Climate Action This Week: Floor Votes by Wednesday or Bust!

Climate Action This Week: 

• Net metering for rooftop solar production
• “Buy Clean, Buy Fair”
• Increasing middle housing
• Low level traffic stops
• Right to sue for harm from illegal police conduct
• Eliminating jaywalking law
• Reducing environmental impacts associated with lighting products
• Strengthening the AG's authority to address systemic law enforcement misconduct
• Reducing impacts of lead in aviation fuel
• Transitioning off of “natural” gas

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Pick as many or as few actions as you’d like. Remember to scroll down and click the "DONE" button when you finish.

Thank you for taking action with the 350 WA Civic Action Team!

📜 1. Concerning on-premises energy generation - HB 1427

This bill extends and makes other changes to the state’s net metering for renewable energy, helping to ensure that rooftop solar production continues to be a viable option for building owners. This bill also provides that any unused credit must be distributed annually to low-income customers (in addition to existing funds for this purpose). The law currently provides that any unused credits for kilowatt-hours accumulated during the previous year are granted to the electric utility, without any compensation to the customer-generator. This bill passed the initial committee (Environment & Energy) with very few no votes, but it’s been sitting in Rules for more than two weeks.

We are following the lead of Spark Northwest on this bill. More information is available here: Net Metering.

✏️ Prefer to email? Please click here to email House leadership and ask them to pull HB 1427 to the floor for a vote.

(If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.)

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-27) – (360) 786-7930 – Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov
Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (360) 786-7952 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-21) – (360) 786-7972 – Lillian.Ortiz-Self@leg.wa.gov
Majority Floor Leader Monica Jurado Stonier (D-49) – (360) 786-7872 – monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative’s district!

📑 Script: The first sentence of your email should be “Please pull HB 1427 On-premises Energy Generation (Net Metering) to the floor for a vote.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points: 

• HB 1427 would extend and make improvements to the state’s net metering program for renewable energy, to ensure that rooftop solar production continues to be a viable option for building owners, speeding our transition to clean renewable energy.
• The bill also provides that any unused credit must be distributed annually to low-income customers. (The existing law provides that any unused credits for kilowatt-hours accumulated during the previous year are given to the electric utility, without any compensation to the customer-generator.)
• HB 1427 allows for larger commercial rooftop systems up to 1 MW. This ensures that rooftop solar is possible for commercial buildings, thus supporting Washington businesses. Allowing these larger systems will give our state access to federal dollars available through the Inflation Reduction Act. Please resist any attempt to reduce the size.
• Promoting solar, especially larger systems, on rooftops will help preserve open space.

📜 2. Requiring environmental and labor reporting for public building construction and renovation material - HB 1282

This bill, known as “Buy Clean, Buy Fair '' establishes environmental and labor reporting requirements for the construction or renovation of large public buildings with an emphasis on optimizing the embodied carbon throughout the lifecycle of the structure, improving human and environmental health, growing economic competitiveness, and promoting high labor standards in manufacturing by incorporating climate and other types of pollution impacts and the quality of working conditions into the procurement process. The bill attempts to recognize and reward Washington manufacturers who promote high labor standards in manufacturing, and to preserve and expand low carbon materials manufacturing in Washington.

350 WA CAT recommends this action. More information here: Climate at the Legislature summary.

✏️ Prefer to email? Please click here to contact House leadership and ask them to pull HB 1282 Environmental & Labor reporting (“Buy Clean, Buy Fair”) to the floor for a vote.

(If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.)

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-27) – (360) 786-7930 – Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov
Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (360) 786-7952 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-21) – (360) 786-7972 – Lillian.Ortiz-Self@leg.wa.gov
Majority Floor Leader Monica Jurado Stonier (D-49) – (360) 786-7872 – monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative’s district!

📑 Script: The first sentence of your email should be “Please pull HB 1282 Environmental & Labor reporting to the floor for a vote.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points:

• Buy Clean and Buy Fair policies are foundational to industrial decarbonization because they increase demand for low-carbon building materials and incentivize manufacturers to make those products.
• This bill attempts to recognize and reward Washington manufacturers who promote high labor standards in manufacturing, and to preserve and expand low carbon materials manufacturing in Washington.
• Washington is the only West Coast state without an embodied carbon policy. It’s time to remedy that, and take the lead with this bill that also includes labor standards.

📜 3. Increasing middle housing in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing - HB 1110

For cities planning under the Growth Management Act, this bill would allow duplexes (and 4-plexes if affordable housing is included or the building is near transit) in cities of between 25,000 and 75,000; and will allow 4-plexes (and 6-plexes if affordable housing is included or the building is near transit) in or adjacent to larger cities. Cities must carry out an anti-displacement analysis and may obtain an extension for areas at risk of displacement.

