Climate Action This Week:
  • Constituents, contact your Reps!
  • Use of Force - House
  • Building Performance Standards
  • Use of Force / Vehicular Pursuits - Senate
  • Transportation Resources
Thanks for taking action with us! We hope you’ll use the text box at the bottom to give us any feedback about our approach to this legislative session.

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* Your information

Here are our first two actions. We think these will take about 10-15 minutes.
📜 1. Calling all constituents to contact your two Representatives!

We know that the most effective strategy for making our voices heard is by contacting our own legislators. Simply put, legislators care what their constituents think. So, what’s on your mind?

✏️ Please call or email your two Representatives and ask that they make sure these bills are pulled from the Rules Committee so that they can be voted on and passed. Not sure who your two House Representatives are? Look them up here: Legislative District Finder.

Pro tip: Your legislator’s email address is constructed this way: first.last@leg.wa.gov. 
Don’t forget the dot, and make sure you spell their first and last names correctly! You can also find their phone numbers and emails (and those of their assistants) in the Legislative Roster.

Below is the list of House bills that need to be pulled from Rules so they can be voted on. 

We’ve bolded the ones that we think are particularly impactful. Feel free to include the specific bills you’re most excited about; your passion is powerful. You can speak to all of these bills, or some of them. It’s up to you. These are all bills that will die this session unless they’re voted off the House Floor by end of day Tuesday, February 15th.
  • HB 1767 - Targeted Electrification would allow public utility districts and municipal utilities to fund electrification retrofits, an authority already granted to private utilities.
  • HB 1770 - Energy Codes would provide an optional stronger residential building code (reach code) that goes beyond the statewide minimum code for local jurisdictions and ensure that all new buildings are ultra-efficient and solar-ready by 2035.
  • HB 1782 - Expand Higher Density Housing would create additional “middle” (higher density) housing near transit and in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing.
  • HB 1799 - Organic Materials Management would establish goals to reduce organics disposed of in landfills, estimated to produce about 15% of methane emissions.
  • HB 2048 - TANF Time Limit Extensions would expand the pool of recipients eligible for exemption from time limits to receive temporary aid to needy families.
  • HB 1691 - Financial Responsibility Requirements related to oil spills would require owners of vessels transporting oil to be financially responsible for addressing oil spills.
  • HB 1663 - Reducing Methane Emissions from Landfills would reduce methane emissions in Washington by requiring owners or operators of certain landfills to install methane gas capture systems and to collect gas at an extraction rate that complies with the surface methane emission limits set in statute. 
  • HB 1723 - Telecommunications Access would make broadband more accessible to all Washingtonians, addressing the current equity problems. 
  • HB 1810 - Fair Repair Act would require digital electronic product manufacturers to make repair information, parts and tools available to independent repair businesses and owners.
  • HB 1812 - Modernizing EFSEC for Clean Energy Goals proposes improvements to the energy facility site evaluation council and its processes, such as adding project types like clean energy product manufacturing, clean energy storage, and renewable/green hydrogen production. 
  • HB 1896 - Responsible Management of Batteries would require battery manufacturers to establish a convenient and responsible recycling program for portable and medium-sized batteries.

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* I called my representative about this many bills: (there are 11 bills listed)

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* I called my other representative about this many bills:

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* I emailed my representative about this many bills:

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* I emailed my other representative about this many bills:

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* Were you able to talk to a real person? Run into issues or need to elaborate?

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* 📜 2. Use of Force - HB 2037

This bill removes important protections crafted last year in consultation with families of those harmed or killed by police. It would authorize the use of physical force against anyone fleeing from a “lawful temporary investigative detention,” also known as a Terry Stop, regardless of how minor the supposed offense. People often flee interactions with police out of fear that they will be harmed, not because they have committed a crime. This bill gives police more leeway to use force and is a step backward.

✏️ Follow this link to tell your Representative to vote NO on HB 2037 being brought to the floor. When you “verify” your district, you can select which of your elected leaders to communicate to. For this bill, select your two Representatives. (You may notice when you click the link that the bill is labeled SHB 2037. By this time in the session, you will see a lot of “S’s” at the beginning of bill numbers. It seems confusing on House bills - like, wait, is this a Senate or a House bill? The S in SHB means Substitute.)

