Following on from our story from yesterday on this week’s committee meetings, we bring you information from two other sessions. This week alone there will be more 40 committee meetings, but here at Wire, we’ve looked at as many as possible. In the coming days, we’ll be rolling out coverage of select committees discussing political issues and topics we keep tabs on.

In this edition, we will see the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology and the Senate Committee on Housing and Local Government.

Senate Committee on the Environment, Energy and Technology

In recent years, Washington State has passed a number of climate laws aimed at reducing emissions in the state. These include the Climate Commitment Act, the Clean Fuels Standard, the HEAL Act and the cap-and-invest, which creates a market for carbon credits.

At a meeting on November 16, the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee received an update on the program. To meet Washington’s climate goals, the state must cut its emissions in half by 2030, to about 50 million metric tons.

The next slide, presented during the meeting, describes the role that each policy will play in achieving this goal.

Luke Martland, responsible for implementing the Climate Commitment Act in the Department of Ecology at the State Department of Ecology, said the law is crucial because it provides a model for decarbonization.

The cap and investment program begins in 2023 and limits emissions production to 25,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by the state’s largest emitters. Some industries will receive temporary allowances, while others will have to purchase carbon credits if they plan to emit more than the limit. The limit is designed to decrease over time.

Agriculture and forestry industries, as well as aviation and marine fuels, and small businesses are exempt from emissions requirements. And there will be allowances provided free of charge to the electricity and natural gas industries, as opposed to the transportation fuels industry which will have to buy allowances up front.

The committee is chaired by Senator Reuven Carlyle, who in recent coverage said the legislature will focus on implementing recently passed legislation.

Senate Housing and Local Government Committee

At the November 16 meeting of the Senate Housing and Local Governments Committee, lawmakers heard presentations from policy experts from cities in other states, including Andrea Brennan, director of community planning and economic development for Minneapolis. .

Minneapolis in recent years adopted law eliminating exclusive single-family zoning. This is something Oregon has too adopted statewide. It is also an idea that Washington lawmakers in the House have talked about. Wednesday’s committee meeting highlights that Senate lawmakers are also talking about it ahead of the 2022 session.

During the meeting, Senator Shelly Short (R-7th LD) asked if Minneapolis has encountered any sewer issues when planning for additional units and increasing density. Brennan said when they analyzed the capacity of the sewers, they found they could serve more people over the existing infrastructure.

“This is where all of these pieces need to come together and they need to be thought out and planned in a holistic way,” Brennan said.

This includes planning for housing, jobs and services, as well as transport and public transport as a whole.

The committee also heard from LaDessa Croucher, director of America Western Washington’s Volunteer Dispute Resolution Center, about the evictions.

In October, the Dispute Resolution Center received 1,846 notices for its pilot eviction resolution program, a 67% increase from August. They expect more than 2,000 new references in November.

Croucher said that in 93% of cases, they were able to reach an agreement between landlords and tenants. The total number of referrals statewide is 6,266 for state dispute resolution centers.

Senator Patty Kuderer (D-48th LD) asked if Croucher expected an increase.

“I think we can expect that peak,” Croucher said. “We will report until we start to see a decrease. ”

Croucher expects to see more challenges when the rental assistance programs put in place during the pandemic start to run out.

The legislature adopted HB 1277 last session, which added a $ 100 surcharge on every document recorded by county auditors, with a few exceptions. Some of these funds are used to create a stable source of income for rental assistance programs, but the law is blocked in court.

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