Welcome to Policy Watch 2006
PART II – WEEK THREE IN OLYMPIA
THE SCENE
The 2006 Legislative Session got off to a fast start that gets faster by the day.
It might not be evident to the first-time visitor, but this Session is shaping up to be a different sort of “short Session.” Sometimes these short, 60-day Sessions are used to fine-tune issues they’ve dealt with before, and to lay ground work for the next year’s long Session. That’s not surprising: even-year Sessions are not only short, they are followed by elections in the Fall. Both factors favor a focus on simple, relatively less-controversial sorts of issues.
But the 2006 short Session has taken on a personality all its own. Not only are legislators grappling with high-visibility, high-stakes matters (e.g., possible changes to the WASL, what to do about sex offenders, whether to require large employers to pay into a fund if they don’t provide health benefits …..), they are moving with remarkable speed.
Perhaps the clearest sign that things are different this year came this week when the Legislature passed an historic Anti-Discrimination Act, adding “sexual orientation” to the responsibilities of the Human Rights Commission. After a series of often emotional speeches from both proponents and opponents, the Senate voted 25-23 for passage a little before noon on Friday. The bill then went back to the House (which had passed it several times over the bill’s 29-year history) for them to accept some minor changes adopted in the Senate. The House of Representatives quickly gave its support, voting 61-37 for passage. Supporters immediately stood and burst into applause – sustained, swelling applause that was echoed by the people crowded into the Gallery to watch history being made. As waves of applause rolled on, the Speaker simply waited… then brought the body back to order and the next item on the schedule.
For those who couldn’t be there in person, it was possible to watch the proceedings via the internet – at www.tvw.org, or through the TVW cable channel. TVW brings the proceedings of the Legislature right to us – Committee proceedings, debates on the House and Senate Floor, major events with the Governor and others. But that’s not all that’s possible from a distance.
Following the Progress of a Bill – the Daily Status Report
Thanks to the Legislative Information Service – which works hard to make everything in Olympia available to everyone in the state with access to a computer – Washington residents can follow much of what’s happening in Olympia without leaving home.
A quick look at the Legislature’s website (www.leg.wa.gov ) offers ready evidence of this year’s killer pace. For example, the bill numbers in the “Daily Status Report” tell a story. They are now at HB 3250 in the House and SB 6860 in the Senate. Since House bills start with HB 1000 – that means 2,250 bills have been introduced for consideration by the House of Representatives. (Many years the only bill numbers used in the House are those starting with a “1” or “2,” they don’t even get to “3_ _ _.) Since Senate bill numbers start with SB 5000, a bill numbered 6860 makes clear that 1,860 bills have been introduced for consideration in the Senate.
It is true that some of these are “companion” bills – bills introduced in both the House and Senate in identical form. It is also true that many were introduced in 2005 and reintroduced in slightly modified form for action in 2006. But even so, this is a LOT of bills - especially since they deal with a remarkable range of issues, as is evident from the titles of the bills. On a single page of the Daily Status Report one could find bills dealing with: vintage snowmobiles, ambulance services, water storage, teacher certification, voters’ pamphlets, solar energy, anatomical gifts, check cashers, homeowners’ insurance, direct mail, soil scientists, minimum wage, and the legibility of prescriptions… among other things.
Once you’ve gotten used to reading it, this little document also reveals the status of every bill before the legislature this year. Using a few symbols – decoded at the beginning – readers can learn whether a bill has been voted out of its policy committee (and whether it was amended there), whether it has been referred to a fiscal committee or the Rules Committee, whether it has been voted on in the full House or Senate.
Following the Progress of a Bill – the Legislative Meeting Schedule
Another handy item on the legislature’s website is the daily and weekly Legislative Meeting Schedule – a listing of each Committee’s schedule for either a Public Hearing or an Executive Session on the bills that were referred to them. Almost from the beginning of the Session this year, Committees had full schedules of bills for Public Hearings. Soon they were also listing bills for Committee votes in Executive Session. (See PW Week Two for descriptions of Public Hearings and Executive Sessions.)
By now, with only a week left to finish action on the bills before the policy Committees in the body where they originated, Committee Schedules are packed. Perhaps the most striking example is the schedule for just one two-hour meeting in the House Local Government Committee next Monday. On that day the Committee has scheduled 7 bills for a Public Hearing, plus 35 more bills (thirty-five!) for possible Executive Session. Even if every one of those 42 bills got an equal amount of time and attention, each would only get 3 minutes. As a practical matter, that isn’t possible. So the same 35 bills are listed for “possible Executive Session” every time the Committee meets next week. As they clear the list, it will shorten, but chances are they won’t manage to deal with everything by the “cut-off” for Committee action on Friday. Committee Chairs know that – but the list serves as a warning to anyone wishing to testify that they had better be brief. At this point in the process, long statements on any one bill eliminate the chance for other bills to be heard.
