South Kitsap Chamber of Commerce Legislative Update

The South Kitsap Chamber of Commerce seeks to educate our members and the community about Government actions that may affect local businesses. We rely on our partners to provide us with in-depth research and analysis of the issues. We pass on this information for your review.

Sine Die: The clouds have parted and the end of the 2023 legislative session is here. The Legislature adjourned on Sunday night, finishing on time after 105 days. With just hours to go, lawmakers passed a $69.8 billion two-year state operating budget (more details in the budget item below).

AWB’s statement: AWB is encouraged to see lawmakers slow down spending growth after record growth in recent years. The budget also includes no new tax increases. The Washington Research Council has details.

• “These are positive steps, especially in light of the cooling we’re seeing in the economy and the continuing concern about the possibility of a recession,” AWB President Kris Johnson said. 

Wins: In this session, lawmakers took meaningful steps to address the state’s affordable housing crisis. The Legislature passed nine bills to increase the housing supply and dedicated a record $1 billion for new housing investments. This is the most housing legislation lawmakers have passed in years. AWB News has details.

Washington will join the Nurse Licensure Compact under legislation passed nearly unanimously by the Legislature. The legislation has long been an AWB priority and is a critical step to addressing healthcare workforce shortages. 

• Get a full wrap-up on this and other health care, child care, and workforce development issues from AWB's Amy Anderson here. 

The Legislature overwhelmingly approved new policies to scale up the production of sustainable aviation fuel, low-carbon fuels that are considered crucial for the aviation sector to cut emissions. The legislation promises to attract new business investment and jobs. AWB, employers, and unions testified in support of the bill.

Losses: Lawmakers approved several employment law bills that will create additional challenges and hurdles for employers. One bill will allow the state to adopt rules relating to ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders, reversing a citizen initiative. Another bill will allow the state to set staffing quotas for warehouses, interfering with business operations. Another expands the list of circumstances where an employee can voluntarily leave work and be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits.

Missed opportunities: Lawmakers took no action to address major issues with the state’s troubled long-term care program, WA Cares. Employers will need to begin deducting the tax from employees’ paychecks in July. The final budget also may not include enough in reserves.   

• “Lawmakers failed to pass meaningful, broad-based tax relief and drew down reserves to a level that may not be sufficient in the event of a downturn,” Johnson said.

Legislators made it easier to permit clean energy facilities, but more work remains to be done. There were also misses with housing legislation, with lawmakers failing to pass three AWB-supported bills: lot-splitting, transit-oriented development, and a multifamily property tax exemption.



Legislative wrap-ups: Stay tuned for short session wrap-up videos from AWB’s government affairs team. We’ll be posting the videos on social media this week and in next week’s Fast Facts. 

Operating budget: The House and Senate struck a compromise and passed a $69.8 billion two-year operating budget on Sunday. The House passed the budget 58-40 and the Senate 37-12. 

• The budget adds about $4.7 billion in new spending and leaves about $3 billion total reserves. It includes significant funding increases for K-12 education, special education, behavioral health, and housing and homelessness. Read more in The Seattle Times. 

Tax proposals die: Proposals to increase the real estate excise tax (REET) and raise the annual cap on local property tax growth were left out of the final budget. AWB helped lead the effort to oppose the REET measure and its added housing costs. 

• AWB and a broad coalition of business leaders sent a letter last week to House members urging them to vote no on the REET measure. The bill would have raised the state’s tax rate to the highest in America.

Capital budget: Meanwhile, the Legislature unanimously passed a separate $9 billion capital budget. The budget will fund construction projects for the biennium that begins in July. The Washington Research Council breaks down the final budget. 

• The capital budget will infuse $400 million into the state’s Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing around the state. This is more money allocated for the fund than ever before. 

Transportation budget: The Legislature also adopted a $13.5 billion transportation budget. The budget maintains a commitment to the Connecting Washington projects for the next six years. The final budget does not include additional bonding authority, which was originally proposed by the Senate.

• Lawmakers dedicated about $970 million in Climate Commitment Act funds to various programs, including $120 million toward a medium- and heavy-duty clean truck incentive program. This program was a top transportation priority for AWB, as commercial fleets begin to transition to cleaner vehicles and infrastructure.



• There are concerns in the medium- and long-term about revenue projections and workforce challenges. These will be topics to watch in future budget cycles.

Workplace law and human resources issues

Government Affairs Director Bob Battles was watching these bills as the session wrapped up:

• Private right of action and damages against self-insured employers: Negotiations continued into the final days for House Bill 1521. The bill, which AWB opposed throughout the session, was modified with an amendment that explicitly states the law would not create a private right of action, and that the workers’ comp system continues to be the exclusive remedy for workplace injuries. While AWB does not support the overall bill, the final bill was improved from the original version. 

• Paid family and medical leave: Senate Bill 5286 implements a bipartisan plan that AWB helped negotiate to stabilize the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program. The final amount of funding in the bill was not determined until passage of the budget. The bill will allocate $200 million to help set up a PFML reserve fund. This is a positive move and this will help bring stability to the PFML fund.

• Warehouse staffing mandates: House Bill 1762, which would allow the Department of Labor & Industries to set staffing quotas for warehouses, was also in play until the end of session. The bill passed. Nearly every warehouse in the state would have been affected by the original bill. AWB opposes quotas of these kinds and this level of government regulation of day-to-day business operations. Unfortunately they missed an opportunity to create truly a transparent solution and only ended up interfering with business operations. 

Public comments requested on existing Comprehensive Plan goals and policies

Kitsap County is hard at work on the 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update as required by the Growth Management Act. Public participation is an integral component of this effort, and so far input on previous topics such as growth alternatives has been very useful. At this time, staff requests public comment on existing Comprehensive Plan goals and policies.

Each chapter of the plan is available to explore online. Please provide input for each topic by scrolling to the comment box at the bottom of the individual chapter webpage. Comments on multiple chapters can be emailed to compplan@kitsap.gov.

Public comment will be combined with input from stakeholder partners; the consultant's review for consistency of countywide planning policies and updated Growth Management Act requirements; and staff updates to language and formatting. Draft versions of the updated elements are expected to be available in October 2023.

The current and past Kitsap County comprehensive plans are available online. The 2024 Comprehensive Plan update process may be found at kcowa.us/compplan, including videos of past presentations and public meetings as well as maps, alternatives, and other information.

Please submit questions, comments or written testimony to compplan@kitsap.gov,

Be sure to check out other bills currently on our Bill Watch List.