OLYMPIA -- A bill giving Washington State University the authority to open its own medical school in Spokane is scheduled for a final vote in the Senate.

Both chambers have given strong support to identical bills that repeal a 1917 law that says only the University of Washington can operate a state-sponsored medical school. The Senate is expected to pass the House version of the bill today and send it to Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature.

WSU President Elson Floyd is expected to be in the Senate wings for the vote.

The bill provides authority for a WSU medical school, but no money to seek accreditation or hire faculty. Those decisions will be made in the 2015-17 operating budget. Inslee had no money for it in his budget proposal, so the first sign of a financial commitment would be in the House operating budget proposal, scheduled for release late Friday morning.

Both chambers also have a busy day of committee hearings. Here's the full schedule: 

Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Time	Committee	Location
8:00 AM	Trade & Economic Development (S)	Senate Hearing Rm 3
	Agriculture & Natural Resources (H)	House Hearing Rm B
	Judiciary (H)	House Hearing Rm A
	Technology & Economic Development (H)	House Hearing Rm C
9:55 AM	PRO FORMA HOUSE SESSION
10:00 AM	SENATE SESSION/CAUCUS
1:30 PM	Commerce & Labor (S)	Senate Hearing Rm 1
	Energy, Environment & Telecommunications (S)	Senate Hearing Rm 4
	Financial Institutions & Insurance (S)	Senate Hearing Rm 2
	Natural Resources & Parks (S)	Senate Hearing Rm 3
	Business & Financial Services (H)	House Hearing Rm B
	Early Learning & Human Services (H)	House Hearing Rm E
	Health Care & Wellness (H)	House Hearing Rm A
	Higher Education (H)	House Hearing Rm C
	Public Safety (H)	House Hearing Rm D
3:30 PM	Ways & Means (S)	Senate Hearing Rm 4
	Appropriations (H)	House Hearing Rm A
	Transportation (H)	House Hearing Rm B
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House Committees

Agriculture & Natural Resources
3/25/15 8:00 am

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm B
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5601 - Requiring the Washington state department of agriculture to approve the comparable recertification standards of private entities for the purposes of waiving the recertification requirements under the Washington pesticide control act.
2. SSB 5733 - Concerning livestock transaction reporting.
3. SSB 5972 - Concerning the procurement of seeds by state agencies.
4. ESSB 5347 - Creating demonstration projects for preserving agricultural land and public infrastructure in flood plains.
5. SSB 5730 - Concerning access roads utilized by the department of natural resources.

Executive Session:

1. SSB 5705 - Establishing a mineral prospecting and mining advisory committee.
2. SJM 8013 - Concerning aquatic invasive species.

 

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Appropriations*
3/25/15 3:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm A
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/23/2015 1:38 PM

Possible Executive Session:

1. SB 5210 - Authorizing an optional life annuity benefit for members of the Washington state patrol retirement system.
2. 2SSB 5215 - Establishing the Washington internet crimes against children account.
3. SB 5466 - Clarifying employee eligibility for benefits from the public employees' benefits board and conforming the eligibility provisions with federal law.
4. SB 5468 - Authorizing the use of nonappropriated funds on certain administrative costs and expenses of the stay-at-work and self-insured employer programs.
5. SB 5693 - Authorizing the department of social and health services special commitment center to seek eligibility and reimbursement for health care costs covered by federal medicare, medicaid, and veterans health benefits.
6. ESSB 5826 - Creating the Washington small business retirement marketplace.
7. SB 5840 - Concerning reimbursement to eligible providers for medicaid ground emergency medical transportation services.

 

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Business & Financial Services
3/25/15 1:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm B
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Possible Executive Session: ESSB 5899 - Addressing small loans and small consumer installment loans.

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Early Learning & Human Services
3/25/15 1:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm E
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Work Session:

1. Partners for Our Children Annual Report of Child Welfare System Performance in Washington.
2. Child Welfare Success Stories.

 

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Health Care & Wellness*
3/25/15 1:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm A
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/20/2015 3:49 PM

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5175 - Regarding telemedicine.
2. SSB 5027 - Providing access to the prescription drug monitoring database for clinical laboratories.
3. ESSB 5084 - Modifying the all payer claims database to improve health care quality and cost transparency by changing provisions related to definitions regarding data, reporting and pricing of products, responsibilities of the office of financial management and the lead organization, submission to the database, and parameters for release of information.
4. SSB 5317 - Requiring universal screening and provider payment for autism and developmental delays for children in medicaid programs.
5. SSB 5591 - Allowing emergency medical services to develop community assistance referral and education services programs.

