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Below
are highlights of what you need to know for this week. (Want to get updates like this live? We’re holding weekly advocate briefings every Friday from 1:30 to 2:30.
Register here.)
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HB
1643/Hackney, providing a
Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) exemption
as an incentive to sell property to affordable housing developers, had a hearing on Friday morning
in the Appropriations Committee and was voted out unanimously on Saturday! We’d like to give a special thank you to Mercedes Whitecalf from
the Native American Youth and Family Center and Brian Jennings from the Spokane Housing authority
for their amazing testimony in support of this bill!
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HB
1904/Peterson, requiring 6 month notice of significant rent increases, is in the House
Rules Committee. This bill is a common sense, simple change, but the landlord lobby is still fighting this bill with strong opposition. It’s in the Rules Committee and needs to be put on the floor for a vote. If you’d like to help vote count your lawmaker,
contact Michele! She can be reached at MicheleT@wliha.org
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SB
5749/Trudeau, providing tenants with rent payment methods beside an online portal, passed
the Senate unanimously and will be moving onto the House! Senate Bill
5749
is a common sense change. Requiring electronic rent payments, which often come with extra fees, is
a hardship for low-income, unbanked, elderly, immigrant, and other tenants who don’t have reliable access to the internet.
Why make it harder to pay rent? We appreciate Senator Trudeau’s leadership and commend the Senate
for its unanimous support.
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SB
5825/Kuderer,
intended to allow the state to understand housing stock better by creating a landlord registration program workgroup, is currently in the Senate Rules committee.
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SB
5576/Kuderer,
trailer bill to provide technical fixes to SB 5160 from 2021 by improving forms that tenants receive for eviction due to nonpayment, is waiting to be scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor.
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HB
1866/Chopp, the “apple health & homes” bill, was voted out of the healthcare committee
unanimously and now needs to make it through Appropriations. It is scheduled for vote today. When Rep. Chopp spoke at the Rally for Homes during HHAD, he said
"we need a solution to chronic homelessness. HB 1866 will connect healthcare and homes. Housing
is a human right and healthcare is a human right. Let's connect those two." We agree.
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HB
2075/Peterson, establishing service requirements for the department of social and health
services, had a hearing Saturday morning and is scheduled for a vote in Appropriations today!
At
Friday’s advocates briefing, we heard important updates on our lead agenda and also on key support issues.
Samuel
Martin, from Washington for Black Lives joined us to share updates on police accountability legislation. There is a lot of concern that progress made last year will be rolled back. They’re hoping to move forward
HB
1756 concerning solitary confinement and
SB
5485 which prohibits certain traffic stops.
Darya
Farivar from Disability Rights Washington (DRW) updated us on top disability justice priorities.
She shared that DRW advocates participated in a rally last week to oppose
House Bills 2037 and 1788, and Senate Bill 5919 which will roll back progress made last year on
police reforms. They are also working to advance HB
1802 dubbed “nothing about us without us.” This bill essentially states that if you’re
going to put together work groups or task forces about disability, people with disabilities need to be part of that, and accommodations need to be provided so that they can participate. The bill is currently advancing and is in House Rules. DRW is also advocating
for HB
1956, which creates an exemption on disclosure in the public records act. This bill
came out of a lawsuit that DRW filed a few months back when they found out that the Department of Corrections was going to release records on transgender status to media. This bill is also in House Rules. If you’d like to learn more about DRW’s work and track
disability justice bills, you can sign up for DRW action alerts here.
We encourage you to also sign up to help pass 1956 here.
Representative
Mari Leavitt from the 28th legislative district also joined our meeting to tell us about
HB
1620, the Extreme Weather Protection Act to support local governments in intervening
for public safety during extreme weather events. Representative Leavitt shared that this bill resulted from frustration with her own district during the heatwaves this summer when cooling centers where not provided in adequate or timely manner.
Over 100 people died during last year’s heat wave, including people experiencing homelessness, because the state and local governments did not provide essential interventions.
Lives were also needlessly lost during the recent snowstorms. With extreme weather conditions, including wildfire smoke, becoming more and more common, this bill will literally save lives. HB 1620 is currently in Rules.
Lastly
during Friday’s meeting, Ishbel Dickens with the Manufactured Homeowners Association shared that
HB
1100 got out of Appropriations last week so we’re hopeful this will get through the
House! She also shared that SB
5079, extending the closure notice period for manufactured/mobile home communities,
needs a vote on the Senate floor to continue moving through the process.
Thank
you so much for all of your advocacy so far this session. Stay tuned for more opportunities to advance housing justice this week!
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