Welcome to Policy Watch 2007

PART I: Upcoming Advocacy Days
PART II – WEEK 6 IN OLYMPIA

PART I: Upcoming Advocacy Days:

WEEK SEVEN – 2/19 - 2/23

2/18-2/19 Junior Leagues of Washington, Capitol Days
Contact: ckblevins@comcast.net

2/19 National Association of Social Workers Day, General Administration Bldg.
Contact: Lynn Carrigan (ltc@u.washington.edu)

2/19 Have A Heart for Children Day, United Churches of Olympia – 11th &
Capitol Way. Gathering at 8:30. Contact: jon@childrensalliance.org

2/19 Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition
Contact: Lauren Smith (wrocadvocate@wroc.org)

2/19 Service Employees International Union - SEIU 925 Contact: Tricia Schroeder (tschroeder@seiu925.org)

2/19 Physicians for a National Health Plan and Health Care for All-Washington
Contact: joannagarritano@yahoo.com

2/20 Refugee and Immigrant Legislative Day Contact: norma@rewa.org

2/20 SEIU (Service Employee International Union) 775's Lobby DayContact: aglickman@seiu775.org

2/21 LifeLong AIDS Alliance – AIDS Awareness & Action Days
First Baptist Church in Olympia; Contact: aniab@llaa.org

2/21 Hispanic/Latino(a) Legislative Day
Contact: Carlos Jimenez (wastatehld@yahoo.com).

2/21 Washington CAN! (to Secure Health Care for All), in conjunction with Hispanic/Latino(a) Legislative Day. Contact Maru Mora Villalpando,
maru@washingtoncan.org, or 206-389-0050 x106.

2/21 Partnership 2020 (supported employment for people with developmental
disabilities); Contact: SethDawson@worldnet.att.net

2/22 Catholic Advocacy Day, gathering in Columbia Room of Capitol
Contact: Donna Christensen (DonnaRChris@aol.com)

2/22 Washington State Labor Council's 2007 Legislative Conference
8:30 a.m. at the Olympia Red Lion Hotel. Contact: dgroves@wslc.org

2/23 CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) Advocacy Day
Contact: lrogers@wacasa.org

WEEK EIGHT – 2/26 - 3/2

2/26 GLBT Equality Day 2007
Contact: pvroby@religiouscoalition-wa.org

2/27 Faith Advocacy Day and Earth Ministries day; begins at 8:30 am
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 1515 Harrison Ave NW, Olympia
Contacts: paul.benz@lsswi.org, fcwpp@quaker.org, LeeAnne@earthministry.org

2/27 "Call-In Sick" Day: Washington CAN! (Secure Health Care for All).
Contact Joshua Welter, joshua@washingtoncan.org.

3/01 Washington Information Network 211 Lobby Day - 8:00 AM -
State Capitol. Contact: Stan Kehl, stankehl@win211.org

Weekly (or Multiple) Lobby Days
EVERY WEDNESDAY, The Arc of Washington State hosts a weekly Developmental Disabilities mini-Advocacy Day, from January 31 thru April 11. Each week a different disability issue is highlighted. For location and other details – go to: http://www.arcwa.org/advocacy_day.htm

EVERY THURSDAY, the Children’s Budget Coalition hosts a brown bag lunch.
Noon – 1:00 pm. – John L. O’Brien Building, Briefing Room. Briefings available on request. Contact: sarah@childrensalliance.org , or, jon@childrensalliance.org (206-324-0340 X 19).

PART II – WEEK SIX IN OLYMPIA

THE SCENE

We aren’t even half-way through the Session and already the pace is a whole lot faster.
Here’s one simple gauge: the number and content of Committee meetings.

Back in mid-January there was only one Committee that met on Monday mornings (to give legislators time to get back to Olympia from their Districts), and almost no Committee meetings after 5:00 pm. Next week, by contrast, there are three Committees meeting on Monday morning and evening meetings every day but Friday. People who showed up in Week Six for one Committee meeting scheduled from 6:00 – 8:00 pm said it was still going strong at 9:00 pm… with a long list of people waiting to give testimony and bills still to be voted on in Executive Session. On Tuesday of next week, the House Committee on Commerce and Labor has even scheduled five bills for a Public Hearing that starts at 8:00 pm!

