Eventful Week in Olympia: A recap

Washington made national headlines this week when state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee announced that they would fight President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a travel ban from seven countries. Ferguson called Trump’s order unconstitutional and said he would seek to invalidate it in a lawsuit. On Friday, a federal judge ruled in Ferguson’s favor and ordered a halt to the ban.

Inslee called it a “tremendous victory.”

“There is still more to do. The fight isn’t yet won. But we should feel heartened by today’s victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history,” the governor said.

Earlier in the week, Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, assured reporters he could serve as both a lawmaker and a member of President Trump’s transition team. Ericksen is overseeing the communication of Trump’s transition effort at the Environmental Protection Agency and working with Vancouver’s former Sen. Don Benton, now a senior White House adviser.

With the 2017 Washington legislative session in full swing, there was also plenty of state news. Ericksen flew back to Olympia from Washington, D.C., in time for Republican senators to pass a sweeping education plan that they say will fix the state’s largest problem: how to adequately fund the state’s public schools. Democrats largely criticized their proposal, but it could help negotiations gain some traction. Legislators also tackled a wide range of other issues from how to charge law-enforcement officials who use deadly force to whether employers should be prohibited from asking about an applicant’s criminal history.

Southwest Washington lawmakers continue to meet weekly to discuss local priorities.

There are two more weeks until the first bill cutoff, so expect a flurry of activity in Olympia.

Here’s a snapshot of some bills discussed this week with Southwest Washington significance:

Oil transportation safety

When a train carrying crude oil derailed in Mosier, Ore., last summer, the entire region got a glimpse of what a catastrophic spill could look like. Senate Bill 5462 is one of a couple of bills trying to strengthen regulations on trains carrying crude oil. The measure, which received a hearing in the Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee on Thursday, has several provisions, including requiring railroads to complete oil contingency plans.

A bill passed in a previous legislative session, House Bill 1449, also required a contingency plan but was watered down. This measure, if passed in its current form, would require a certificate of financial responsibility, in which an insurance underwriter evaluates and confirms the rail company’s ability to pay for a catastrophic event. It also gives the state legal standing to require insurance and bond information.

Currently, railroads have to attest that they have the system in place and the ability to handle a spill, but when it comes to financials, a letter of assurance is sufficient. Some critics have pointed out railroads are chronically underinsured, but without a certain level of transparency, that’s difficult to prove.

The measure has a litany of other provisions, including requiring facilities to update their oil spill plans and training requirements to handle crude, and applying the barrel tax on pipelines.

A lobbyist for BNSF Railway spoke against the bill, saying giving the power to stop the railroad from operating is an “astonishing level of power” and said the state does not have the authority to impose such laws. Environmentalists, first responders and Dale Jensen, with the Department of Ecology’s spill program, testified in favor.

Equal pay

Both Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, and Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, want to ensure Washington women are protected against compensation discrimination. The state’s Equal Pay Act guaranteeing those protections hasn’t been changed since 1943.

Women still only make about 77 cents to a man’s dollar, and the gap is wider for minority women. Cleveland is championing Senate Bill 5140, which would broaden the Equal Pay Act to include discrimination based on “less-favorable employment opportunities based on gender discrimination” and add compensation to also mean benefits.

Her measure would also prohibit employers from retaliating if employees discussed and shared their wages. Without expanding the act, Cleveland said, the state won’t reach true pay equity until 2071.

Critics argued that her bill is too vague, would result in litigation and be difficult to implement. The bill being back by Rivers, Senate Bill 5344, prohibits payment of wages at a rate “less than paid to employees in the same establishment of the opposite sex for equal work.” It would also ensure employees are allowed to discuss their wages and compensation with other employees and their employer without fear of retaliation.

But it scales back certain portions of existing law. Currently, wage discrimination is a misdemeanor offense. This bill would strike that and the measure allow employees to seek significantly fewer damages than Cleveland’s bill allows.

And although it allows employees to discuss wages, employers can impose restrictions on time, place and type of discussions. Critics called it a cleverly written measure that actually takes the state backwards.

Tampon tax

Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, is hoping Senate Bill 5093 will exempt feminine hygiene products from retail and use tax. As she pointed out to the Senate Ways & Means Committee this week, they are medically necessary products. But if that measure fails to gain momentum, she’s also introduced Senate Bill 5092, which would use the tax that currently exists and reallocate the funds to help domestic violence victims.

The money would create a grant program called Women Helping Women under the Department of Commerce. Funds would be given annually to each county, based on population size, and help local law enforcement and prosecutors to offer support services for domestic violence and sexual assault victims.

Rural development

Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, is pushing a bill to broaden the scope of what could be developed in rural parts of the state. Her measure, House Bill 1504, was heard in the House Environment Committee this week. It would add “freight rail dependent uses” and “short line railroad” to the Growth Management Act. “This bill is needed because in Clark County and all over the state, the availability of rail-served land is scarce,” Pike said in a statement. “Each year, thousands of new manufacturing jobs are turned away because under the current Growth Management Act, these parcels don’t exist.”

Tiny homes

Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida, is backing a bill to ease restrictions around what qualifies as a tiny home in the state. The measure, House Bill 1085, passed out of the House Committee on Community Development, Housing & Tribal Affairs this week, and would allow cities and counties to strike any minimum floor space requirements for single-family homes.

The measure gives local jurisdictions the flexibility to decide whether they want to zone for tiny homes and if they do, scrap current building requirements that currently make it onerous. The state is facing an affordable housing crisis and Vick said this measure could help. Also, he believes in allowing for more local control.