Civic Action Team
2023 Legislative Priorities

After passing significant climate policy in recent sessions, the theme from legislative leaders for 2023 is “implementation”. That will include spending Climate Commitment Act revenues and making the siting and transmission of renewable energy easier. 

It also needs to include the correction of last year’s eleventh-hour failure to include climate provisions in the Growth Management Act, the completion of last year’s stalled effort to reform statewide housing policy to allow “missing middle” homes, and the continuation of long-overdue changes to our state’s recycling policies.

Let’s dig into our priorities for 2023.

Growth Management & Land Use

Washington’s Growth Management Act defines how cities and regions plan for their growth and encompasses housing, transportation, and environmental issues, all of which have a climate impact.

A resuscitated version of last year’s HB 1099 will incorporate greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions into county planning, prioritize remediation in disproportionately affected communities, allow alternative transportation in lieu of traffic standards for vehicles, and finally make climate resiliency a required planning element.

We will also be supporting legislation to increase resilience during extreme weather events, which endanger those who are at the forefront of climate injustice.

Housing

Committees dedicated solely to housing policy have been created in each chamber of the legislature. A bipartisan bill has been prefiled which would legalize fourplexes statewide and greater density within a half mile of transit. The Governor has proposed a referendum that would allow the state to issue bonds outside the state’s debt limit to frontload $4 billion of housing construction over the next six years. Will 2023 be the year that Washington finally addresses its dire housing needs?

Housing policy has played a major role in environmental racism and is intimately connected to climate justice. In the past, redlining and racial covenants concentrated communities of color into particular neighborhoods. Zoning laws have been used to continue this segregation while placing industrial sites next to and highways through BIPOC communities. These neighborhoods are exposed to higher levels of pollution, lower air quality, less access to green space, and are more likely to be ‘heat islands’. These same communities have been the first to see impacts from the climate crisis and will be the communities most impacted going forward. In this way, housing and zoning policy have led to our current environmental and health disparities and must be centered as we grow our cities.

How we grow our cities and create housing for all have major impacts on our mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Denser cities create 2-2.5 times less GHG emissions per capita, make it much easier for public transit, and lead to less deforestation. In contrast, sprawl can lock in energy and transportation dependencies and complicate mitigation of climate impacts. Development in low-income and BIPOC communities can also lead to gentrification, eviction, displacement, longer commutes, and homelessness. A focus on green, affordable housing that centers the retention of community members and access to public transit are keys to both a green and just future.

Recycling & Waste Reduction 

Products and packaging also have a big impact on climate change. GHG emissions are produced during each step of a product’s life, including resource extraction, refining, manufacturing, transportation, and disposal. There is a dangerous connection between climate change and plastics made from oil and gas: the petrochemical industry seeks to greatly increase plastic production to offset declines in fossil fuel consumption.

When items are made from recycled materials rather than new resources, we save energy and decrease GHG emissions. By one estimate, the avoidance of annual GHG emissions from 2022’s recycling bill would have been equivalent to taking 297,000 vehicles off the road.

We will be supporting this year’s ambitious producer responsibility bill, the WRAP Act, as well as improved battery recycling and a right to repair bill that will get used cell phones and laptops into the hands of people who need them and help overcome digital inequities in Washington.

Building Electrification

Since 2019’s Clean Buildings bill, more progress has been accomplished to reduce fossil fuel use in buildings in the obscure State Building Codes Council than in the legislature. We will be keeping a sharp eye out to make sure that that progress is not reversed.

We look forward to supporting the creation of a coordinated portal for state and federal programs where community members will be able to take advantage of the new and emerging state and federal programs for shifting their homes and business from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy, like heat pumps. We will also be tracking the expansion of community solar to renters and low income households, changes to solar net metering, and budget items related to weatherization and increasing the workforce for energy efficiency and weatherization retrofits.

Transportation 

Transportation is not only a huge emitter of greenhouse gasses, it’s also an issue of mobility and access justice. Transportation enforcement laws are disproportionately used against people experiencing houselessness and against people of color, and transportation development policies have a big impact on accessibility and quality of life in every community. Special care needs to be paid to which communities are most impacted by transportation policies both on the enforcement side and on the infrastructure side.

We will be tracking efforts to eliminate jaywalking laws statewide to increase safety and racial equity, ending stops for non-moving traffic violations in order to focus on safety issues, and improving the composition of transit boards to ensure community voices are represented in decision-making.

We will also be supporting a moratorium and divestment from building or expanding highways in frontline communities, those already most overburdened by pollution and racial and economic injustice in Washington State, and an effort to create actionable standards and targets to complete the missing sidewalks and build back the public transportation network across the state. We will be supporting a new state account and redirection of large investments towards closing the gaps in our transit service and safe sidewalks, and a state transportation budget that supports climate justice and mobility justice for everyone in our state.

Police Accountability and Criminal Justice Reform

The 2021 session saw historic progress in reducing police violence, followed in 2022 by a successful effort to roll back some of those gains. 

Black, Indigenous, and people of color are disproportionately affected by police violence, disproportionately incarcerated, subjected to long-term solitary confinement, and disproportionately stopped by police for substance use despite similar rates of usage compared to white people. In the words of Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, “How can we expect black Americans to focus on climate when we are so at risk on our streets, in our communities, and even within our own homes?”

We will be supporting bills related to the civil liability of law enforcement, an independent prosecutor for police use of deadly force, traffic safety for all and opposing further reinstatement of high-speed vehicular pursuits.

Forestry, Salmon and a Green Amendment

There is no path to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees that does not involve additional carbon sequestration. Natural climate solutions could meet 5 - 7% of our state’s GHG reduction goals.

While the timber industry claims that “grow fast, cut young, sequester in wood products” is a climate solution, independent scientists cite emissions from logging operations and the far superior sequestration and ecological services provided by the older trees native to the Pacific Northwest.

The timber industry argues that anything less than current harvest levels will cost jobs in rural communities. We call for a just transition so that timber communities can achieve ecologically restorative, economically sustainable forestry practices.

The decoupling of timber harvests and school construction proposed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction has started a discussion about whether the best use of state forests is meager, inconsistent revenue or climate benefits that serve future generations. We will be supporting spending to preserve the carbon dense, structurally complex forests on state lands that preserve biodiversity and habitat, provide recreation, cultural resources, and mental health respites for nearby communities. 

Salmon are an essential part of the ecosystem and they also hold significant cultural value for Indigenous peoples, but salmon runs are under threat across our state. We will be following the lead of Tribes and supporting effective measures to improve salmon habitat and restoration.

And we will continue to support the Green Amendment that would make clean air and water a constitutional right for all Washington residents.

Climate Commitment Act 

In this first year of Climate Commitment Act (CCA) spending, our primary focus will be on following the money and advocating for it to be spent on effective greenhouse gas reductions and mitigating the impacts of climate change on Washington residents, particularly overburdened communities and Tribes.

We remain concerned that the CCA is unproven in Washington State. The appropriation process has not been established, nor has agency guidance. Spending could easily be misdirected to projects that sound good or benefit a specific legislative district but don’t meaningfully impact the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. Whether spending can actually benefit overburdened communities or if their voices are included in the decision making process remains to be seen.

Join the Civic Action Team!

Your voice is needed! Join us to advocate for climate action and social and environmental equity in this year’s session. Sign up here for weekly action alerts. And tell your friends!

For a curated list of this year’s climate bills, go here.