These added times for Public Hearings and Executive Sessions are just one reflection of a particularly busy legislative session – one with nearly 2,400 bills already introduced. Back in mid-January, the schedule for a 2-hour Committee meeting might include one or two bills for a Public Hearing, plus maybe one topic for a Work Session. Anyone who came in the early weeks and then returned to Olympia today, might feel they’d stepped into a different world. E.g., next week one two-hour meeting of the Finance Committee shows a list of ELEVEN bills to be considered in a Public Hearing (even if they all got equal time, that’s just 11 minutes per bill). Over in the Committee on Health Care & Wellness, one day’s meeting includes 4 bills for Public Hearing and 4 more bills for Executive Session. The story is much the same over in the Senate.

As one Senate staffer remarked – “…it isn’t quite ‘crunch time,’ but it’s getting close.” She was referring to the fact that any bill that hasn’t had a Public Hearing and an Executive Session by February 28 is dead for this year. So Committee Chairs try to pack as many extra meetings in as they can, and then they try to pack as many bills into each meeting as they can.

The results of this hectic pace play out in many ways. For example, anyone wishing to testify needs to be VERY brief. Witnesses who come with a prepared statement and/or a 1-page sheet with key points are much appreciated by both legislators and staff. And these days many Committee Chairs can be heard asking witnesses to summarize their comments, or “wrap up quickly.” At one group’s Lobby Day, participants were advised to “…keep it short, keep it clear, and - please - stop talking if the Chair asks you to. We want to be welcomed back.”

And, since legislators are now tied up in Committee Hearings and Executive Sessions for longer periods on more days, they have less time to meet with constituents. Olympia “regulars” have long known the value of meeting with a legislator’s aide, but at these days that’s especially true. Legislators’ assistants are careful to report the concerns of constituents who came for an appointment (or just dropped by), and they will sometimes be able to spend more time with constituents than a legislator could. The moral of this part of the story: don’t think you’ve been treated badly if your meeting turns out to be with the aides.

Above all, the hectic schedules remind everyone of an important building block of effective advocacy: relationships count… and count… and count. As the legislators’ time gets scarcer, it helps if they already know you or your group, and know that the information you bring can be trusted. The early, more leisurely weeks of the Session are pretty much over.

Real People –
Meanwhile, a focus on the schedules/bills/mechanics of the legislative process… can obscure one central point: in the midst of the crazy schedules, legislators are still people. Like the rest of us, they have personal lives that don’t take a break just because the Legislature is in Session. Already this year, one legislator experienced the death of a parent, another welcomed a new baby, and a few are still getting over the death or illness of family members over the summer.

THE PROCESS – the powerful Rules Committees
All Committees have power, but some have special powers – like the House and Senate Rules Committees. This time of year, as more and more bills are being voted out of the Policy Committees, and (if they involve costs) out of the Fiscal Committees, the Rules Committees have a critical role. These committees act as the “gatekeepers” because they decide which bills will be scheduled for debate and votes on the House or Senate Floor, and when. That’s why seats on “Rules” are highly prized, and tend to go to more senior members – including some of the Chairs of other Committees.

The House and Senate Rules Committees differ from the policy committees in several ways. First, they are bigger: the House Rules Committee has a hefty 24 members, Senate Rules has 20. That makes them bigger than all the other Committees except for the fiscal Committees (which write the budget and play a key role in all spending decisions) and Transportation (which touches every district, every constituent). Because of their importance they give added weight to the majority party, and they include key members of the leadership. House Rules is chaired by the Speaker of the House, and includes the House Minority Leader; Senate Rules is chaired by the Lieutenant Governor and includes the Senate Minority Leader. Po-wer, po-wer.

Plus, the Rules Committees even have their own, unique process. They meet in rooms with limited (usually no) space for the public. The times and topics of their meetings are not listed on the weekly meeting schedule, and the website “agenda” listing for these Committees is often blank. Instead, they often meet on the spur-of-the-moment, e.g., any time the Chair spreads the word that the Committee will be gathering at a particular time. And members of the public do not get to testify before Rules.

Voting in the Rules Committees
Because there are usually more bills than there is Floor time, the Rules Committees have a ruthless winnowing process. They work from two lists: a WHITE SHEET for bills when they are first sent to Rules, and a GREEN SHEET that lists bills “pulled” from the white sheet.

The Rules Committee Chair decides how many “pulls,” or choices, each Committee member will get from a list of all the bills that have made it to the Rules Committee. The first time they poll the members, each decides which bills s/he wants pulled from the White Sheet to the Green Sheet. At this point there is no discussion, no voting.

