Rep. Jim Walsh's legislative briefing | Saturday, Feb. 19

Rock and roll, there's only one sure way to get me to Same soul, I like that old time rock and roll Lose my soul, I'm a mess about the days of old I'm a mess about the days, lose my soul I'm a mess about the days of old With that old time rock and roll I still like that old time rock and roll That kind of music just soothes my soul I reminisce about the days of old Hi everybody, this is Kelly Payne. I am staff for the House Republican Caucus and I'll be hosting today's virtual legislative briefing with Representative Jim Walsh. Representative Walsh is going to be on in about two minutes, so please just hang tight, listen to the music. He'll be on in just a couple minutes. He had a little bit of a delay getting to his office to get on his computer, so if you'll just hang tough for a little while, we'll get started in just a little bit. Thanks so much. A little too tall, could have used a few pounds Tight pants, points, all of it now She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes And points all her own, sitting way up high All mysteries without any clues Working on our night mission for some high in the sky sun We were just young and restless and bored Living by the sword And we'd steal away every chance we could To the back room, to the alley, or the trusty woods I used her, she used me, but neither one cared We were getting our share Working on our nightmare Trying to lose the sweet Woke last night to the sound of thunder How far off I sat and wondered Started humming a song from 1962 And it's funny how the night moves Just don't seem to have as much to lose Strange how the night moves If you're just getting on right now, this is Kelly Payne again, House Republican staff And Representative Jim Walsh is just getting his laptop out He's going to be signing on in just a couple minutes. Hang tough, folks He's going to be right on. He had a little bit of a delay getting into his Olympia office So we're just waiting for him to get set up and signed on So hang on for just a little bit longer with us And Representative Walsh will be with you in just a few moments. Thank you Took a look down a westbound road, right away I made my choice Headed out to my big two-wheeler, I was tired of my own voice Supposed to stop my video. Kelly? Yeah, I'm working on it right now. Just give me one quick second On top of everything else, I had to change my password There you go, Rep Walsh. I think we're ready to go All right. Yay, we made it I told everybody you were a little bit delayed getting into your Olympia office And they hung tough and they waited for you to get in All right. I think we're ready to get started So this is the official welcome of the legislative briefing With Representative Jim Walsh from the 19th Legislative District As you can see, you're a very hard-working 19th District lawmaker Even on a Saturday, is on his way into Olympia To do work for the people of the 19th District So welcome, Representative Walsh So we're going to get started today Walsh, I know that this has been a really long week And part of that was a lot of time on the House floor A lot of bills being debated and voted on And some all-nighters, in fact So could you talk a little bit about cutoff And why that's an important deadline And what lawmakers are working on on the House floor For the last several days Sure. Some of you may have heard about this or read about it But there are several deadlines In the midst of the legislative session in Olympia And the same applies for D.C. too But in Olympia, there are set deadlines At different points during the session For when a bill or a budget Or a resolution or anything Has to be passed a certain point In the hearing and voting process And one of those deadlines was Just last Tuesday Bills, particularly policy bills So this doesn't apply to budget items so much But policy bills had to be Voted out of their chamber of origin So the state House, if they're House bills The state Senate, if they're Senate bills By 5 p.m. on Tuesday of this week This past week In general, during every legislative session There's kind of a big crush Leading up to that deadline And a lot of bills getting Voted on and usually Some parliamentary maneuvers leading up to the deadline To get the bills off the floor of the House And this session With that deadline approaching Starting on Monday We did, we being the House Republican caucus In Olympia Did what is essentially Our version of a filibuster They don't have filibusters Like you think of it from movies or books In Olympia But we do have the ability to extend debate On a specific bill And there was one bill we really didn't like That had to do with ergonomic standards That's a workers' comp element Managed through, in our state The Department of Labor and Industries, LNI And this ergonomic standard is very controversial They tried to do one at the federal level With federal OSHA It didn't work and OSHA eventually withdrew The proposed standard And they're trying to do it here in Olympia For the state of Washington Politically, as a bill in the legislature We didn't like it, there were a lot of problems With the way the bill was structured And we tried to negotiate fixes to those Earlier in the process, the Speaker and the Governor Wouldn't accept our proposals So we decided to basically just debate the heck out of the bill And the debate started Monday evening Of this past week At about 9pm And it went all night It went through until Tuesday morning At about 6.30pm when that bill was finally voted on Now it did very narrowly By about two votes Pass through the House, passed off the House floor But in negotiating And debating so hard