Office of Intergovernmental Relations briefs Seattle Council on key bills, priorities and next steps in Olympia
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Summary
Mina Hashemi of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations (OIR) and her state-relations team updated council on recent House- and Senate-floor cutoffs, bills that advanced or stalled, and items the city is tracking, including public-safety funding, special-education changes and climate and housing measures.
Mina Hashemi, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, told council the March 12 floor cutoff had passed and that the Legislature is now focusing on bills that cross to the opposite chamber and on budget and revenue proposals. Hashemi highlighted that House Bill 1296 (the House 5 p.m. bill) addressed student rights, gender expression and protections, and moved through the House amid partisan debate and multiple amendments.
Hashemi also described Senate Bill 5263, the Senate 5 p.m. bill, which she said passed the Senate 48-0 and makes several changes to special education funding, including removing a 16% enrollment cap on funding, lowering thresholds for safety-net funding, requiring OSPI to develop a centralized statewide IEP system, and raising special-education funding multipliers.
Anna Johnson and Sameer Janajo of the OIR state-relations team reviewed bills that affect Seattle priorities. Sameer Janajo summarized public-safety funding developments: SB5098 had passed the Senate and was scheduled for a House hearing; an alternate public-safety funding measure did not advance to the Senate floor, while House Bill 2015 passed the House and would create a law-enforcement hiring and retention grant program, create a councilmanic criminal-justice sales-tax option, and create a supplemental criminal-justice account in the state budget. OIR told the council several city priorities—such as HB1816 (civilian-staffed crisis response teams) and SB5052 (certain public-safety clarifications)—did not come to the floor in time to advance this session.
The OIR team also reported progress on bills the city supports in climate, housing and commerce: recycling reform (SB5284) and clean-fuels adjustments, condo liability and insurance study bills (HB1403 and HB1516) that passed the House and were awaiting Senate hearings, and transmission-related bills to clarify siting and create a transmission agency. The team noted other tracked bills concerning ADU self-certification, minimum parking requirements, algorithmic rent-fixing and prevailing-wage rules for public-works contracts.
Hashemi, Johnson and Janajo described the coming policy cutoff in the opposite chamber on April 2 and asked councilmembers to continue coordination with OIR on priorities and outreach. Councilmembers asked for additional coordination with the Seattle delegation on several bills and raised questions about outreach and stakeholder engagement on high-priority measures. OIR said it would follow up with offices that requested more detail.