Current Status – 2024 Quaker Voice Priority Bills
Updated February 28, 8:00 am
The Priorities Handout has short descriptions of each bill.
Additional bills that Quaker Voice supports, if they are still moving forward, are listed here.
| SJM 8006: Request to federal government to create a universal health care program
SB 5335: Developing the Washington Health Trust | SJM 8006 is a letter from the Washington legislature to federal decisionmakers calling on them to establish a universal health care program or let Washington do it. The Joint Memorial has already passed the Senate and is now under consideration in the House. (See our testimony with the House Healthcare Committee at this link, starting at about 1:17:30.) The House Health Care & Wellness Committee approved it, and House Rules has placed it on the House floor calendar. Contact House leadership to bring this to a vote of the full House by Friday, March 1.
SB 5335 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care in 2023 but has not received a hearing. It will therefore not be able to move forward this year. *********************************** |
| Not moving forward this year: | |
| HB 2114: Improving Housing Stability
SB 5961: Improving Housing Stability | Introduced in this session, these companion bills work towards rent stabilization. HB 2114 was passed by the House on February 13 with a vote of 54 yes and 43 no. It was heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee but there were not enough votes in favor of it on that committee for it to move forward for Senate action. It is very probably finished for this session, although the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance is calling for direct action by Senate leadership to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote.
The Senate bill, in amended form, appeared to have been passed by the Senate Committee on Housing on January 26, but one committee member wavered. In the end, that committee member did not vote for SB 5961, and it is finished for this session. |
| HB 1087 / SB 5135: Solitary Confinement | The House bill was passed from its policy committee to Appropriations but stopped there last year and has not been scheduled for action there this year, either.
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| HB 1045: Creating the evergreen basic income pilot program.
See also SB 6196 | Not unexpectedly, this bill is dead for this year — but not the value of the proposal. HB 1045 got through its policy committee last year but did not get out of Appropriations. There was a new hearing this year, but the bill did not move forward from Appropriations. The prime sponsor expects slow progress on this idea and is likely to bring it back next year.
Likewise for SB 6196, a modified version that was introduced in the Senate this year. It is not technically a companion bill, but close. It had a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Human Services on January 30 but was not moved out of its policy committee. *********************************** |
| HB 1513 / SB 5572: Traffic Safety for All | Last year, the House bill passed both Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry and the House Transportation Committee. It therefore reached House Rules and was placed on second reading, but not scheduled for a floor vote. The Senate bill was heard in the Senate Committee on Transportation last year as well. The bill did not move out of House Rules this year.
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| HB 1798: Earned Release Time | This bill, in substitute form, was passed by the House Committee on Appropriations on Saturday, February 3. It now moves to the House Rules Committee, which will decide whether to schedule it for a vote on the House floor. This bill stopped in the House Rules Committee this year, and was never moved to the House floor for a vote.
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| HB 1933: Right to Repair | This bill has been stopped again. It received a public hearing in the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Business on January 12, but was not scheduled for executive action there.
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| HB 2049 / SB 6005: Re-WRAP Act (Washington Recycling and Packaging Act) | HB 2049 was passed by the House Committee on Appropriations on Saturday, February 3. It then moved to the House Rules Committee, and was put on the House floor calendar, but was not put forward for a vote before the time limit for House action.
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| HB 2253 / SB 6113: Community Solar | Neither bill is moving onwards this year. HB 2253 was scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Environment and Energy on January 30, but no action was taken. The Senate bill was heard on January 19 and was not scheduled for action. |