Welcome to Policy Watch 2008
PART II – WEEK FOUR IN OLYMPIA
THE SCENE
Weeks Four and Five are the mid-point in these short Sessions, and the pace shifts once again.
Early in the Session there are busy-but-orderly Committee Hearings and Executive Sessions, and in between, legislators can often be found in their offices, meeting with constituents who’ve made appointments, or just dropped in.
Mid-Session, two things happen. First, the Committee schedules are frenetic, and it’s common to see constituents waiting in the narrow corridors for meetings that almost certainly are running late; getting meetings by “just dropping in” is much harder. Second, by the middle of Week Five, action shifts to the House and Senate Floors – so virtually all of the action is in the Capitol Building, and the office buildings take on an air of calm.
That’s why, as one visitor remarked this week, “I was struck by the ‘smallness’ of everything. Not just that it all seems to happen in small offices in three or four buildings, but also of the way things get done. It seems like a lot of the ‘meetings’ are just chance encounters in the hallways and the stairwells, with ‘lobbying’ that gets done in little chunks.”
That’s exactly what was playing out for one of the women who came to Olympia to take part in this week’s King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence Lobby Day. She’d been to Olympia once before, last year, so this year she was a bit more confident (and able to serve as the guide for a newbie, another woman from the same District). More important, by now she had taken the trouble to become better informed about both the process, and her legislators.
First the women met with their Senator’s aide, and then – since one of their Representatives had been called away and couldn’t keep their appointment, they met with HER aide. Across the hall, while waiting to meet with Representative # 2, they spotted Representative # 1… in the hallway. The women waited patiently, politely stopped their Representative on her way back to her office, and had a little 90-second conversation. In that time they learned they were "preaching to the choir" but also got a firm commitment for the Representative’s vote. Then, they briefly raised a funding issue (having checked in advance and learned that their Representative sits on the Appropriations Committee). With mere seconds remaining, the women handed over a hand-written “Fact Sheet” and the meeting was over.
But that’s when they spotted their Representative # 2 in the hallway, so they followed him to his office for their appointment (now running late as well). This encounter was much the same: a quick conversation about one bill, with basic facts and a clear “ask” (“will you vote for this when it comes to the floor?”), followed by a commitment from the Representative. Then, once again, the funding question. He asked about numbers/the cost, and was given a quick response. But then, with just minutes remaining, the women went beyond dry statistics to mention a specific family caught up in domestic violence (the mother was kicked, punched, and pregnant as a result of a rape) -- precisely the sort of family likely to be helped by the funds in question. (He seemed visibly moved by the account.)
Next, thanks to knowing about the Committee Meeting Schedule (described in PW Week 3), the women knew where to find their Senator. They decided to wait in the hallway, and ask to walk with him from one meeting to the next - for a little 60-second-lobbying-on-the-hoof. With mere seconds, the women only had time to say they lived in his District and had dropped off information with his aide about 3 key pieces of domestic violence legislation. Their last stop in Olympia was over in the Capitol Building’s Visitors’ Gallery, watching the first half hour of a House Floor Session … before heading home.
One unintended result: one of the women has started thinking of running for office one day.
The Process: answers to some Key Questions
So far PW has noted what happens in a Policy Committee because that’s where the action is in the first weeks of any legislative Session. This week the big action shifts to the Fiscal Committees, and next week the focus shifts to the Floor. Here’s why.
Question # 1: Policy Committees have to answer one basic question about any bill: IS THIS A GOOD IDEA for public policy. Committee members decide the parameters of the policy with the help of staff and the people who come to testify. This year bills that were introduced in the House had to get through a Public Hearing and Executive Session in a Policy Committee in the House by day’s end on Friday, February 8. Bills that were introduced in the Senate had to get through a Public Hearing and Executive Session in a Policy Committee in the Senate the same day. If identical bills were introduced in both the House and Senate, only one needs to survive.
Bills that make it through this first stage must then pass a second – harder - test. Any bill that might cost $50,000 (or more) to carry out, must then go on to a Fiscal Committee – called “Appropriations” and “Finance” in the House; called “Ways & Means” (the two functions are combined) in the Senate.
Question # 2: The job of a Fiscal Committee is to step back and say, in effect: our colleagues on the Policy Committee have judged this bill to be a good idea. But there are lots of good ideas; we cannot afford them all. So, the next question is: CAN WE AFFORD THIS? IS IT A GOOD USE FOR PUBLIC DOLLARS?
If a bill is listed as having been referred to any of the Fiscal Committees, it has reached this second stage. Once again there are Public Hearings – where members of the public come to testify, and Executive Sessions – when the Representatives or Senators discuss the bill, amend it if they feel it needs changes, and vote. (We can be present at all these stages.) Once again there is a hard deadline for action: by the end of the day on Tuesday, February 12. Once again, anyone can voice an opinion about any of the bills being discussed – just by calling the Toll-Free HOTLINE (1-800-562-6000), by writing a letter or email, or by visiting.
The process is the same in both Policy and Fiscal Committees, but the perennial competition for public funds means that many bills win a majority vote in a Policy Committee, but many fewer make it through the Fiscal Committees.
