Climate Action This Week: 
  • WRAP Act (producer responsibility for packaging)
  • Enable voter referendum to create a housing fund
  • Increase middle housing
  • Update Growth Management Act to address climate change
  • Funds for small school districts
  • Air conditioning in adult family homes
  • Funding bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
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* Your information

Pick as many or as few as you’d like. Remember to scroll down and click Done when you finish.
Thank you for taking action with the Civic Action Team!
We think these first three actions will take about 5-10 minutes

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* 📜 1. Improving Washington's solid waste management outcomes - SB 5154, HB 1131

The Washington Recycling and Packaging (WRAP) Act will modernize our recycling system by making producers of packaging and paper products responsible for the full lifecycle of their products. This will incentivize producers to reduce unnecessary packaging and make packaging more sustainable; provide equitable uniform recycling access for residents across the state; reduce confusion by developing a clear common list of what can be recycled statewide; mandate post-consumer recycled content in certain plastic containers; and establish a redeemable deposit on beverage containers. California, Oregon, Colorado and Maine have already passed similar bills. Washington should not be left behind! For more information, see Zero Waste Washington’s factsheet.

We are following the lead of Zero Waste Washington on these bills.

The two companion bills will be heard in the Senate and House on the same day:
  • Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology
    Hearing date: Tuesday, January 17 at 1:30 pm
  • House Committee on Environment & Energy
    Hearing date: Tuesday, January 17 at 4:00 pm
✏️ Please sign in here to support SB 5154 before Tuesday, January 17, 12:30 PM and select “Pro” in the position button.
✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1131 before Tuesday, January 17, 3:00 PM and select “Pro” in the position button.

Neither time is a typo - the sign-in must be sent at least one hour BEFORE the hearing.

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* 📜 2. Reducing homelessness in Washington state through capital expenditures for programs that address housing insecurity - SB 5202

This bill will create a voter referendum to raise the state debt limit to facilitate development of workforce housing. The $4 billion Washington Housing Crisis Response Account would provide a revolving loan fund program to administer loans for housing development for low-income households. Housing financed under this program must serve low-income households for at least 60 years; that time may be extended by the commission managing the program. Priority will be given to shovel-ready projects that have purchased the land, acquired permits, acquired most of the needed capital for their project, and are cost-efficient. The program is tasked with equitably distributing projects across the state.

350 WA CAT recommends this action.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Housing on Thursday, January 18, 1:30 PM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support SB 5202 before Thursday, January 18, 12:30 PM and select “Pro” in the position button.

All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the orange “DONE” button to submit your actions!

We think these next three actions will take 5-10 minutes.

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

This middle housing legislation will apply to any city over 6,000 and to smaller cities that are contiguous to cities over 200,000. The bill will increase affordable housing by allowing 4-plexes in every neighborhood currently zoned for single-family detached residential, and allowing 6-plexes in areas near transit. It also includes anti-displacement measures, review processes and critical area regulations similar to those for single family detached housing, and incentives for including affordable units.

We are following the lead of the Homes4WA coalition on this bill.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Housing on Tuesday, January 17, 4:00 PM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1110 before Tuesday, January 17, 3:00 PM and select “Pro” in the position button.

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* 📜 4. Improving the state's response to climate change by updating the state's planning framework - HB 1181, SB 5203

These companion House and Senate bills are resuscitated and updated versions of last session’s HB 1099 which almost passed the legislature but failed at the eleventh hour. Like last year’s version, HB 1181 and SB 5203 will ensure that our cities reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and protect people, property and ecological systems from the accelerating impacts of a changing climate. This update to the Growth Management Act (GMA) will support Washington’s biggest counties as they plan for a resilient future. They emphasize environmental justice and the need to support vulnerable communities.

We are following the lead of Futurewise on these bills.

These two bills will be heard in the House and Senate on the same day:
  • Senate Committee on Local Government
    Hearing date: Tuesday, January 17 at 8:00 am
  • House Committee on Local Government, Land Use & Tribal Affairs
    Hearing date: Tuesday, January 17 at 10:30 am
✏️ Please sign in here to support SB 5203 before Tuesday, January 17, 7:00 AM and select “Pro” in the position button.
✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1181 before Tuesday, January 17, 9:30 AM and select “Pro” in the position button.