for so long We ended up kind of screwing up the Speaker's schedule And she was not able to get some other bills That we thought were as bad Or maybe even worse in different ways than the ergonomics bill There wasn't time left For her to get those other bills through the House So it was a bit of a parliamentary maneuver But it was also a legitimate debate Because we really didn't like the bill And we had numerous amendments to it And we had various points of debate about what we didn't like on it So it was a rare opportunity But it sort of harkened back to the old days of the legislature When it was more common For debates to go through the night Or go several days on a controversial bill So I was kind of proud to be part of that It was the right fight to make over a bad policy And then it had the side effect Of running the clock out on some other bad bills So it was sort of an old school move And it was interesting to be part of that So at this point Pure policy bills are either Off the floor, heading on through the process And toward the Governor's desk Or they're done for now They won't get through this session But now our focus turns to Some bills that started with the state Senate And then really our focus at this point turns to budgets Which don't have that cutoff deadline They have their own different kind of cutoff deadlines But the rest of the session is going to be Senate bills and budget items And that's what we have to look ahead But in the meantime there's a lot else going on Also this week on Thursday The Governor announced That he is going to terminate His indoor mask edict In about a month on March 21 And he also announced that he Is going to end his really Failed and unsuccessful vaccine Passport scheme even sooner His vaccine passport scheme Where you have to show your paperwork to get into a public venue Did not take off like he expected It was going to around the state It's been pretty much a failure as most people don't support that Practice So he announced that that's over In about a week at the end of February And that's not as big a deal Because people weren't really following that anyway I mean a few isolated places where some parts of Seattle Where a couple of other counties were But by and large that scheme was a failure from the start And then third on Thursday The Governor said he is not going to give up His emergency powers He's not going to declare the COVID emergency over But tellingly he said in the press conference The reason he's not terminating the COVID emergency Giving up his emergency powers Is not anything to do with public health Or medical issues, medical crisis Health crisis, nothing to do with any of that It's for money He said the reason he's going to keep his emergency powers Is so that he can get federal emergency assistance money This is a big change for the Governor Who has insisted previously that the reason he had the emergency In place was public health And even though the numbers For COVID rates and mortality And other things, hospitalizations Were indicating that the crisis was over The Governor had stubbornly been insisting there was still a health crisis Well Thursday he admitted it's not about health What it's about is politics It's about federal money And he's going to keep his emergency powers in place In order to keep getting the federal relief money Well the federal government was kind of surprised to hear that There are some in D.C. who are saying That to keep emergency declarations in place When there is no emergency Just to get federal emergency bailout money If it's not illegal, it's sort of unethical And the Governor may be heading for some hot water By saying that the reason he's keeping his emergency powers Is to get federal money So we'll see what comes of that But it's been a busy week We've been very busy here And it's going to be an interesting few weeks ahead As we turn our attention to the budgets Remember in Washington we have three budgets The operating budget, which is by far the largest The transportation budget Which I think we'll talk more about a little bit today And then the third is the capital budget Or sometimes called the capital construction budget So three budgets, and all three of those Have to be updated And passed with what are called supplemental updates Before the end of this session In about, oh, less than a month In about three weeks So that's where we are right now I'll take a couple of questions as we've done before Kelly, if you have a couple in writing Or we can go to live questions Before we get started with some questions I need to remind everybody that we are recording this legislative briefing So your name will appear on the recording If you ask a question Just want that to be clear to everybody And also we cannot talk about any election-related matters Because we are state-funded So with that, if anybody would like to ask Representative Walsh a question Use that raised hand icon at the bottom of your screen Just click on that Raise your hand, and we will call on you Before we get started So with that, let's get started With some of the live questions Representative Walsh I want to ask you a question about some of the fixes that are happening From previous years It looks like at a time of highest inflation The majority party is voting to increase the cost of living During the housing crisis They're increasing the cost of building a home During a public safety crisis They're passing bills that make crime worse Including passing some gun bills So far That attack more legal law-abiding gun owners Than they do criminals I have kind of a broad question But if we could narrow the focus a little bit Could you talk about some of what the Democrats are