Olympia Legislative Update - Week 4 in the books

Last week marked another successful Day On The Hill for RHA and our partners. Legislators and legislative staff have reported positive experiences with our members in their offices, and the evening event was a hit for those who attended. Special thanks is owed to the RHA staff for their efforts in getting lunches, schedules, hot sheets, and providing organizational leadership.

Friday the 5th marked the first major cutoff. All policy bills must be out of their respective committees, or they are dead for this legislature. This week will see long fiscal committees, followed by floor action, as we move towards the House of Origin cutoff on the 17th. 6413 passed out of committee unanimous. This is the compromise bill that RHA, and industry partners have been working on with tenant advocates. There were a few hiccups with this bill in executive session, where the courts wished to amend the definition of criminal history to include the Washington State Patrol database, after significant pressure from stakeholders; the courts have likely backed down.