The first sentence of the written comment should be: I oppose HB 2037. For the safety of Washington residents and especially Black, Indigenous, and people of color I oppose any version of this bill not accepted by the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability.

All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the orange “DONE” button to submit your actions!
If you have a little more time, these next three actions will take about 15 minutes.

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* 📜 3. Building Performance Standards - SB 5722

This bill would set smaller commercial and multi-family buildings on a path to better optimize their energy use and reduce energy costs and pollution. It will provide owners of these buildings access to technical and financial assistance, with priority to frontline and low-income communities.

✏️ Follow this link to tell your Senator to make sure this bill is pulled from the Rules Committee so that it can be voted on and passed. When you “verify” your district, you can select which of your elected leaders to communicate to. For this senate bill, select your Senator.

The first sentence of the written comment should be: I support SB 5722. Please make sure this bill is pulled from the Rules Committee so that it can be voted on and passed.

📑 Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • Since buildings stay in use for decades, a Building Performance Standard is impactful to ensure our buildings are operating as efficiently as they can.
  • SB 5722 would expand certain requirements of the Clean Buildings Act to smaller commercial (20,000 - 50,000 square feet) and to multifamily buildings (over 20,000 square feet) in order to maximize energy efficiency and the resulting climate and health benefits.

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* 📜 4. Peace Officers/Use of Force - SB 5919

We’re opposing this bill. This bill would expand the use of high-speed vehicular pursuits, lower the expectations for when officers are required to de-escalate, and expand the use of physical force by police officers.

✏️ Follow this link to tell your Senator to vote NO on SB 5919 being brought to the floor. When you “verify” your district, you can select which of your elected leaders to communicate to. For this senate bill, select your Senator.

The first sentence of the written comment should be: I oppose SB 5919.

📑 Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • High-speed vehicular chases are extremely dangerous.
  • Last year’s HB 1054 resulted in a 55% decrease in the number of deaths from high speed pursuits.
  • Since 2015 two-thirds of high-speed vehicular chases ended in a fatality and half of the deaths were innocent bystanders.
  • Opposing SB 5919 is crucial to valuing the lives of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, who are disproportionately impacted by police violence.
  • If SB 5919 were to pass, it would reverse or water down gains made in the legislature last year.

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* 📜 5. Transportation Resources - SB 5974

This is the big “Transportation Package” we’ve been waiting for! We’re hearing that it is a $16 Billion, 16-year package that spends more on transit than any previous package. We expect road and bridge maintenance to be well funded, but have heard that there will also be significant spending on new projects.

We are following the lead of the 350 WA Just Transition in Transportation campaign

Scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday, February 10, 8:00 AM.

✏️ Please sign in here to provide a written comment for SB 5974 before Friday, February 11, 7:00 AM and select “Other” in the position button

📑 Choose 1-2 sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • Finally, transit and multimodal transportation is being funded at a more appropriate level than in past years. This is long overdue! But even more funding will be required to redress the decades of ignoring transit-dependent people. It’s time to stop treating non-drivers as second class citizens.
  • Fixing our roads and bridges is more important than new projects. 
  • Every mile of additional roadway adds thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions to our atmosphere and worsens air quality, especially in low income neighborhoods near freeways. It’s time to stop expanding our highway system.
  • A good first step is to stop adding general purpose lanes to our highways. If commuters or freight are stuck in traffic, let’s create dedicated lanes for those purposes. If we don’t, decades of experience and the principle of induced demand tells us the new lanes will just fill up with cars and freight and commuters will be stuck in traffic once again. We’ll just end up spending a lot to create more congestion, more air pollution and more climate change. 
  • All NEW highway projects (including ones getting gap funding) should be required to report on how they impact our targets for GHGs, Vehicle Miles Traveled, community health, and accessibility for nondrivers.

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* Thank you for making your voice heard on important legislation in WA state! How did that go?

-- The 350 WA Civic Action Team

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