Question # 3: The bills that do survive (roughly one-third) then move to the House and Senate Rules Committees to be scheduled for action on the House and Senate Floor. At this point a third question must be answered: CAN A MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE SUPPORT IT? That’s needed because Committees are small, but our system wants everyone to be represented as bills are being decided. And that happens when bills come to the floor of the House or Senate where all our Representatives and Senators are present.
From Wednesday, February 13 through to the end of the day on Tuesday, February 19 – our legislators will be “on the floor” voting on bill after bill, for most of every day.
(If a bill is listed as being in the Rules Committee, it has a good chance of making it out to the House or Senate Floor. There will be more on this stage in the process in a future PW.)
If this sounds complicated, it is. That’s a good thing. Laws shouldn’t be decided on a whim; they should be carefully considered – more than once. After all, once enacted they’ll affect everyone in the state for years to come. Plus, from the advocate’s perspective, this is a process that offers six opportunities to improve/amend/win/defeat bills important to us: in the Policy Committees, the Fiscal Committees, and the Floor -- in both the House and the Senate.
YOUR PART
If a bill you care about has gotten attention – a Public Hearing, a vote in Executive Session, or a vote on the House or Senate Floor – let your Senator and Representatives know how you feel about their actions. If you like what they’ve done, say Thank You. If you are disappointed, be respectful but let them know that as well – chances are they’ll get another chance to vote if there’s a companion bill on the same topic coming over from the “opposite house.”
If a bill you care about still needs to get attention, ask your Senator and Representatives to do whatever they can to see that happens. But with the first cut-offs already upon us, there is no time to waste. Call or email quickly.
And if a bill you care is moving through the process, be sure to also let the Governor know how you feel about it, because she will have the final power to sign, or veto any bill that is passed.
Participating from a Distance – 2 More Possibilities
Our legislature continues to seek ways for people to follow the process – even on the move.
(1) Anyone with RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication - an XML-based format) will find that RSS feeds are available for every bill introduced in the legislature. To subscribe to an RSS feed for a bill:
* Search for a bill in the Bill Information section or in Detailed Legislative Reports.
* Click the orange RSS icon next to the bill number.
* Follow the instructions on the screen to subscribe to the feed using your RSS reader.
For more information about RSS and the legislature’s RSS feeds, see:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/Legislature/highlights.htm
(2) There is a new service for those with Mobile Pages. Users who can view Internet sites on their PDAs or phones, can access some legislative content on those devices by going to www.leg.wa.gov/mobile/.
The SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET
The new Revenue Forecasts will be issued on 2/15, and they are expected to be grim. Hard work on the Supplemental Budget will begin immediately. Representatives and Senators have been quietly thinking about, holding conversations about, and deciding on, the budget items they care most about. But with the Appropriations Committee expected to offer its version of a Supplemental Budget within days after the Revenue Forecasts appear, the time is now. Anyone concerned about an issue that will require new spending (e.g., those wishing to see children’s health coverage expanded, or more money for low-cost housing) should speak up now.
YOUR PART: As anyone who has been reading POLICY WATCH will have grasped, influencing legislation isn’t a one-time deal. Keep checking on your bills by going to www.leg.wa.gov, and then, at each stage in the process, let your legislators know how you wish to be represented. You don’t want to be a pest, but you do want to be polite, brief, and persistent. Lobby Days during the Session to raise visibility, plus on-going relationships year round, help legislators gain insights they can’t get any other way.
DON’T FORGET: The House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways & Means Committee will be responsible for writing their chambers’ versions of the Supplemental budget. This year the Appropriations Committee will go first (they alternate). Readers can review the Governor’s proposed budget at: www.ofm.wa.gov. A “Citizen’s Guide to the Washington State BUDGET” is available at the Senate Ways & Means Committee website.
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SNAPSHOTS
** Here’s a story in which state sports meet state symbols. We have a state bird, a state flower, a state evergreen, even a state gem (petrified wood!). Recently some second graders voted among choices for a state candy (Almond Rocha does well in Tacoma; Applets & Cotlets in Wenachee). But even though we have a state marine mammal (the Orca), one Senator has proposed naming the Cougar our state overall mammal. Likely opposition? Easy: Husky fans.
** Chairing a Committee means extra work, but it also means new powers. A legislator told visitors from his District one of the reasons he enjoys being a Committee Chair: he can’t ram bills through the Committee that he likes, but he can “sit on” bills that he doesn’t like.
** A big attraction this week was a GI-GON-DOUS e-nor-mous (inflated) yellow duck on the Capitol Steps. Brought to town by the Washington Toxics Coalition, it was used to draw attention to toxic chemicals in children’s products. (And since the NRA was also in town the same day, one wag expressed the hope that they wouldn’t shoot the duck by mistake.)
** This week’s Trivia Question in the Legislative Information Center: who was the first woman elected to the WA State Legislature?
Answer: there were two, both elected in 1912 (eight years before women got the vote nationally, as some of the women in the “bill room” pointed out).