Even a less dramatic example like the schedule for next Monday in the Children & Family Services Committee is daunting. From the Meeting Schedule one can see that they hope to hold Public Hearings on 6 bills AND “possible executive session” on still more, in just two hours that day. That rules out a repeat of the experience mere weeks ago when 20 people showed up to testify on the little bill to extend foster care services to age 21. That one bill absorbed most of the 2-hours; a similar amount of attention to a bill in Week Four means several other bills die.
But if anyone still needs proof that the Legislature is working hard to move through all the bills, the Legislative Meeting Schedule contains one more clue: evening Committee meetings. After a long day of hearings and votes, some Committees are scheduling an additional meeting again at 6:00 pm or even 8:00 pm. The Legislators involved may get occasional breaks, but they won’t even get out of Committee until after 10:00 pm.
All of this information is readily available at www.leg.wa.gov, either by going to the Agenda for a specific Committee, going to the Weekly (or Daily) Meeting Schedule, and/or by signing up to get those schedules sent to you via email. Our legislature really really does want us involved.
The Process is set up to answer some Key Questions
So far PW has noted what happens in a Policy Committee. Here’s a short description of their role. 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 must get through a Policy Committee in the House by day’s end on February 3; bills that were introduced in the Senate must get through 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; “Ways & Means” (the two functions are combined) in the Senate.
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. Once again there is a hard deadline for action: February 7. 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 never make it through the Fiscal Committees.
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 when 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. If a bill is noted as being in the Rules Committee, it is being readied for the Floor. At that point it has made it over one more hurdle on the path to becoming a law. (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 of both House and Senate.
YOUR PART
If a bill you care about has been getting 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.
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 looming at the end of Week 4, 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.
The SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET
There are no hearings scheduled on the Supplemental Budget next week, but that doesn’t mean it has dropped off the radar screens of the members. Throughout this period Representatives and Senators are quietly thinking about, holding conversations about, and deciding on, the budget items they care most about. 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 quickly convey that to legislators.
ON-GOING: BY NOW you should
- Be getting regular legislative alerts from an advocacy group for the issue(s) you care most about. (One list is in PART III of POLICY WATCH; if that doesn’t have what you want, ask friends, neighbors, co-workers – or google.) Those alerts report what is happening and will tell you when your voice is needed. Most offer a “sample message” you can put in your own words. You don’t need to be an expert, you just need to care.
- Try to make a call or send a note or email about one of the issues in the Legislative Alert you are receiving. With the state’s TOLL-FREE LINE (1-800-562-6000) you can leave a brief message for your Senator, your 2 Representatives, and the Governor – in mere minutes. 1 call or message a week for the next 6 weeks, and you can have an impact on policies that affect your life. (PART III of PW has information to help you get, and stay, involved.)
SNAPSHOTS
** Legislators often go out of their way to make time for constituents – like the Representative who spent his 30-minute “lunch break” getting neither. With lunch sitting half-eaten on his desk, he met with one appointment who arrived at noon, another at 12:15, and then at 12:28 had to rush off to a 12:30 meeting. No “slow food” movement for Olympia.
** Participants in a Children’s Home Society advocacy day must have known how hard it is for legislators to find time to eat – ‘cause along with information about their priority bills, they delivered a little bit of chocolate.
** In Olympia people look out for each other in other ways as well. Before the vote on the Anti-Discrimination Act, some Senators who committed to vote FOR the bill got hate mail, threats, and worse – but it’s hard for them to reject a constituent. So when staff noticed one Senator being threatened by a constituent, they quietly agreed among themselves that the next time the angry constituent appeared they would be calling security.
** Happily, most visitors come with information, not threats. This week the Capitol Campus was awash in a sea of bright blue folders with PTA in bold white letters, carried by several hundred PTA parents, teachers, and school board members in town to educate their legislators about… education.
** Gender Watch: 5 of the 7 Senate Democratic Leadership positions are held by women this year, as are 3 of the 8 Senate Republican Leadership positions.
REMINDER :
House Bill numbers begin with 1, 2, or 3;
Senate Bill numbers begin with 5 or 6.
Thus a bill identified as SB 6264 is the 1,264th Senate Bill introduced in the session; HB 1058 would be the 58th bill introduced in the House. More recent bills have higher numbers.