2013 Bill Tracker | Washington Low Income Housing Alliance

2013 Bill Tracker

Our Bill Tracker provides concise summaries on the Lead Items and Support Items for our 2013 State Legislative Agenda. Lead Items are legislation and policy that the Housing Alliance directly advocates for and Support Items are legislation and policy that our members lead on and that we also support. At a glance, you can see the most recent status of each priority and the latest recommended advocacy action.

We update the Bill Tracker after major cutoff dates and legislative milestones. Follow us on Twitter and/or Like us on Facebook to find out when we last updated this Bill Tracker. Updated June 26, 2013.

These items are listed in no particular order.

	Name	Status/Description	Advocacy
L E A D	Housing Trust Fund	We ask our legislators to bring the Housing Trust Fund up to the Governor's $65 million and maintain the House's additional $28.5 million allocation for other affordable housing.	Tell your legislators to pass a Capital Budget that re-appropriates previously allocated dollars and that makes significant new investments in the Housing Trust Fund.

	Housing & Essential Needs/Disability Lifeline	The Senate’s budget eliminates ABD and significantly cuts HEN. The House preserves funding for both. The House also passed HB 2069 with significant bipartisan support. HB 2069 aligns HEN with Medicaid expansion. More details at our blog.	Tell your legislators to pass a budget raising revenue, protecting our safety net programs, and to vote yes on HB 2069.

	Protect the Housing and Homelessness Programs of Our State's Safety Net.	The Senate’s budget proposals slash state homelessness programs by more than 50% and would result in more than 20,000 people to experience homelessness. More details at our blog.	Tell your legislators to pass a budget raising revenue, protecting our safety net programs, and adequately funding the HTF.

	Fair Tenant Screening Act, Part II
	SHB 1529 Stanford	Dead. SSB 5568 was the vehicle for passage. See below.
	SSB 5568 Hobbs	Signed into law on April 23, 2013! The House Rules Committee passed the bill to the House Floor where it passed unanimously on the House floor on Friday, April 12. This new law will go into effect on January 1, 2014.	Call 1.800.562.6000 and thank Senator Steve Hobbs (44th-Lake Stevens) for championing this critical bill.

	Equitable Value Capture Financing	After good faith negotiations with all parties, agreement was not reached on a finance tool that would prevent displacement and gentrification when publicly funded infrastructure investments are made.	No action needed at this time. HB 1967 is dead.

	Yes to New Revenue, No to Cuts	The Senate is holding revenue hostage because they want to pass controversial “reforms”. The closing of tax loopholes, a fix to the sales tax exemption for out-of-state shoppers, and a telecommunications bill are all revenue proposals currently on the table. See this Crosscut article for more details.	Tell your legislators to pass a budget raising revenue, protecting our safety net programs, and adequately funding the HTF.
	SB 5895 Hill	Oppose. This bill would enact low spending caps on social service programs.	Tell your lawmakers to reject SB 5895 and to invest in the safety net and social service programs. Tell them that as the economy recovers, we need to undue the many years of deep cuts to programs that prevent and end homelessness.

S U P P O R T	Washington Families Fund	We ask $6 million for the Washington Families Fund. The Senate budget originally did not include funding for the WFF, but an amendment by Senator Sharon Nelson added $5.3 million to the Senate’s budget for the WFF. The House funds the WFF at $2 million. Both funding sources are from existing Commerce accounts, but the House’s source would have the least impact on other homelessness programs. More details at our blog.	Tell your legislators to pass a budget raising revenue, protectings our safety net programs, and adequately funding HTF and WFF.

	Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)	TANF is a critical program that prevents and ends homelessness. The Senate’s budget slashes TANF funds. The House does better.The program has been significantly cut and changed over the past several years and the policy bills highlighted below will improve the program so that it can better function as an anti-poverty tool.	Please call 1.800.562.6000 to ask your elected officials to fully fund TANF.
	SHB 1342 Walsh	Dead. This bill would have extended the period of time that a WorkFirst participant may receive vocational training from 12 months to 24 months.
	SHB 1734 Sawyer	Dead. This bill would have allowed DSHS to exempt a TANF recipient from the 60-month time limit if the recipient resides in a county with an unemployment rate of 10 percent or more.

	Unused Public Property to Affordable Homes
	SHB 1563 Farrell	Dead. This bill would have authorized specified governmental entities to dispose of surplus property at less than fair market value for affordable housing purposes.
	SSB 5598 Mullet	Dead. SHB 1563 is the vehicle for passage. See above.

	Protect Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
	SHB 1302 Roberts	Dead. SSB 5405 was the vehicle for passage. See below.
	SSB 5405 Murray	Signed into law on May 21, 2013! This bill makes improvements that will allow for foster care services to be extended to youth aged 18 – 21. It ensures these youth have the resources they need to prevent homelessness and seek educational and employment opportunities.

	72-Hour Notification Rule for Homeless Youth in the Shelter System
	HB 1250 Orwall	Dead. SSB 5147 is the vehicle for passage. See below.
	SSB 5147 Hargrove	Signed into law on February 27, 2013. This law permanently allows service providers up to 72 hours to notify the legal guardians of unaccompanied minors entering their shelter. This fixes a sunset that would have set a shorter notification obligation.

	Protect Washington's Housing Trust Fund Investments
	SHB 1617 McCoy	Signed into law on May 7, 2013! This bill fixes the way in which the Department of Commerce is paid to manage the existing Housing Trust Fund portfolio. Currently, Commerce is only appropriated funds for portfolio management if there is a new allocation. This ensures that Commerce can continue portfolio management even in times where a new allocation may not be granted.
	SSB 5439 Benton	Dead. SHB 1617 is the vehicle for passage. See above.

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