We have now completed week three of a 60-day legislative session and are fast approaching the first cutoff on February 2. Bills that are to continue through the process must be passed out of committee and read on the House or Senate floor by the end of the day on Friday. With…
The State Legislature finally approved Washington’s 2017-18 capital budget Thursday night, sending the $4.2 billion construction spending plan for major projects to the governor. The impasse was broken when Democrat and Republican negotiators reached an agreement on a Hirst “fix” to address the 2016 state Supreme Court ruling on rural…
Week 2 was another busy one in Olympia: over 1,000 new bills have been added to the hundreds still alive from 2017 and committee and floor votes are happening quickly. This year is a short session, which means that we are already halfway to the first calendar cutoff where a…
On Dec. 15 the U.S. House and Senate Conference Committee released their version of the tax reform legislation. We are encouraged by the changes made as the bill moved through the legislative process. This legislation moved through both chambers at lightning speed, but thanks to the rapid response of AIA’s…
The House and Senate have each passed the Republicans’ tax reform bill. Because the Senate bill differs substantially from the House version on key provisions, leaders of both chambers have assigned conferees to a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the differences and develop a final version of the bill. A…
Senator-elect Manka Dhingra’s election victory in the 45th District (Woodinville, Duvall, and parts of Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish) means that the Washington State Senate will switch to Democratic control beginning Nov. 28, when the election results are certified. Sen.-elect Dhingra will take office that day because her seat is technically…
On Nov. 1, congressional leaders unveiled the Tax Credits and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) to rewrite our nation’s tax code. Based on our preliminary assessment of the proposal, this bill could do real damage to thousands of architecture firms and would eliminate incentives for good design. The bill excludes professional…
U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, a Republican, announced that he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term (December 2018). Reichert is serving his seventh term in Congress representing the 8th Congressional District, which includes Auburn, Enumclaw, Ellensburg and Wenatchee. A moderate Republican, Reichert faced a difficult political…
This year marked the third year in a row that policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were considered by the Washington State Legislature. In 2017, several bills called for putting a price on carbon emissions via the imposition of a carbon tax with revenues used to support programs related to…
During the August Congressional recess, AIA|WA members met with members of Washington’s Congressional delegation to relay asks from AIA National and discuss other issues of interest. Members met with Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8), Rep. Rick Larsen (D-2), Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-6), and staff from the offices of Rep. Jaime Herrera…