working The reforms that they're working to reform When it comes to public safety When it comes to the gun bills Could you share a little bit about what the Democrats are doing right now And some of the bills, like the gun bill that you just saw Get approved in committee on Friday Yeah, a lot going on in that front As most people on this call probably know I'm the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee And the ranking member means the senior minority party member It's not as powerful as being the chair of the committee That's kind of what you want to be The chair of the committee controls Really to a large degree which bills Get hearings and votes in committees And can control a lot of the debate around any issue That that particular committee is involved in I'm also on the Transportation Committee And again, we'll get to that in a minute But to that question, Kelly And honestly, I can't exaggerate how many questions I get About the gun bills that are in Olympia right now I get dozens or even hundreds a day on these bills When we started The governor and the Speaker of the House Had a list of about Oh, I don't know, eight or ten gun control bills That they wanted to have through the session We've been able to narrow those bills down We opposed and were able to Sort of kill off in the early stages a number of those bills But three significant ones Have gotten through Are still alive and are on track Toward getting to the governor's desk And be signed into law And those three are House Bill 1630 House Bill 1705 And Senate Bill 5078 They're all bad They may be the three worst But they are the three that the governor The State Attorney General Mr. Ferguson And the Speaker have championed Let's start with the two House bills House Bill 1630 Is an expansion on some bills Passed by the Speaker and the governor And the State Attorney General in earlier sessions Over the last couple of years And what this series of bills Which this latest one is just the latest Do is they restrict The locations at which Washingtonians can carry Firearms Generally in the past the focus has been On restricting where Washingtonians can Open carry. That means Carry a firearm in a way that everyone in the public can see A pistol on your hip But in a holster that everyone can see Not covered by a jacket or a shirt Or a long barrel firearm Carried over your shoulder Or across your chest And Washington is Still and has been historically An open carry state Citizens are allowed to open carry Openly carry a firearm unless there are Specific prohibitions to doing that So these bills of which 1630 is the latest Basically create and add to the list Of places where you can't carry It started by saying you can't open carry On the Capitol campus here in Olympia where I'm sitting right now It expanded to say You can't open carry At a permanent event Like a rally or a Parade or something like that From before, from earlier on You already can't carry weapons into a courtroom But most people think that one makes sense In other places you can't carry into a bar You can't carry onto school campuses So 1630 expands the list Of places where you cannot carry a firearm To include any location Where a school board meeting is being held Any local government Office like a county office or city office Especially where there are elections Activities going on Some ballot counting or ballot prep Or election voter registration or anything like that And it's Controversial because this list Of places where you can't carry A firearm is growing And the constitutional language And position of opposes You can carry anywhere in the state So the list of where you can't is growing and that's part of a strategy Another troubling part of 1630 Is that it starts to limit where you can conceal Carry The earlier bill that it builds on the most From last year which prohibited open carry On the capital campus and at permanent public events Still allowed people to conceal carry If they have a concealed pistol license This new one, 1630 Begins to add more places where you can't Conceal carry And that is another impairment on rights to keep So 1630 is trouble And it's trouble because it's part of a series of bills And it won't be the last I anticipate that gun control advocates Will have another bill next year or next session Adding more places where you can't carry a weapon The other bill out of the house, 1705 Is a bill that makes it illegal to have What are sometimes called ghost guns That means untraceable firearms Firearms that do not have a standard Serial number etched into them somewhere We didn't like this bill either Because it really sort of It's a bait and switch policy Supporters say what they want to do Is prevent criminals and gangsters And street thugs from Making mayhem and causing violence Shooting people with untraceable firearms But the language of the bill Focused more on Hobbyists and gun enthusiasts And people who build their own firearms Who tend not to be gangsters or street thugs They're usually hunters Or shooting Target shooting enthusiasts So we felt it mixed things up And if you want to restrict the ability Of a gangster or a street thug To use an unregistered or Cold gun Or ghost gun The way to do it is focus on what the gangsters and street thugs do Which is they buy legal guns with serial numbers on them And they grind off the serial number This bill instead focused on Do-it-yourselfers who 3D print Or order pieces of a firearm And assemble them at home Which as I say is more what hobbyists do So we didn't like that one either Although it passed through the House on a party line vote All Republicans opposed, all Democrats supported The third and most controversial is