We are following the lead of Homes4WA on this bill.

✏️ Prefer to email? Please click here to contact House leadership and ask them to pull HB 1110 Increasing Middle Housing to the floor for a vote.

(If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.)

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-27) – (360) 786-7930 – Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov
Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (360) 786-7952 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-21) – (360) 786-7972 – Lillian.Ortiz-Self@leg.wa.gov
Majority Floor Leader Monica Jurado Stonier (D-49) – (360) 786-7872 – monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative’s district!

📑 Script: The first sentence of your email should be “Please pull HB 1110 Increasing Middle Housing to the floor for a vote.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points:

• We need an estimated 50,000 new housing units a year in Washington state. To protect farmland, forests and other open space and reduce transportation emissions, that requires increased density, and allowing 2, 4 or sometimes 6-plexes in certain current single-family areas is an important part of accomplishing that.
• This substitute bill allows 4-plex development in all single-family zoned areas for any city over 75,000 residents and smaller cities that are near cities of over 200,000. 6-plexes are allowed in these areas only if at least two of the units are made affordable as defined in the bill or they are within a half-mile of frequent transit.   
• The bill also allows 2-plex development in single-family zoned areas for any city between 25,000 and 75,000 residents. 4-plexes are allowed in these areas only if at least one of the units is made affordable or they are within a half-mile of frequent transit.   
• Review processes and critical areas regulations would need to be the same for missing middle housing as detached single-family homes.

📜 4. Improving traffic safety - HB 1513

HB 1513 will reduce police stops for low-level traffic violations that do not affect public safety, allowing  law enforcement to focus on addressing real hazards such as impaired, distracted, or reckless driving. It will also create resources for public safety programs such as helmet vouchers and tail light workshops.

The ACLU says “The Traffic Safety for All bill provides funding for jurisdictions to shift focus away from fees, fines and punitive enforcement and towards helping people fix their vehicles to increase compliance and road safety. The bill also restricts police from pulling people over for low-risk violations, and protects people from irrelevant questioning and unnecessary searches.”

We are following the lead of ACLU, Washington Coalition for Police Accountability and Transportation Choices Coalition. For more information see WCPA 1-Pager; ACLU 1-Pager.

✏️ Prefer to email? This bill really needs a push as it is still in the Rules Committee. Please click here to contact House leadership and ask them to pull HB 1513 Improving Traffic Safety to the floor for a vote.

(If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.)

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-27) – (360) 786-7930 – Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov
Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (360) 786-7952 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-21) – (360) 786-7972 – Lillian.Ortiz-Self@leg.wa.gov
Majority Floor Leader Monica Jurado Stonier (D-49) – (360) 786-7872 – monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative’s district!

📑 Script: The first sentence of your email should be “Please pull HB 1513 Improving Traffic Safety to the floor for a vote. Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points:

• The horrific death of Tyre Nichols has put a national focus on just how dangerous traffic stops can be. Traffic stops for minor traffic infractions have, at their most severe, turned deadly for Black and Brown Washingtonians, like Giovonn Joseph McDade, Jenoah Donald, and Iosia Faletogo, and hundreds of others throughout the country. A traffic stop should never put someone’s life at risk.
• Harmful fishing expeditions by law enforcement have been shown to be ineffective at uncovering crime and ineffective at reducing traffic fatalities, but have significant social and civic costs.
• This bill limits officers' use of stops and detentions for non-moving violations as a primary offense, and specifies additional process requirements for traffic stops. 
• The bill also requires written consent before an officer may search a vehicle or passengers and requires an officer to prepare a detailed report for each stop or detention. 
• The bill also creates a grant program focused on solutions-based interventions for non-moving violations for low-income road users.

📜 5. Creating a private right of action for harm from violations of the state Constitution or state law by peace officers - HB 1025

This bill will allow meaningful redress for victims of police violence when their Washington State constitutional rights or certain state laws have been violated.

We are following the lead of the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability and the ACLU on this bill. For more information see WCPA 1-Pager; People Power Talking Points.

✏️ Prefer to email? Please click here to contact House leadership and ask them to pull HB 1025 Creating a Private Right of Action to the floor for a vote.

(If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.)

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-27) – (360) 786-7930 – Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov
Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (360) 786-7952 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-21) – (360) 786-7972 – Lillian.Ortiz-Self@leg.wa.gov
Majority Floor Leader Monica Jurado Stonier (D-49) – (360) 786-7872 – monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative’s district!

