What are your priorities?
It's that wonderful time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas when all everyone is thinking about it the upcoming legislative session. What? You were thinking about something else?
Well regardless if four lobbyists, three new bills, two legislators, and a partridge in a pear tree are keeping your mind occupied this holiday season or not, the 2010 Washington Legislative Session is right around the corner and as per tradition this time of year, the Environmental Priorities Coalition recently announced its 2010 Environmental Priorities.
The Environmental Priorities Coalition is a network of more than twenty leading environmental groups in the state (including the Lands Council, Futurewise, and Conservation NW) that influence policy at the state level. Each year, the Coalition selects priority issues- usually about four - that receive the collective support of this network during the legislative session with the strategy that by narrowing the agenda, they can better focus resources and succeed in Olympia.
This year's Priorities are:
Safe Baby Bottle Act This act would phase out BPA in baby bottles, food and beverage cans, and other consumer products. Read more.
Working for Clean Water The Working for Clean Water bill is about creating jobs, rebuilding local economies, and cleaning up polluted waterways. Read more.
Sustain Environmental Protections in the Budget We aim to ensure Washington's budget sustains core environmental protections that safeguard the health of our families, communities and economy. Read more.
Two items that initially jump out at us are:
- It's unusual for the environmental community to select the budget as a priority issue. However, given the news last week that Governor Gregoire is reforming natural resoure agencies, basic protections that support clean water and air and wildlife are in danger, and it's more important than ever for our community to have a heightened awareness about the budget.
- It's great to see local Legislative Representative Timm Ormsby as a sponsor on the Working for Clean Water priority for the attention and support he will hopefully raise for the Spokane River.
There's a lot to take from this announcement, most notably that the time to educate yourself, encourage others to self educate, and to contact your representatives is NOW. "Now is the time we need your voice more than ever. This year's Priorities are absolutely essential. All of them will require amazing amounts of support and action from you to pass. Over the next month, stay tuned for more info from me about how to get involved and help pass the Priorities" - Nicole Fallat of the Environmental Priorities Coalition.
There are several next steps:
There is a Legislative Workshop in Seattle on January 9 where you can hear from legislators, environmental lobbyists, and others regarding the community's Environmental Priorities. Then there is Environmental Priorities Lobby Day 2010 on January 16, which we couldn't encourage you more to attend. We had the pleasure of attending this in 2007 and it was a great experience. Not only being a representative of Eastern Washington and Spokane (there wasn't many of us) and talking to representatives about the pulse of our area, but meeting others from across the state whose work, energy, and motivation - and struggles are similar and encouraging.
And be sure to follow all of the latest news from the Environmental Priorities Coalition via their Twitter and Facebook accounts - and course we'll be keeping you up to date on what's going on.