that Senate Bill 5078 Which is a ban on certain kinds of Magazines Those are the ammunition holders For semi-automatic firearms Long barrel firearms mostly but in some cases Pistols and smaller firearms The focus is on basically Your magazine that carries 30 or more rounds of ammunition Used in a semi-automatic rifle Like an AR-15 or similar firearm And the bill says That the limit will now be 10 rounds So for a semi-automatic firearm you can only have 10 ammunition rounds in a magazine As I say 20 or even 30 rounds are more standard It's a strange bill It is certainly promoted with emotion Not reason It doesn't ban any firearms So the semi-automatic rifle is still available It just bans the magazine The part that holds the bullets and goes into the firearm So magazines are relatively easy to make They're easy to import illegally If someone were inclined to do it The bill banning the magazines is really Not enforceable in any practical way So it's more like a virtue signaling exercise And the testimony in the floor debate Indicated that the proponents of this Tell emotional stories Of spree shooters And mass shootings But then if you ask them any questions In many cases they'll admit to you That the murderers and the stories they're telling Didn't use these sorts of firearms They used other sorts of firearms So it's a kind of bait and switch Kind of misleading policy But one of great importance to the anti-2A crowd To the gun control crowd And they don't hesitate to tell misleading stories To support their narrative That one also passed so far on a party line vote With Democrats supporting it and Republicans opposing It has not had a floor vote in the House yet It's a Senate bill by origin But we did vote it out of the Judiciary Committee This week, again on a party line vote Among the committee members there So these three are all pretty bad bills In terms of your constitutionally protected rights To keep and bear arms But they're sadly typical of the kind of misleading And bait and switch arguments that the gun control crowd make I guess that's it, Kelly I sort of covered that one in depth There are other bills afoot Certainly bills that raise the cost of building a house That raise the cost of gasoline or diesel fuel In the state of Washington Again, it's a situation where we've been able to defeat A number of them But one or two of each are managing to slip through We just can't stop everything And the Governor and the State Attorney General And the Speaker of the House are determined To push these bills through But building restrictions have to do with green energy requirements That make permitting to build a house or apartment building Longer, harder, and more expensive And the transportation package That the Governor and his supporters are putting forward Has all kinds of problems It increases the gasoline tax Not in Washington, interestingly But in gasoline or diesel fuel That Washington exports to other states Oregon, Idaho, Alaska And we do do that Because we have petroleum refining facilities In the state of Washington And they make and ship automobile fuel to other states That is controversial Because it's unconstitutional The U.S. Constitution forbids that kind of tax policy And then the other part of that transportation package That people generally aren't liking Is it raises car tab fees So instead of getting your $30 car tabs This new proposal would raise your car tabs By $50 to $100 each year Over whatever you're paying now Which in most places is between about $100 And about $300 So people are going to be paying more, significantly more To renew their car tabs If this transportation package passes All right, let's go to some live questions Laura, you are live on the air with Representative Walsh Hello, Representative Walsh Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you fine Thank you so much for working so hard And thank you for taking my question I am a registered nurse And I have followed the Board of Health process very closely As they are discussing whether or not To add the Pfizer MRNA shots to the schedule For kids to attend private or public school Or daycare in Washington State I know you've been following this, too My question is I believe that the Board of Health may be breaking the law According to RCWs And my question is what can be done about it Let me explain There is an RCW that gives us the definition of a vaccine And there is an RCW That gives the Board of Health authority To add vaccines to the school schedule Now, it's too technical to get into the details here But the COVID shots are a novel technology That do not actually meet the definition Of a vaccine The CDC in 2020 actually changed the definition Of a vaccine To make the COVID shots a vaccine And so if it is technically not a vaccine They may not have the authority To add this shot And I'm wondering if that makes sense to you And if there is anything that might be done about that Great question, Laura Thanks for being here and asking I will take a minute to unpack It is a technical question, but it's a good one I believe you're right Ultimately, as with any interpretation Of statute, law, RCWs in our state This is probably a question That will ultimately need to be clarified by the courts here But I think there is I think you're making a coherent argument And an argument that could and should be made in court In time I want to caution, as I've said before to people And said in some of my Q&As that we do We aren't at that point quite yet As you rightly point out The process by which the COVID shots would be required For students to enroll in schools in the state Is clearly laid out And we are in the early stages of that process The state