Possible Executive Session:

1. SSB 5028 - Raising licensure limits to allow assisted living facilities to serve a higher acuity resident population.
2. SB 5143 - Concerning the availability of childhood immunization resources for expecting parents.
3. SSB 5145 - Concerning the membership of the health technology clinical committee.
4. SSB 5147 - Establishing a medicaid baseline health assessment and monitoring the medicaid population's health.
5. SSB 5436 - Concerning the joint legislative executive committee on aging and disability.
6. ESSB 5441 - Addressing patient medication coordination.
7. SSB 5448 - Requiring a study of the effects long-term antibiotic therapy has on certain Lyme disease patients.
8. ESSB 5460 - Allowing practitioners to prescribe and distribute prepackaged emergency medications to emergency room patients when a pharmacy is not available.
9. SSB 5488 - Concerning applied behavior analysis.
10. ESSB 5557 - Addressing services provided by pharmacists.
11. SB 5606 - Modifying provisions related to licensing and scope of practice for dental professionals.
12. SB 5779 - Reducing penalties applied to regional support networks and behavioral health organizations.
13. ESSB 5857 - Addressing registration and regulation of pharmacy benefit managers.
14. SSB 5870 - Protecting youth from aversive mental health therapies.
15. SSB 5877 - Concerning due process for adult family home licensees.
16. ESB 5935 - Concerning biological products.

 

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Higher Education
3/25/15 1:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm C
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Public Hearing:

1. SB 5122 - Concerning precollege placement measures.
2. SB 5295 - Concerning the display of campus information on the statewide public four-year dashboard.
3. SSB 5328 - Disseminating financial aid information.
4. SSB 5487 - Concerning higher education programs at Washington State University and the University of Washington.

 

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Judiciary
3/25/15 8:00 am

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm A
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5022 - Providing fee immunity for certain city, town, and county water facilities.
2. SSB 5221 - Concerning the disposition of tenant property placed upon the nearest public property.
3. SB 5233 - Concerning notice against trespass.
4. SB 5363 - Prohibiting the use of eminent domain for economic development.
5. ESB 5921 - Increasing certainty and predictability in the land use permit process.

 

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Public Safety
3/25/15 1:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm D
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5037 - Modifying organized retail theft provisions.
2. SSB 5066 - Concerning the collection of blood samples for forensic testing.
3. SB 5070 - Requiring the department of corrections to supervise domestic violence offenders who have a conviction and were sentenced for a domestic violence felony offense that was plead and proven.
4. ESSB 5346 - Providing first responders with contact information for subscribers of personal emergency response services during an emergency.
5. ESSB 5884 - Concerning the trafficking of persons.

 

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Technology & Economic Development*
3/25/15 8:00 am

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm C
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/24/2015 12:15 PM

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5113 - Requiring the department of commerce to coordinate and advance the siting and manufacturing of small modular reactors in the state to meet future energy supply, environmental, and energy security needs.
2. ESB 5091 - Including nuclear energy in the definition of a "qualified alternative energy resource" for the purposes of RCW 19.29A.090.
3. 2SSB 5093 - Creating the nuclear energy education program.
4. SB 5094 - Allowing incremental electricity produced as a result of efficiency improvements to hydroelectric generation projects whose energy output is marketed by the Bonneville power administration to qualify as an eligible renewable resource under the energy independence act.

Possible Executive Session: SB 5761 - Providing for property tax exemption for the value of new construction of industrial/manufacturing facilities in targeted urban areas.

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Transportation
3/25/15 3:30 pm

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm B
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5397 - Concerning the disclosure of certain transportation-related information by the department of licensing.
2. SSB 5640 - Concerning the limitation on towing and storage deficiency claims after auction of a private property vehicle impound.
3. ESSB 5656 - Enhancing public safety by reducing distracted driving incidents caused by the use of personal wireless communications devices.
4. SSB 5957 - Creating a pedestrian safety advisory council.

 

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Senate Committees

The schedule is subject to the addition of more committee agendas. Please check our website, http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/pages/calendar.aspx

Accountability & Reform*
3/25/15 8:00 am

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 2
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

MEETING CANCELLED.