The next times, each Rules Committee Member indicates which bill(s) they want pulled from the Green Sheet to go to the floor. In Senate Rules there’s a brief discussion, in House Rules a Committee Chair may sometimes speak about the bill. In both cases the brief discussion is followed by a vote. Bills pulled to the green sheet are eligible to go out to the floor.

Despite this elaborate process, it is not uncommon for bills to die in the Rules Committee. Occasionally the Committee just runs out of time, or, sometimes the Chair decides a bill should not come to a vote and decides to “sit” on a bill in Rules – effectively killing it.

In some cases they will group several bills together to go to the floor and be voted on in a block or a bill that fails to get a majority slips back to the White Sheet for another try. Some other procedural things can happen... but this is the basic drill for bills heading to Floor Action. (We’ll take up Floor Action in a future POLICY WATCH.)

PRACTICAL TIP: Because they don’t hold Public Hearings, the Rules Committees are less accessible than are policy or fiscal Committees. But Rules Committee members can be lobbied like anybody else. This time of year it is a common to see them with index cards or notepads at the ready, jotting down the bill numbers their constituents and lobbyists want “pulled” the next time the Rules Committee meets.

You can get your bill on that card/notepad. If your Senator or Representative sits on the Rules Committee, they – and you – can have a lot of influence at this time of year. Tell them which bills you care about. (If your legislators don’t sit on the Rules Committee, ask your legislators to contact them for you.) Either way - they are just a Toll-Free call away: 1-800-562-6000.

Enter the number of a bill you care about in the search box at www.leg.wa.gov, and check every few days to see whether it’s been voted out of a policy or fiscal Committee and sent to the Rules Committee. When that happens, find ways to contact members of the Rules Committee and ask them to schedule your bill for the floor.

***********
By now everyone who reads POLICY WATCH should know the names of their SENATOR and two REPRESENTATIVES. If you haven’t contacted them yet, do it now: go to www.leg.wa.gov, and click on “Find Your Legislator” for a link to their email address. Or call the toll-free Hot-Line – 1-800-562-6000 – and talk to the friendly operator. Let your legislators know you live in their District and the issue or bill you care about. It’s that easy.
***********

SOME ISSUES
Nearly 2,400 bills have been introduced. Because issue-specific groups and the state’s website provide such good information, POLICY WATCH only mentions a few of the many, many issues being taken up. To see a list of all the bills introduced to date, go to www.leg.wa.gov and at Bill Information, check the DAILY STATUS REPORT. Every bill that has had a Public Hearing is eligible for Executive Session; no Public Hearing, no chance to move on.

Education – in many forms, at all levels – continues to be a hot topic.

On Wednesday, 2/21 the House Higher Education Committee has scheduled for Executive Session - HB 1644 – modifying health care eligibility for part-time community college faculty.

On Thursday, 2/22 the House Higher Education Committee has scheduled for a Public Hearing - HB 1856 – regarding child care grants for students at institutions of higher education.

On Tuesday, 2/20, the House Early Learning and Children’s Services Committee will hold a Public Hearing on 2 bills: HB 2246 – providing for educational services to children who are deaf and hearing impaired, and HB 2238 - providing for comprehensive hearing assessments for infants who fail a newborn hearing screening.

On Friday, 2/23, the House Early Learning and Children’s Services Committee will hold a Public Hearing on a foster care bill: HB 2088 –supporting the needs of children in foster care, and also on early intervention for children three years old – HB 2230.

Health/Mental Health related topics are also commanding continued attention.

SSB 5093 (HB 1071) which would provide health coverage for all children by 2010 passed the Senate this week by a vote of 38-9. Under an agreement with the House Health Care Committee (which had already held hearings on a companion bill), it went straight to the House Appropriations Committee. It will get a Public Hearing there on Tuesday, 2/20.

On Monday, 2/19, the House Health Care & Wellness Committee has scheduled an Executive Session that includes HB 2098 – providing quality, affordable health care to all based on recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission.

On Monday, 2/19, the House Committee on Appropriations has scheduled HB 1855 – regarding sex education in schools, for Executive Session.

On Thursday 2/22, at 8:00 am, the Senate Human Services Committee has scheduled a Public Hearing on SB 5950 – clarifying the definition of social worker.

HB 1215 – which would prohibit the sale, purchase, or use of alcohol vaporizing devices –
Was taken up on the House Floor and passed by a vote of 93-1. It now goes to the Senate.

Housing
The House Committee on Housing continues to devote time to bills concerning homelessness and/or ways to increase affordable housing; these are only a few.