Washington State Department of Health Is the bureaucratic agency that is in charge Of making these policy decisions They are empowered by the law to do that The method they have set up For doing something like adding a new vaccine Requirement to the list of required vaccines For kids to go to school Or adding shots to that list if they are not a vaccine Is clearly laid out And it works in this way The agency, the Department of Health Has a sort of advisory entity Called the state board of health And within that advisory board There is a smaller subset That they call the technical advisory group Or TAG The board and particularly the TAG Are made up of doctors and medical researchers And academics People involved in the medical field And they truly are Their credentials are legit And they are experienced people And they look at things like newly developed Vaccines or therapies They review the academic literature around them And make to the board What is supposed to be an informed recommendation About how the board should proceed with policy The board then drafts policy Or doesn't, based on the recommendation Of the advisory group And then hands the draft policy To the bureaucrats at the state department of health The state department of health Is actually the organization, the entity That turns the recommendation into Administrative rule And that is part of the state's WAC And there is a series of public hearings That have to be held and there is a process To do that. So where we are on the MRNA shots for COVID Is that technical advisory group Is beginning a multi-step process Of reviewing the literature, looking at what has been written And deciding whether or not It is going to make the recommendation To the bureaucrats to add that shot To the list of required inoculations That exist for kids to go to school To enroll in public schools. So we are in early days in that process It certainly does look like And the rhetoric and the language that the advisory group Is using in its hearings Sounds like they are moving toward making the recommendation But they haven't yet, they are not there yet And we need to keep our powder dry Or as William Wallace and Braveheart said, hold We need to watch And certainly protesting or speaking in public About this is a great thing to do But at this point in time we need to let this process Play out a little bit. Now if it gets toward the point where the bureaucrats At the Department of Health are going to add the COVID shot To the list of required inoculations They have to have a public hearing Or several in this matter And that would be the time to really start getting very active And oppose that policy point Loudly and strongly I mean if that is what you believe I have questions about the shot too And Laura as you know as a nurse The shots are all being used currently under What is called at the federal level An emergency use authorization EUA, a kind of temporary permission For them to be sold to the public Or given away to the public There is some language in statute And in federal law that says as long as A therapy is being used under an emergency Use authorization There are things that can't do And one of the things that can't do is be added to the list of Required therapies for kids to enroll in school So that is a kind of muddy Legal point there I worry that the bureaucrats at the Department of Health Could try to get around that By claiming some sort of emergency urgency Or the federal government May finally approve those shots For permanent use So that they are no longer under an EUA And then that would open the door to this process too So there is a lot going on here Ultimately I think if it were to be added If everything happens like they need it to And it were to be added to the list of Inoculations required for kids to enroll in schools I think it would end up in court And ultimately the state courts would have to decide Whether this thing has been done properly And even if it has been properly done Is it a proper public policy So this is going to end up in the courts one way or the other I do not think that there is enough grounds yet Or any longer the political will For the governor or the superintendent To make the COVID shots required for kids to go to school Anytime soon There were some rumors that they were going to do it In the next few months effective for the next coming school year Later this fall I do not believe that will happen Although given how our governor operates we have to always keep our eyes open Sorry for that long answer Laura but it was a great question And this is something we will continue to talk about The story is far from over All right we are going to go to another live question I just want to remind everybody again that we are recording this conversation And you can watch it later On representative Walsh's website if you choose to do so So we are going to go to Glenn Glenn you are now live on the air and you can ask Representative Walsh your question Hi Jim I just want to thank you for what you do You are a hero to a lot of us out here Thank you Glenn You can call in any time I just want to bring up We are always hearing about this budget surplus And we seem to be spending endless money On homeless and affordable housing That really does not seem to do anything It is a bottomless pit We never hear of any extra money Going out to emergency services Like fire departments Or ambulances that are really stretched thin The resources that they use for the homelessness And that kind of emergency responses We the taxpayer And all the people of the state of Washington Really need these services Every day And we sure could use capital improvement More personal and training I just