All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the orange “DONE” button to submit your actions!

Got time for more? We think these last three actions will take about 10-15 minutes.

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* 📜 5. Providing common school trust revenue to small school districts - SB 5126

This bill will help school districts and state-tribal compact schools with 1000 or fewer students. Rural school districts lack the tax base to fund improvements and have been chronically under-served. Under the bill, the Common School Construction Fund will be required to finance the Small School District Modernization Grant Program’s prioritized project list before it appropriates funds for other capital projects if the money in the Fund exceeds total grant project costs. This prioritization is long overdue.

We are following the lead of the WA State Lands Working Group on this bill.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education on Monday, January 16, 1:30 PM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support SB 5126 TODAY before Monday, January 16, 12:30 PM and select “Pro” in the position button.

Miss this deadline? You can still sign in “Pro” here and provide a written comment in support of SB 5126 before Tuesday, January 17, 1:30 PM. You have 24 hours after a committee hearing to submit comments.

📑 The first sentence of the written comment should be: I strongly support SB 5126. Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own. 
  • This bill will help school districts and state-tribal schools with 1000 or fewer students.
  • Rural school districts lack the tax base to fund improvements and have been chronically under-served.
  • By prioritizing rural and other small school districts including state tribal schools when the Common School Construction Fund has insufficient funds for all capital projects, this will redress a long overdue disparity.

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* 📜 6. Expanding the use of air conditioning in adult family homes - SB 5147

This bill encourages the addition of cooling systems to adult family homes by offering a grant incentive to homes serving residents funded by Medicaid or state funded long-term care programs. The elderly and infirm are very vulnerable to heat stress, so this is an important goal. However, the bill as currently written may cause building owners to choose a dedicated air conditioner rather than a heat pump as their cooling solution. The dedicated air conditioner would constitute a sunk cost which, in our view, would likely make it more difficult for building owners to then choose to transition from a fossil fuel heating system to a heat pump. A heat pump is an excellent cooling solution that also provides clean and much more efficient heating in addition to substantially reduced on-going operating expenses. We would like the bill improved to incentivize the choice of heat pumps over other air conditioners.

350 WA CAT recommends this action.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Human Services, on Tuesday, January 17, 10:30 AM.

✏️ Please sign in here to provide a written comment urging improvements to SB 5147 before Wednesday January 18, 10:30 AM and select “Other” in the position button. Please choose 1-2 sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.

📑 Suggested talking points:
  • While I heartily support the goal of expanding the use of building cooling in adult family homes to protect the elderly who are so vulnerable to heat stress, this bill can be improved by preferentially supporting the transition to heat pumps rather than dedicated “air conditioners”.
  • Please consider offering an option for building owners to choose a heat pump as a cooling solution because this also provides clean, efficient heating and, though up-front costs are greater, will reduce ongoing operating expenses.
  • Installation of dedicated air conditioners in buildings that are heated using a fossil fuel energy source makes it more difficult for the building owner to subsequently choose to transition to a non-fossil fuel system.
  • Please use language in this bill that promotes a heat pump as a preferred solution rather than a dedicated air conditioner, e.g. by using the term “cooling system” rather than “air conditioner”. This will minimize the extent to which a dedicated air conditioner is assumed to be the target solution.

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* 📜 7. Authorizing impact fee revenue to fund improvements to bicycle and pedestrian facilities - HB 1135

This bill will allow communities to use impact fees, collected on development projects, for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure that is designed with multimodal commuting as an intended use, just as they currently use them for roads and streets, parks and recreation facilities, school facilities and fire protection.

350 WA CAT recommends this action.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Local Government, on Wednesday, January 18, 8:00 AM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1135 before Wednesday, January 18, 7:00 AM and select “Pro” in the position button.

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* That was a lot! Thank you for taking action!  Don’t forget to tell us of any issues.

-- The 350 WA Civic Action Team

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