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Commerce & Labor*
3/25/15 1:30 pm

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 1
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/24/2015 10:09 AM

Public Hearing:

1. SHB 1604 - Creating a work group on occupational disease exposure for firefighters.
2. HB 1590 - Requiring completion of an apprenticeship program to receive a journey level or residential specialty electrician certificate of competency.
3. HB 1124 - Permitting the sampling of beer and wine at locations licensed to serve beer and wine for on-premises consumption.
4. ESHB 1211 - Addressing fees and costs related to methods of wage payment.
5. HB 2000 - Authorizing the governor to enter into agreements with federally recognized Indian tribes in the state of Washington concerning marijuana.
6. HB 1595 - Changing the definition of labor hours for the purposes of the apprenticeship utilization statute.
7. SHB 1194 - Addressing the death benefits of a surviving spouse of a member of the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system or the state patrol retirement system.
8. SHB 1496 - Addressing vocational rehabilitation by making certain recommendations from the vocational rehabilitation subcommittee permanent and creating certain incentives for employers to employ injured workers with permanent disabilities.
9. HB 1465 - Creating a dedicated account for elevators, lifting devices, moving walks, manufactured and mobile homes, recreational and commercial vehicles, factory built housing and commercial structures, and contractor registration and compliance activities.
10. SB 5400 - Implementing a temporary additional fee on licenses and permits issued by the Washington state liquor control board.

Possible Executive Session: Bills previously heard.

Other business.

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Energy, Environment & Telecommunications*
3/25/15 1:30 pm

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 4
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/19/2015 10:43 AM

Public Hearing: SGA 9199 - Ann E Rendahl, Member, Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Executive Session:

1. SGA 9032 - Marc D Daudon, Member, Energy Northwest.
2. SGA 9095 - Bill Lynch, Chair, Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.
3. SGA 9098 - Joan M Marchioro, Member, Pollution Control/Shorelines Hearings Board.

Work Session:

1. Central Washington University - Integrated Energy Studies Program.
2. Oil spill and emergency response organizations.

Other business.

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Financial Institutions & Insurance
3/25/15 1:30 pm

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 2
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

Public Hearing:

1. 2SHB 1469 - Addressing removal of payment credentials and other sensitive data from state data networks.
2. SHB 1575 - Regulating retainage bonds on public contracts.

Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

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Natural Resources & Parks
3/25/15 1:30 pm

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 3
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

Executive Session: Bills previously heard.

Other business.

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Trade & Economic Development*
3/25/15 8:00 am

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 3
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/19/2015 8:36 AM

Work Session: The Middle Market.

Public Hearing:

1. SHB 1337 - Increasing the flexibility for industrial development district levies for public port districts.
2. EHB 1513 - Concerning local infrastructure project areas.

Executive Session:

1. ESHB 1170 - Granting port districts certain administrative powers.
2. HB 1279 - Modifying the definition of legislative authority for purposes of local tourism promotion areas.
3. Bills heard in committee.

Other business.

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Transportation*
3/25/15 3:30 pm

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 1
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

MEETING CANCELLED.

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Ways & Means*
3/25/15 3:30 pm

Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 4
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 3/24/2015 11:35 AM

Public Hearing:

1. SSB 5333 - Concerning clean alternative fuel vehicles.
2. HB 1550 - Simplifying the taxation of amusement, recreation, and physical fitness services.
3. SB 5827 - Providing a sales and use tax exemption for eligible server equipment installed in certain data centers.
4. SB 5878 - Concerning nonresident vessel permits and taxation.
5. SB 6001 - Concerning the definition of a newspaper.
6. SSB 5209 - Concerning a hazardous substance tax exemption for certain hazardous substances defined under RCW 82.21.020(1)(c) that are used as agricultural crop protection products and warehoused but not otherwise used, manufactured, packaged, or sold in this state.
7. SSB 5112 - Creating a pilot program that provides incentives for investments in Washington state job creation and economic development.
8. SSB 5230 - Creating a pilot program that provides incentives for investments in Washington state job creation and economic development.
9. SB 5665 - Reinstating tax preferences for high-technology research and development.
10. SSB 5449 - Creating a tax division of the court of appeals. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute).
11. SB 5575 - Providing sales and use tax exemptions to encourage coal-fired electric generation plants to convert to natural gas-fired plants. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute).
12. SB 5698 - Extending the expiration date of tax preferences for food processing.
13. SB 5701 - Creating a business and occupation tax credit for advanced composite manufacturing and wholesaling.
14. SB 5700 - Extending the expiration date of tax preferences for biofuel, biomass, and energy conservation. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute).
15. SB 5904 - Providing a public utilities tax credit for forest derived biomass used to produce energy.
16. SB 5042 - Providing a business and occupation tax credit for businesses that hire veterans. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute).
17. SB 6013 - Providing use tax relief for individuals who support charitable activities.
18. SB 6027 - Increasing Washington state's motion picture and film industry viability by increasing the tax credit available to certain motion picture activities. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute).

If draft bills, proposed substitutes, or striking amendments are to be heard, they can be obtained from committee staff or on the committee's website, http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/Pages/default.aspx, as soon as they are available. Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

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