wonder what your thoughts are Great issue It is another kind of hornet's nest But let's dive in I agree with you Our emergency services Fire, police But let's focus on fire And EMT services Have been shortchanged a lot In the last decade Some might say longer But in the last several budget cycles Remember two year budget cycles Have been shortchanged And if you talk to a fireman Or a fire chief You are right Their capital expenses Buying a new truck Building or expanding On the EMT medical side Keeping their ambulances And EMT units up to date Or just new enough Or well-maintained enough That they are not breaking down And they have all the medical equipment It has been a struggle And lately In the 19th district There have been some Operational budget disputes With local fire departments There has been consolidation Among fire districts And other things So we have been shortpaying Our fire departments And EMTs and first responders For a while Not chronically But a little cut A little shortfall And it is beginning to have compounding effects So what can we do? We can always channel more money To those activities And there have been some fairly political battles Local battles mostly Within fire districts or counties Or even in some cases within cities Over the funding of firefighting resources But the politics The political fights all stem From a money problem So this is a priority matter There is certainly enough money There is enough money in Olympia To put more money in the fire departments We are simply choosing And when I say we, I am being diplomatic The governor and the speaker are choosing To make that not a priority They have other priorities And certainly low-income housing Is one of their top priorities But they are not good at it That is the problem The programs that the governor and the speaker Favor are some of the least efficient And effective housing programs Not only anywhere in the state, anywhere in the country We tend to do a lot of Studies We tend to do a lot of work groups Around the issue of low-income housing But we don't build many apartments We don't build many houses And a number of people have become enamored lately With the idea of these tiny houses That is sort of a trendy concept And that might be a good way to go In providing low-income housing But we study it today We have spent several years in this capital here in Olympia Funding study after study into tiny homes And where can they be built And then fiddling with the growth management act Which is the state's main Kind of regulatory structure Around building houses And really buildings of any sort So they have spent a lot of time And money studying the law The GMA, growth management act And how to make tiny little technical adjustments To the growth management act To encourage or to allow more low-income housing Or starter homes or things like this And it has produced nothing basically They love their studies They love non-profit organizations That get state government money to study the problem And they are all wearing Their black turtleneck shirts And driving around in their fancy German cars But they aren't actually building any units They aren't building buildings They aren't building apartments And that's what we need Certainly in our part of the state If you talk to anybody, a realtor, a developer Anybody looking to rent a house or an apartment The problem is inventory We don't have enough units We don't have enough houses, we don't have enough townhouses We don't have enough apartment buildings And we need to stop studying the problem And get to building And there are developers willing to build They are just constrained by the permitting processes And the work they have to do Before they even put a shovel in the ground With the Department of Ecology And the local county inspectors And building and planning departments This state has made it very difficult To build housing And as a result we have a housing crisis And these consultants working on state government grants Who study the problem will tell you We need permanent supportive housing But we aren't building any It's an academic conversation When all you're doing is making the housing crunch worse By restricting the number of units of housing So what we need to do Is we need to stop studying endlessly We need to take some of that study money On low income housing and put it into hiring more firemen And women and buying some new fire trucks And we need basically to loosen the red tape a bit And just let private developers Build houses And apartment buildings more easily Without having to wait 2, 3, 4 years For a permit And there are stories like that There are terrible stories about how long some of these projects take to get permitted So They always say here in Olympia and they say in DC too Budgets are a matter of priorities You show what your priorities are by what you fund in the budget And this governor And this state attorney general and this speaker Like to fund studies and work groups I prefer to study projects Or not study, fund projects Put the money into the ground The old saying, shovel ready projects We need more shovel ready projects And less academic discussion As to your point at the beginning of your question about the surpluses We are doing better in Olympia Financially than we expected to do at this point Popping back from the COVID lockdowns We are currently projected in the near term That means about the next year or so To have a budget surplus That means we are collecting more in taxes From all of you than we projected And we based our budgets on So we have a budget surplus Of about a billion and a half dollars That is new money Found money That is new money Now I think when we