On Monday, 2/19, the House Committee on Housing will hold a Public Hearing on HB 2244 – authorizing faith communities to host temporary homeless encampments.

On Wednesday, 2/21, the House Committee on Housing has scheduled an Executive Session on that bill: HB 2244.

Other issues:
HB 1351 – protecting individuals in domestic partnerships by granting certain rights and benefits remains in the House Rules Committee – waiting to be scheduled for Floor Action.

PayDay Loans: in Week Six, the House Committee on Insurance, Financial Services & Consumer Protection held a Public Hearing on HB 1817, and HB 2027 – two bills regarding “payday loans” from the industry’s perspective, but continued to insist they would not hold hearings on HB 1020 and HB 1021 – which approach the issue from a consumer perspective, by limiting the amount of interest that could lawfully be charged.

Revenue: A bill that would require that tax expenditures (i.e., tax breaks, tax subsidies) be considered as costs when developing the state budget is HB 1827 – requiring a tax expenditure report as part of the biennial budget documents. It got a Public Hearing in the Finance Committee in Week Six. The Washington Tax Fairness Coalition is following this bill.

By now there have been eleven bills introduced that address one or more aspect of campaign and/or election reform – included the public financing of campaigns (judges and others’), voluntary limits on campaign contributions, how we conduct primaries, and tamper-proof voting.

BUDGET

Because writing the two-year budget is the one thing the legislature must do, and because it affects every constituent in every area of the state, it is the legislature’s major task this year.
BUDGET DRAFTING is getting underway. If your bill or issue has budget implications, or a Fiscal Note, you need to get a champion on the budget-writing committees for your item/your bill (the Appropriations Committee in the House and the Ways & Means Committee in the Senate). If one of your legislators sits on a fiscal Committee, be sure they know the budget areas important to you.

SOME BUDGET-RELATED MEETINGS NEXT WEEK
This year the House of Representatives created two Appropriations Subcommittees to help streamline the process: because Education is such a big issue this year, one focuses on that, and the second provides some oversight for the many audits now underway, as well as a preliminary look at funding for government programs.

On Wednesday, 2/21 at 6:00 pm, the HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE on EDUCATION will hold a Work Session/Public Hearing to start considering proposed budget recommendations. J.L. O’Brien Building – House Hearing Room A.

On Thursday, 2/22 at 1:30 pm, and again that day at 6:00 pm, the HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE on EDUCATION will continue that process in additional Work Sessions on proposed budget recommendations. J.L. O’Brien Building – House Hearing Room A.

On Wednesday, 2/21 at 6:00 pm, the HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE on GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND AUDIT REVIEW will also hold a Work Session/Public Hearing on Proposed Budget recommendations. J.L. O’Brien Building, House Hearing Room B

On Thursday, 2/22 at 1:30 pm, and again that day at 6:00 pm, the HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE on GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND AUDIT REVIEW will continue that process in additional Work Sessions on proposed budget recommendations. J.L. O’Brien Building – House Hearing Room B. 1:30 meeting will be on TVW.

PART III
BILL NUMBERS:
House Bill numbers have four digits and begin with 1_ _ _ , or 2_ _ _;
Senate Bill numbers have four digits and begin with 5_ _ _, or 6_ _ _.
Thus a bill identified as HB 1058 would be the 58th bill introduced in the House; SB 6264 is the 1,264th Senate Bill introduced in the session. More recent bills have higher numbers.

KEY DATES It is important to understand the Legislative Calendar.
The Legislative Session in Olympia runs from January 8 – April 22, 2007. Every day – including Saturdays, Sundays, and all holidays – is counted in setting the 105-day Session. The legislature may also be in session on weekends later in the Session. The “cut-off dates” below control the action on bills. Bills that fail to get the requisite action before “cut-off” usually die.

…here are critical points in the 2007 Session:

1/08 – 2007 Session begins.
2/28 – last day for bills to be considered in the Policy Committees of the House/Senate - where they originate (a.k.a. "house of origin")
3/5 – last day for bill consideration in the Fiscal Committee (House or Senate) where they originate
3/14 – last day for bills to be considered on the floor in their “house of origin”
3/30 – last day for bills consideration in the Policy Committees of the "opposite house"
4/02 – last day for bill consideration in the Fiscal Committees of the "opposite house"
4/13 – last day for bill to be considered on the floor of the opposite house
4/22 – 2005 Session adjourns for the year.

|Back to Policy Watch main page|