OLYMPIA, Wash. — Democratic leaders announced Friday that three of six voter-backed initiatives will have public hearings at the Capitol later this month.
Speaker of the House Rep. Laurie Jinkins and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Andy Billig said three of the initiatives will go straight to voters, but legislators will hold hearings for the other three.
The ones decided by voters are I-2117, calling for the repeal of the state’s climate law, the Climate Commitment Act, I-2109 a move to repeal the capital gains tax, and I-2124 which would allow people to opt out of the now mandatory long-term care payroll deduction.
The initiatives that will get public hearings are I-2113, a call to roll back restrictions placed on police pursuit policies, I-2111 would ban state or local income tax proposals, and I-2081 guarantees parents rights to access medical and school records of their children.
Under state law legislators have three options for dealing with initiatives sent to the legislature: send them directly to the ballot, adopt the measures, or pass legislation on the same topic and present that to voters on the ballot as an alternative alongside the original initiative.
A number of bills died at Tuesday’s 5 p.m. cutoff deadline, including measures that would have lowered the state’s threshold for determining when a driver is impaired from the current blood alcohol content of .08 to .05, a bill to move the state to permanent standard time, and a Senate proposal to allow cities and counties the option of raising property taxes three percent a year, eliminating the current one percent cap.
While legislators focus on finalizing legislation, supplemental budget proposals from Democrats in the Senate and House will be released.
The legislative session is scheduled to end on March 7.