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GMA expansion bill passes House, after hesitation
Senate version revived after House bill dies
A Senate bill that could expand
Growth Management Act (GMA) regulations under the guise of climate
change passed the House of Representatives late last night, 58-35.
Rep. Judy
Warnick, R-Moses Lake, voted against the measure.
"Certain parts of our state may impact
climate change more than others. I'm
hearing from Eastern Washington residents who are already dealing with very expensive GMA
requirements aimed at congested areas in other parts of the state.
Our local residents have not asked for this bill," she
told colleagues on the floor of the House. "Please don't tell people in
Eastern Washington and other areas that they are not taking care of
their air, their land and their communities."
Senate Bill 6580 had almost 40 amendments
originally proposed, although only ten of them were debated on the floor.
"To have that many amendments speaks
volumes to the poor policy adopted in this bill," Warnick said. "Despite
those amendments, many of which did not pass, we still couldn't really fix
the bill." If signed
into law, the bill would create up to nine pilot programs around the
state to plan for climate change. Local jurisdictions in the
programs would be given grants and tools through the Department of
Community, Trade and Economic Development. These could include
computer modeling and climate change response methodology, among other
things, with the assumption that the tools would be used by local
jurisdictions in their comprehensive planning process under the GMA.
"We're setting ourselves up for an
expansion of the GMA," Warnick said. "I feel uneasy that the
Legislature will not be able to review mandates that are being set up for local government.
Language
in the bill makes it clear that the state intends to expand requirements under the GMA."
Warnick said she is also concerned because
she sees the work as a duplication of what the departments of Ecology
and Transportation are already directed to do by other legislation.
Warnick, ranking minority member on
the Local Government Committee, voted against companion House Bill 2797,
which died in the House committee. She was surprised to see companion
Senate Bill 6580 gain support at the last minute.
"On the last night our committee was to
meet before cutoff, we overwhelmingly defeated the bill. The chairman, also the
sponsor of the House bill, called a special session the next day 30
minutes before cutoff. What we ended up voting on was an amended form of
the bill that was voted out 4-2," Warnick said. "I know these things can
happen, but with the minimal support the House bill received, I thought
this bill was dead for sure."
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For more information, contact:
Sarah Lamb, Public Information
Officer - (360) 786-7720
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