The Washington House Appropriations Committee met in executive session and, by recorded votes, sent a large group of bills to the full House with “do pass” recommendations, adopting or incorporating multiple amendments during debate.

The committee reported bills addressing housing near transit, protections for minors online, changes to renewable-energy taxation, behavioral-health crisis services, and a proposal to allow local jurisdictions to adopt a 0.1% sales-and-use tax dedicated to criminal justice grants. Several bills drew extended debate and roll-call votes; others were approved unanimously or with broad support.

Why it matters: Many of the measures the committee moved affect how state and local governments will implement programs and distribute funding. Appropriations review determines which bills carry fiscal endorsements to the floor and can affect implementation timelines, local revenue and the state budget picture.

Representative Macri (Representative Macri, member, House Appropriations Committee) described HB 18-13 — a revised bill on behavioral-health crisis services — as a narrowed but still meaningful step toward improving crisis care and coordination between managed care organizations and behavioral health administrative services organizations. "Our behavioral health crisis care services are kind of like the public utility of community behavioral health... this bill intends to ensure that those services are more readily available to all of our residents across the state," Macri said during debate.

Representative Ryu (Representative Ryu, member) led floor discussion on HB 18-34, the attorney-general-request bill on online protections for minors, which drew sustained attention and multiple amendments. Ryu urged support for text and amendments that expand age-estimation requirements, limit profiling and restrict the use of algorithmic, addictive feeds for minors. "With this attorney general request bill, we increase protection for our children from addictive social media platforms that target children for profit," Ryu said.

Representative Berg (Representative Berg, member) urged approval of HB 19-60, which replaces a personal-property-tax exemption for certain renewable-energy facilities with a state and county renewable-energy excise tax, saying the change would provide local predictability of revenues where projects locate. Representative Dye (Representative Dye, member) said parts of that proposal still require work on local land-use implications.

Public-safety and funding was a central theme on HB 20-15, which creates a local law-enforcement grant program administered by the Criminal Justice Training Commission and authorizes an optional 0.1% local sales-and-use tax to fund grants. Representative Street (Representative Street, member) supported the bill for incentivizing best practices and funding nontraditional public-safety responses. Representative Penner (Representative Penner, member) opposed saying the proposal would not materially help smaller jurisdictions and questioned structural fairness for many small cities.

Other bills advanced with varying degrees of debate and amendment activity, including:
- HB 14-91 (transit-oriented development/housing near transit) — recorded roll-call debate and a 19–11–1 committee vote after several amendments on affordability, opt-outs and implementation dates. Supporters framed it as an important supply bill; opponents raised concerns about local control and environmental justice maps where denser development overlaps impacted communities.
- HB 14-60 (so-called “hope card” to simplify protection-order verification) — passed unanimously in committee with broad, supportive remarks from members who said the card helps survivors of domestic violence.
- HB 16-68 (escape from community custody sentencing) — advanced as a public-safety measure to align scoring for escape from community custody with other crimes so community corrections can focus on reintegration work.

Votes at a glance (committee tallies)
- Second substitute House Bill 13-91 (diversion for youth; due pass recommendation): 30 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused.
- Substitute House Bill 14-60 (protection-order hope card; due pass): 30 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused.
- Third substitute House Bill 14-91 (transit-oriented housing; due pass): 19 ayes, 11 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 15-49 (apprenticeship/on-the-job training supports; due pass): 30 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 15-83 (Medicaid recognition of traditional Indian medical practitioners; due pass): 30 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 15-87 (Washington Opportunity Scholarship changes; due pass): 19 ayes, 11 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 16-14 (capital gains tax technical/administration changes; due pass): 20 ayes, 10 nays, 1 excused.
- House Bill 16-47 (surface-mining reclamation/fees; due pass): 20 ayes, 10 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 16-62 (administrative independence for small education entities under OSPI; due pass): 30 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 16-68 (escape from community custody scoring; due pass): 26 ayes, 4 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 18-13 (behavioral-health crisis services, second substitute): 23 ayes, 7 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 18-34 (protections for minors online; due pass): 18 ayes, 12 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 19-12 (Climate Commitment Act agricultural-fuel exemptions adjustments; due pass): 26 ayes, 4 nays, 1 excused.
- Second substitute House Bill 19-60 (renewable-energy excise tax, local and state components; due pass): 20 ayes, 10 nays, 1 excused.
- Substitute House Bill 19-69 (law enforcement aviation support grants and wildfire aviation funding; due pass): 30 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused.
- Substitute House Bill 20-15 (local criminal-justice grant program and optional 0.1% sales tax; due pass): 18 ayes, 12 nays, 1 excused.

What happens next: The bills the committee reported will be scheduled for floor action. Where the committee adopted amendments or changed effective dates, local implementers and agencies will review the updated language as the measures move to the House calendar. Several members flagged items that may require floor amendment or further work – including environmental-justice overlays near transit, taxable treatment and local land-use conditions for renewables, and how behavioral-health crisis services will be funded and operationalized.

Meeting context: The session was an executive session focused on fiscal committee cutoff. Many items were staff-briefed in advance; downtown roll-call votes reflected partisan and cross-aisle debates on the larger policy trade-offs behind the funding language.