📑 Script: The first sentence of your email should be “Please pull HB 1025 Creating a Private Right of Action to the floor for a vote.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points:

• HB 1025 will hold police officers accountable for harm caused by their violation of the state constitution or certain state laws. They will have a defense if they were substantially following their employers’ policies. The bill will also hold departments accountable by holding them liable for negligent hiring, training, supervision or discipline of officers involved in misconduct, as well as being vicariously responsible for their employees.
• Victims of police violence and their families are often doubly victimized by being pushed into poverty, housing instability, and mental health crises as they navigate a confusing and abusive system while being plunged into debt through the costs of funerals, attorney fees, costs for childcare, and loss of work. Few are offered any financial compensation for the financial and emotional loss caused by violent policing. Families and victims of police violence deserve more than just a hashtag -- they need compensation for state sponsored violence.  
• I believe no matter if you are Black, white, Indigenous, or a person of color, you deserve meaningful redress when your civil rights have been violated. That is why I am urging your support of 2SHB 1025.

📜 6. Concerning pedestrians crossing and moving along roadways - SB 5383

This bill will make it no longer a crime to jaywalk across roadways with a posted speed limit of 45 mph or less, as long as it does not impede the flow of traffic. Jaywalking citations create financially burdensome and potentially dangerous interactions between police and people who are disproportionately unhoused, people of color, and people living in areas with poorer infrastructure, e.g. long distances between marked crossings and busy arterials through neighborhoods. Jaywalking citations do not make people safer and are a wasteful use of law enforcement resources.

We are following the lead of Transportation Choices Coalition and Free To Walk Washington.

We need to push this bill to a floor vote. It is still in the Senate Rules Committee, not on the floor calendar. It needs to pass by Wednesday March 8.

✏️ Please click here to contact your Senator using the “Comment on this bill” form. For this bill choose your Senator and select “Support” in the position button.

📑 The first sentence of your comment should be: “Please ensure that SB 5383 is pulled to the floor for a vote, and vote yes in support.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points:

• Jaywalking enforcement, as it is practiced, is an exercise in discriminatory treatment, because it is most frequently enforced against people of color and houseless people. 
• Jaywalking citations create a financial burden on people largely unable to pay, and do nothing to make walking safer.
  It is a waste of law enforcement resources to ticket people for jaywalking.
• We need to prioritize safer walking infrastructure, not accosting and punishing people just trying to get from point A to point B.

📜 7. Reducing environmental impacts associated with lighting products - HB 1185

This bill will extend the existing producer-provided recycling program for mercury-containing lights beyond its scheduled 2025 sunset date. It will also expand the program to include all types of lights; and phase out the sale of mercury-containing fluorescent lights.

We are following the lead of Zero Waste Washington on this bill.

✏️ This bill is still in the Rules Committee and needs our help. Please click here to contact both of your Representatives using the “Comment on this bill' form and press “Support” in the position button.

📑 The first sentence of your comment should be: “Please ensure that SHB 1185 is placed on Second Reading, pulled to the floor for a vote and vote yes to support this important bill.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional Talking points:

• This bill will phase out the sale of mercury-containing fluorescent lights. New types of light bulbs available now are much more energy efficient and will also save money for consumers, businesses, and schools.
• Fluorescent bulbs and tubes contain mercury, a potent neurotoxin that is a significant human health risk and environmental concern. By phasing out the sale of these lights, the bill will reduce exposure to mercury.
• Unless extended, the recycling program provided by producers for mercury-containing lights will sunset in 2025 due to a provision in existing law. The mercury-containing lights, however, have not gone away. They are still being sold and will remain in use for years even after they are phased out. This bill will extend the producer-provided program so that mercury-containing lights can continue to be safely and conveniently collected and recycled.
• The bill will also expand the recycling program to include lights other than mercury-containing lights that contain valuable materials that can and should be recycled.

📜 8. Strengthening and clarifying the authority of the attorney general to address law enforcement and local corrections agency misconduct through investigations and legal action - HB 1445

This bill allows the Attorney General’s office to investigate police agencies for systemic practices that violate citizen rights as protected by the Washington State Constitution. It focuses on systemic or widespread misconduct, as opposed to isolated or sporadic instances of wrongdoing.

We are following the lead of the Washington Coalition on Police Accountability on this bill. For more information see WCPA 1-Pager; People Power WA AA.

✏️ Please click here to contact both of your Representatives using the “Comment on this bill' form and press “Support” in the position button.

📑 The first sentence of your comment should be: “Please ensure that 2SHB 1445 is pulled to the floor for a vote and vote yes to support this important bill.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points: 

• We need a process to address situations of widespread, systemic violations of rights of Washingtonians, separate from the need to deal with individual wrongdoing by one or a few officers.
• This bill would give the attorney general similar power to that of the Department of Justice (DOJ) nationally. The DOJ oversees 18,000 departments and does not have the resources to cover all of them effectively.
• This bill establishes a mechanism through which departments which have a pattern of discriminatory or otherwise illegal policing can get on track to reestablish trust and effectiveness.

