its “Missed Votes” report next week.
WashingtonVotes.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.