are in that situation We ought to return the money to the taxpayers But that is not our current policy And what is happening right now Is the governor and his supporters Are trying to figure out new ways to spend The billion and a half dollars You will sometimes hear different surplus numbers mentioned You will sometimes hear that we have a 10 or $12 billion surplus In Olympia That is because we do budget projections And tax revenue, tax collection forecasts On different timelines We do a near term and then we do a kind of middle term And then we do a longer term So the near term number is the one that is most reliable The middle term and long term Where you get several years out for the future Becomes more projection and guesswork That near term number is the one that is most reliable And as I said, that near term number Is a little bit under a billion and a half But that is money we are collecting In property taxes, sales taxes And business and occupation taxes Above what we projected we would collect And based our budget planning on Alright, well Representative Walsh We are at the end of the hour We have one more question And the person who was going to ask the question It looks like they lowered their hand I don't want to leave this without talking about emergency powers Can you share the Senate bill that is going through That keeps getting put in the headlines of the newspapers As if this is a victory Can you share why it is not a victory? Sure, at the beginning of the session We, I and several other legislators Filed a bunch of different bills That in different ways would limit the governor's emergency powers My bill, which was House Bill 1029 Was the strictest It put a 14 day limit on a governor's emergency powers A Senate bill that was actually filed By two members of the governor's own party That Senate bill 5909 Was the softest limit A 90 day limit But the 90 day time frame is very loosely defined And the governor could easily go beyond 90 days And then there were a bunch that were in the middle Between those two, some 30 days, some 60 day other limits The one that has survived this far through the process Is that Senate bill 5909 The softest one It has passed the State Senate And is now going to the House, where I am Excuse me, I've got to sneeze I think I do That bill, which is the Not COVID, right? You don't sneeze with COVID That bill, which is the soft 90 day limit Is the one that's a lot It needs a lot of help It is not an effective limit on the governor's emergency powers As I said It basically allows the governor to slip through the 90 day limit In a number of ways Most of the Senate Republicans voted against it Because they said it's too soft and not effective We are just considering that now in the House We will try to amend it We will try to strengthen the language around it To make the 90 day limit more strong and clear But if we can't do that I'm not sure how we're going to vote I think most of us will vote no too Because it's such an ineffective limit on the governor's emergency powers We need real limits on those powers All right, Representative Walsh We're at the end of the hour Do you want to share any closing remarks before we end today's legislative briefing? Before you get started I do have to say, everybody, thank you so much for being patient with us last week Since we had to cancel at the last minute That doesn't happen very often when the members are on the House floor At the last minute We had to issue you a cancellation We're going to do our best to keep these up every Saturday at 4 o'clock But occasionally those things do happen So thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience All right, go ahead, Representative Walsh I was glad to be part of that all night debate earlier this week And I'll do it again if we need to To stop bad bills and try to make better policy We do need To finish this session strong We need good reforms to the recent Anti-cop law enforcement bills We're about halfway there on those We need good policy Around the governor's emergency powers And as I said, I hope we can amend this one Senate bill To make it more effective And last, we need, when we're looking at the budgets here toward the end of the session We really need to think about how to give the people of Washington Some kind of tax break There's going to be a lot of discussions about what kind of tax relief we can do Do we give a short-term sales tax break? Do we do a B&O Lowering a B&O business tax? Do we do some sort of property tax reform? I like that last idea the best I like trying to pursue some reforms I like trying to pursue some lowering of property taxes Because they're the longest-term savings The longest-term reforms If we can reform property taxes, people get a break For really quite a few years And I think that it's the Ultimately the best type of tax relief The best type of tax reform Because it does the most to help keep people in their houses So that will be my focus But I am open to any of the options I'm open to lowering the business tax And I'm even open to a sales tax break Although the sales tax breaks tend to be the shortest lift They tend to go back up most quickly And they're the most responsive to changes in policy So as we end the session I'm really going to be focusing on how we can give people in Washington a tax break They deserve it because we're in surplus We're collecting more tax than we need to And when we do that, we need to put that money back in people's pockets All right. Representative Walsh, I want to thank you for being here And I want to thank all of the attendees Thank you, and we will talk to you again next Saturday at 4 o'clock See you all soon. Thanks for being here