Nena Jolidon Croake, DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) was elected as a King County Progressive Party member, and Frances Axtell, PhD, was elected as a Whatcom County Republican.
One interesting side note: Representative Axtell’s legislative efforts included improvements to the rules of evidence in cases of violent assault. That’s a topic that remains current for participants in this week’s King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence Lobby Day.
** One nervous participant in Hunger Advocacy Day stood shyly just outside a staff cubicle, practicing what she would say when meeting with her legislator. A short time later she emerged from the meeting – face flushed, big smile on her face: “I thought it would be hard,” she said, “but it was easy -- talking about something I care so much about. I really care what happens to the families we help feed – so that’s what I said. And she thanked ME!”
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SOME ISSUES -- UPDATE
Bills have been introduced on such a broad range of issues that PW cannot mention them all. This list simply notes a few health/human services Bills slated for Floor action next week.
REMINDER:
House Bill numbers start at 1,000 and may begin with a 1, 2, or 3;
Senate Bill numbers start at 5,000 and may begin with a 5, 6, or (occasionally) 7.
Thus a bill identified as SB 6264 is the 1,264th Senate Bill introduced in the session; HB 1058 was the 58th bill introduced in the House. More recent bills have higher numbers.
In Week Five.
- To learn whether a bill you care about is on the schedule for/has cleared the 2nd Question - Can we afford it? - check the schedules of the fiscal committees, and put the bill number in the Search Box with BILL INFORMATION.)
- To learn whether a bill you care about is scheduled for FLOOR ACTION, go to,
Agendas, Schedules, and Calendars: http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/calendar/.
Then click on “Calendars,” next click on
- HOUSE FLOOR ACTIVITY REPORT, or
- SENATE FLOOR ACTIVITY REPORT.
Just a few of the bills to be considered on the FLOOR next week:
BILL TOPIC
House Floor Schedule
HB 2487 Vulnerable Adults
HB 2497 Nurse Practitioners
HB 2551 Juvenile Treatment
HB 2576 Affordable Housing
HB 2834 Foster Parent License
HB 3133 Mobile Home Parks & Manufac’d Housing
Senate Floor Schedule
SB 5900 Victims of Domestic Violence
SB 5909 Foster Care
SB 6357 “Serving” Protection Orders in Domestic Violence
SB 6364 Long-term Care Insurance
And much, much more… e.g., roughly 50 bills are listed on the Senate Calendar.
YOUR PART. Use the tools available. We have three ways to contact our representatives to tell them how we wish to be represented: we can CALL, WRITE, or VISIT.
If you go to Olympia try to make an appointment in advance, but even if you just drop in, staff and elected officials alike will be friendly and eager to meet with you.
Don’t feel bad if your legislator is busy and you meet with staff. Every Senator gets two aides, every Representative gets one aide, and the whole place gets the help of Committee staff (who work for members of both parties) and Caucus staff (who work for either Democrats or Republicans). All are eager to be helpful. Some are knowledgeable about the details of bills, others will know practical matters like legislators’ schedules. But all try to point visitors to the right person, all are very patient, and all are very good about passing information along.
TWO EASY ACTIONS -- Same As Last Week
- Sign up to get regular legislative alerts from an advocacy group that monitors the issue(s) you care most about. (POLICY WATCH lists health/human service/low-income groups, at:
http://depts.washington.edu/sswweb/policyw/2008Useful_Info.pdf
If that list doesn’t have what you need, ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers – or google.)
Those who write the alerts monitor what is happening and will tell you when your voice is needed. Most will offer a “sample message” you can put in your own words. You don’t need to be an expert, you just need to care about an issue, and talk about it from your own experience.
- Try to make a call or send a note or email once each week about one of the issues in the Legislative Alert you are receiving. Use the state’s TOLL-FREE LINE (1-800-562-6000) to leave a brief message for your Senator, your 2 Representatives, and the Governor – all in just a matter of minutes. 1 call/message a week for the next 4 weeks, and you can have an impact.
Brief Note. POLICY WATCH should be read with three things in mind. First, we ask a lot of the men and women we elect to serve. They deserve our respect. Second, every activity, every program, every issue affected by the budget has its champions and detractors; legislators will be pressured from all sides on every item. Third, it is our privilege to help our citizen-legislators sort among competing needs and difficult choices. They need us to help them make hard choices.
Pay Attention to the Legislative Calendar.
The 2008 Legislative Session runs from Jan. 14 – March 13. Every day is counted (Weekdays/ Sat/Sun/Holidays) Session. The legislature may also meet on weekends later in the Session. “Cut-off dates” control the action on bills; those failing to get action before “cut-off” usually die.
…here are the next critical points in the 2008 Session:
- 2/12 – last day for bill consideration in the Fiscal Committee (House or Senate) where the bill originates
- 2/19 – last day for bills to be considered on the floor in their “house of origin”
- 2/29 – last day for bills consideration in the Policy Committees of the "opposite house"
- 3/01 – last day for bill consideration in the Fiscal Committees of the "opposite house"
- 3/07 – last day for bill to be considered on the floor of the opposite house
- 3/13 – 2008 Session adjourns for the year.