📜 9. Reducing public health and environmental impacts from lead - HB 1554

While private jets and commercial airliners use unleaded fuel, smaller aircraft still use leaded fuel and are the largest single source of lead in the air in the US. Unfortunately this substitute bill has been weakened by eliminating the requirement to phase out leaded aviation fuel. However, it still requires Washington’s Department of Transportation to issue guidance on mitigation of public health and environmental harms by such measures as reducing idling time, increasing the distance between run-up and public areas, eliminating the practice of casting off leaded fuel, and educating employees. By November 1, 2024, or within four months of the initial publication of guidance under this act, whichever is later, each airport operator must submit and begin implementing a plan of best practices based on this guidance. The Department of Ecology is authorized to adopt rules to implement, administer, and enforce requirements related to leaded aviation gasoline. The bill also requires updated guidance for health care providers regarding testing of blood levels of children living near airports.

We are following the lead of 350 Seattle Aviation and King County International Airport Community Coalition (KCIACC) on this bill.

✏️ Please click here to contact both of your Representatives using the “Comment on this bill' form and press “Support” in the position button.

📑 The first sentence of your comment should be: “Please ensure that SHB 1554 is pulled to the floor for a vote and vote yes in support.” Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional Talking points:

• This bill requires Washington’s Department of Transportation to issue guidance on lead pollution mitigation such as reducing idling time, increasing the distance between run-up and public areas, eliminating the practice of casting off leaded fuel, and educating employees. We need to take these essential common sense steps to protect our children.
• Even though lead is a widely recognized hazard to human health and to the environment, and leaded motor vehicle gasoline was phased out across the United States decades ago, leaded gasoline remains in widespread use at general aviation airports by piston engine noncommercial aircraft. 
• Recent studies have found elevated levels of lead in the blood of residents of general aviation airport communities, and particularly worryingly, in the blood of children, for whom lead is especially harmful.
• There is consensus among the medical and scientific communities that the levels of lead detected in children living around general airports similar to those in Washington are hazardous. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2015 concluded that lead "is a well known air pollutant that can lead to a variety of adverse health impacts, including neurological effects in children that lead to behavioral problems, learning deficits, and lowered IQ."
• The federal EPA is taking steps towards making an endangerment finding that may lead, through a complex federal regulatory process, to the elimination of lead from aviation gasoline. But that unfolding federal process is too slow to adequately protect those currently living near airports.  

📜 10. Supporting Washington's clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future - HB 1589

This bill would prohibit large gas companies serving more than 500,000 customers (Puget Sound Energy) from providing gas service to new residential and commercial customers after June 30, 2023. Among other requirements, the utility would also have to report emissions from methane leaks; produce gas decarbonization and electrification plans as part of any rate plan filing after January 1, 2026; and design programs targeted to low income and other vulnerable communities. It would also change the way PSE groups customers when calculating rates. While the bill’s goals are commendable, we are concerned about its provisions.

350 WA CAT recommends this action.

✏️ Please click here to contact both of your Representatives using the “Comment on this bill” form and press “Oppose” or “Neutral” in the position button.

📑 The first sentence of your comment should be “Please do not vote for SHB 1589 unless it is amended to require a working group to study how best to retire the natural gas utilities.”  Then choose from the following talking points, or feel free to write your own.

Additional talking points:

• While we appreciate that PSE is engaging with the legislature to plan a phase-out of fossil gas, we are concerned that the bill will shift costs and risks to utility customers.
• Merging the gas and electric rate bases into a single utility will result in geographic inequity. Because of the different territories where PSE sells gas and electricity, PSE electric customers in cities like Olympia, Bellingham, and Bremerton will have to help pay the phase-out expenses for gas service customers in cities like Tacoma, Everett, and Seattle.
• Requiring electric utilities to own 60% of the resources that provide customer service means that ratepayers could end up paying for profits twice: once from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that PSE contracts with and again for PSE's earnings to shareholders.
• It would be better to convene a working group drawn from a broad range of stakeholders over the next year or two to consider all perspectives on how to best retire the natural gas utilities. Something this complex requires more careful consideration. Some may argue a need to rush this solution through for faster ramp down of fossil gas but the practical reality is that the combination of the new energy codes requiring residential electrification plus the phase-out of the free gas line extension now provided to builders will mean virtually no new natural gas customers after 2025 anyway.

-- The 350 WA Civic Action Team

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