Big bills, quiet halls: How Washington’s ‘historic’ 2021 legislative session stacks up
It was quiet under the dome of Washington state’s Legislative Building in Olympia Sunday morning, half an hour before lawmakers were scheduled to meet and debate a $59 billion budget, landmark climate policy, and a contentious tax that had been up for debate for a decade.
It was the final day of the 2021 legislative session. Normally, that space would be bustling with activity as lawmakers raced against the clock. But the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic kept lawmaking remote this year, with most legislators meeting via video conference and members of the public barred from the domed building.
A fence remained around key Capitol Campus buildings all session, erected after supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the Governor’s Mansion gates on Jan. 6, and amid protesters’ threats to occupy the Legislative Building.
The silence betrayed the magnitude of activity and lawmaking that happened over the course of the session that adjourned Sunday.
As legislators and Gov. Jay Inslee reflect on the 105-day flurry of lawmaking, the word “historic” is commonplace. They passed sweeping policies in priority areas that reflect the times: from police reform and racial equity, to climate change and COVID-19.
They gave people convicted of felonies the right to vote immediately upon release from prison, started the process to honor tribal activist Billy Frank Jr. with a statue in Washington, D.C., made Juneteenth a state holiday, and banned the open carry of guns on the Capitol Campus and at permitted demonstrations.
After a breach exposed personal data of over 1 million residents, they created a new office to coordinate cybersecurity efforts.
“You know, 105 days ago, we weren’t sure that we could even operate as a legislature,” said Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig of Spokane on Sunday evening. “And not only did we operate, but we made historic gains for the people of this state that are going to have positive impacts for generations to come.”
An emphasis on racial equity was woven through debate, public comment, and legislation consistently over the course of session. Bills passed related to equity training for public school districts, public institutions of higher education, and health care workers.
“We also have discovered there’s a lot more work to be done and that we can’t undo systemic racism that’s existed in our country for more than 400 years,” said Rep. Jamila Taylor of Federal Way, who chairs the Black Members Caucus.
Republican leaders, in the minority, acknowledge many bipartisan successes, but lament the increased spending, new taxes, and a lack of action to limit the governor’s emergency powers. Even in the session’s final days, they pushed unsuccessfully for consideration of measures that would have given the Legislature more oversight in decision-making during emergencies such as the ongoing pandemic.
“I’m not feeling particularly hopeful this morning,” Senate Minority Leader John Braun of Centralia said Monday, “because of all the very partisan issues that were pushed through, crammed through the legislative session over the last 105 days.”
Here’s some of what passed.
COVID-19 response, recovery
Early on, the Legislature approved one bill that allocated $2.2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money and another to increase the minimum weekly benefit for unemployed workers and curb an increase in employers’ unemployment taxes.
The roughly $59 billion, two-year spending plan approved Sunday allocates billions more in federal stimulus money — for vaccine deployment, school reopening, rent assistance, and other pandemic relief.
Legislators approved the Fair Start for Kids Act, aimed at making childcare more affordable and accessible, in part by increasing subsidy rates, expanding eligibility for the Working Connections Child Care program, and reducing co-pays for families who use it.
The state’s spending plan also sends money to long-underfunded public health systems, as The Seattle Times reported. It opens up the current budget and provides funding for schools and school transportation, to help districts offset revenue dips caused by drops in enrollment during the pandemic.
“We really took a holistic view of what our state needs to not only recover, but thrive beyond this,” said Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett. “And we’ve been very fortunate, both with positive revenue forecasts within the state and the infusion of federal money we were able to invest.”
Democrats succeeded in a decade-long drive to impose a controversial tax on capital gains, which they frame as a step toward balancing the state’s regressive tax code and Republicans view as a slippery slope to an income tax. Legislators on Sunday sent a bill to Gov. Inslee’s desk that would put a 7 percent tax on profits above $250,000 from the sale of assets such as stocks and bonds for individuals and joint filers.
In a major bipartisan effort, lawmakers also expanded and finally funded a tax credit for low-income individuals and families that’s meant to offset the state’s sales tax and has existed unfunded since 2008.
Police accountability push
Legislators launched an ambitious police accountability effort early in session, after a summer of widespread outrage and calls for action, and they saw those efforts pay off.
Assuming the many bills that passed will be signed into law, police officers will no longer be able to use chokeholds or neck restraints. No-knock warrants will be banned. Vehicular pursuits, the use of tear gas, and military equipment will be restricted.
Officers will have a duty to intervene if they see a fellow officer using unnecessary force, and they’ll be required to exercise “reasonable care” — that includes de-escalation tactics when possible, and the least amount of force necessary — when using physical force.
One bill described as the “teeth” of the police accountability package broadens the power of the state to decertify officers who’ve engaged in misconduct, in part expanding reasons they can be decertified. It also puts more civilians in a position to be part of that process and expands background investigation requirements for certifying officers.
There’ll be an Office of Independent Investigations, created in the Governor’s Office, to investigate incidents where police use deadly force. Another bill will start the creation of a statewide use-of-force data program.
“This legislation is yours, this victory is yours — I was simply the person who got to carry the legislation,” said Rep. Debra Entenman of Kent at a Washington Coalition for Police Accountability press conference. Entenman sponsored the Office of Independent Investigations bill; the coalition, which includes many people who’ve lost loved ones to police violence, has been working with legislators for months.
Drug possession scramble
In the middle of session, the state Supreme Court’s State v. Blake decision introduced a new puzzle. In that 5-4 decision, a majority of justices found the state’s simple drug possession law unconstitutional because it didn’t require prosecutors to prove a person knowingly or intentionally had drugs.
After intense debate and negotiations, the Legislature landed on an approach to deal with drug possession over the next two years.
It makes possession of drugs such as LSD and heroin a misdemeanor, instead of the felony it had been. It also funds and prepares for a transition to a more treatment-centered system for addressing substance use disorder.
The first and second times a person is caught with drugs, law enforcement officers have to refer the person for assessment and services rather than arresting them. A committee of experts will study the issue and make recommendations to the Legislature, which aims to put in place a more permanent approach in 2023.
Lawmakers widely refer to the bill’s passage as a first step. In the end, it gathered bipartisan support in the House but support from only Democrats — and not all of them — in the Senate.
Major climate action
In the waning days of session, lawmakers passed two landmark climate bills, handing big victories to Inslee.
One creates a cap-and-trade program, which will set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions for high-polluting businesses. Those businesses will be able to buy and sell credits for the right to pollute, and the pool of credits will shrink over time.
The second bill creates a low-carbon fuel standard, requiring transportation fuel producers to limit greenhouse gas emissions per unit of transportation fuel energy to 20 percent below 2017 levels by 2035.
“We finally have meaningful climate legislation that reflects the values and priorities of Washingtonians, and respects the science of climate change,” said Inslee in a prepared statement.
Both bills are tied to the passage of a transportation funding package.
There’s broad consensus there are significant needs in the state’s transportation system, said Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, who chairs the House Environment & Energy Committee, from road maintenance to ferries. The two big climate bills can take effect on time, as long as the Legislature passes a transportation funding package before 2023.
That could happen in a special session this year or in the 2022 session. Lawmakers say they also are working to make sure they can leverage whatever action the federal government might take on infrastructure.
“I’m really proud to work with this group of people,” Inslee said Monday. “They were so careful and dedicated at the same time.
“Their work product, I think, appropriately listened to every quarter of the compass, they made sophisticated judgments rather than knee-jerk decisions, they tackled some really, really hard jobs, and they produced more than any other Legislature in a quarter of a century.”
How they got it done, what’s to come
Leaders on the left attribute the productivity to several factors, including a more diverse group of legislators who have been impacted by policies of the past, a focus on bills that had been considered for a long time, and an urgency driven by current events.
The pandemic, said Senate Majority Leader Billig, exposed and exacerbated cracks in state systems.
Some Republicans have in part pointed to the public health precautions — paired with a more progressive to-do list — as conditions that enabled partisan lawmaking. It’s easy to vote against what your constituents might want if they’re not there watching you, said Sen. Keith Wagoner of Sedro-Woolley.
“I think that the circumstances under which we operated made it much easier to implement an agenda,” House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox of Yelm said Monday.
There were several prominent bipartisan efforts, though.
Bills with broad support included the transportation and capital construction budgets, a big wildfire suppression and prevention bill, phasing in new requirements for agricultural worker overtime, broadband expansion, the Juneteenth holiday bill, Billy Frank Jr. statue bill, and more.
“Over the last 105 days, the Senate came together in a bipartisan fashion when their values and priorities aligned,” Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said in a statement.
“When they disagreed with each other, they were able to do so with civility and respect, acknowledging the humanity of political adversaries. This is how a healthy democracy works, and it can work while still being pushed to do better.”
While Legislatures in nearby Oregon and Idaho ground to a halt due to COVID-19 cases, the virus never disrupted lawmaking here. Still, Republican leaders believe there could have been more in-person access for both legislators and the public without jeopardizing people’s health.
“I’m certainly grateful and proud of the fact that we got through without any health issues in the Legislature, but I do think we could’ve reasonably gone further and given the public more access,” Senate Minority Leader Braun said.
At least one element of the remote environment may be here to stay: Remote testimony was widely praised as allowing people to participate from all over the state. Some lawmakers also said they may use less paper in future sessions.
Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, pointed to data showing roughly 67,700 people registered for public hearings without wanting to testify; that’s compared to 18,700 during the last two-year session, according to data from Senate Democrats. She attributed that to people seeing the role of government differently this year.
Regardless, lawmakers are looking forward to a return to the in-person process.
“We’re going to keep the big, bold ideas coming,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Marko Liias of Everett.
“There’s a sense that Olympia only does things incrementally, and I think this session shows that we can do big, important things that really move the ball forward for people. And that’s the lesson of 2021: We can keep making history next year and the years to come.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Big bills, quiet halls: How Washington’s ‘historic’ 2021 legislative session stacks up."
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