CAPR is working on opposing these bills this legislative week. Links provided to the bills to show their status, text, and link to comments. Please do not think if you missed a hearing date or time that you cannot fight a bill, it is never too late to fight. You can always call or email any legislature, including your own or bill sponsors, with your opinion, opposition, or support of a bill. Every voice helps inform our legislators!
1099 Improving the state's climate response through updates to the state's comprehensive planning framework.
This bad bill has passed the house and is scheduled for Feb 1 for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Housing & Local Government at 8:00 AM.
CAPR opposes this attempt to make the Growth Management Act further encumber property owners by adding additional regulatory taking under the guise of the climate needs of the earth and people. Many regulations already encompass climate ideas, but this would require planning to reduce vehicle miles traveled, zoning downsizing, climate mitigation. A climate change and resiliency element would be added to the featured main goals of the GMA, including reducing green-house gasses with specific targeted goals in certain cities and counties. It would authorize Ecology to make like changes to the Shoreline Management Act and flood control plans. Ecology is presently tasked with implementing too many other legislative directives. It would be better if the legislature would specify some of the work it is pushing off to agencies and create laws, they directly carry the rightful authority to accomplish. In the circumstance of 1099, however, it would be best if the bill was not enacted as written. It is trying to accomplish too much in one bill, it should be written to one idea only and the legislature should take responsibility for the direct harm to landowners and citizens the legislation would cause to them and to the economy. The state economic status is far more positive than the economic status of individual citizens at all income levels, this bill would continue to erode their useable income and ability to prosper in a time when options to maintain a sustainable living are shrinking. This bill would hurt people throughout the state and do little or nothing to improve the environment or wildlife. It would have no impact on what is being called climate change but would increase the cost of living for all in the state. This bill goes too far for too little and must be stopped.
1772 Increasing legislative involvement in gubernatorial proclamations relating to a state of emergency.
This is a good bill to end endless emergency proclamation! 1772 was heard today in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations call and email the committee members to ask for an executive hearing and a move to the floor for a vote in the house!
HB 1772 overwhelmingly has the most support of any bill proposed by the legislature to solve the emergency powers crisis presently experienced by the citizens of Washington. Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights strongly encourages the passage of 1772, one property all citizens possess is the natural right to work and the product of our labor to feed and shelter our families so we can all thrive. Interference with our natural rights must be agreed upon and be temporary. This bill must be passed! This bill sets a clear and unambiguous path to include citizens' voices about their rights and any temporary curtailment of rights through the representation of their elected legislators, while setting time limits and procedure. This is a good bill which does not include or attempt to create additional extraordinary powers or duties to legislators that do not presently exist. It is obvious this bill is needed after the governor's refusal to relinquish his interpretation of emergency powers without the input of the legislature. This has gone on for two years without resolution. Representation has been stifled leaving all regulation to a single person, the governor. The governor cannot possibly understand the economic or safety needs of all Washingtonians, yet for two years he has claimed to do so. It must be remembered our system of governance is not a democracy which creates "mob rule" even if that mob is one person, the governor. We are governed under a representative republic which creates an opportunity for all citizens to be heard, at the very least, through their elected legislators. It is far past time to place this commonsense representation to writing and establish this correct interpretation of emergency powers in law!
5882 Clarifying the existence of riparian stock watering rights.
5882 had a public hearing on January 27, and is scheduled for executive hearing on Feb 3 in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks at 1:30 PM. Call these committee legislators and thank themfor the bill hearings and encourage them to pass it out of committee for a vote on the floor in the house so it can quickly move on to the House process on the companion bill.
Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights Supports 5882. Much needed food security sustainable farming and ranching, and long-established cultural water rights providing water for stock and home beneficial use will be clarified and improved in this law. It is past time to satisfy citizens need for clarity in water rights through legislation rather than through litigation, our security and agricultural sustainability must be established through laws that eliminate vagaries and misconceptions around the history and purpose of water law.
2026 Implementing a per mile charge on vehicles.
This bad and disjointed bill is scheduled on Feb 3 for public hearing in the House Committee on Transportation at 1:30 PM
Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights opposes 2026. The bill creates a road usage charge in an overly complicated system of taxation or fees that will impact owners of different vehicles in different and disparate ways. In the bill the RUC does not replace a gas tax and does not direct the money to road usage or maintenance alone, but includes rail lines, transit, and other general purpose uses such as bike and walking paths and trails. The bill impacts suburban and rural drivers more negatively than urban drivers because urban drivers drive less distance to work and impacts those who must drive greater distances to go to work. The bill also impacts lower income drivers more than higher income drivers. Lower income drivers can ill afford expensive electric or hybrid vehicles and must do with what vehicles they can afford, often the vehicles lower income people can afford also are vehicles that have a lower fuel efficiency. The bill does not adequately address privacy concerns as related to the gathering of data via GPS monitoring to exact taxation. The bill would be mandatory for electric vehicle owners but would put a cap on the tax due while it creates a patchwork of voluntary participation in the RUC that would complicate taxation and would create constantly changing compliance and enforcement strategies that would become an inequitable bureaucratic nightmare.
HJR 4209/SJR 8210 Adding a new section to the Washington state Constitution regarding the conservation and protection of the state's natural resources.
This patently political and dangerous bill is scheduled Feb 1 for public hearing in the House Committee on Environment & Energy at 8:00 AM but you can submit written testimony or your pro or con opinion now! And you can always comment on the bill to your district legislators at this link as well! This is too important to not comment on this bill!
Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights opposes 4209 and its senate companion 8210. It is and should be a grave concern to all citizens to contemplate a change or addition to the state constitution. In these bills, sufficient contemplation of binding future generations to what some legislators consider a present ideal is too restrictive and bears a great potential to conflict with or undermine existing constitutionally guaranteed natural rights possessed by the people. This bill is not written to protect an existing natural right of the people but attempts to create a future right to abysmally vague future ideals rather than factual existing features of the planet. This would cause future law and litigation based on future attempts to retain ideal existences or correct what some people may consider less than ideal future problems. Again, this is not an adequate basis for constitutional material constructed to protect and create procedural law for existing natural rights. Such circumstances as the right to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air, healthy ecosystems, and a stable climate, and to the preservation of the natural, cultural, scenic, and healthful qualities of the environment are nebulous and subjective ideals, not objective established facts that are established without bias.
Additionally, this bill would provide the state with the constitutionally protected ownership of all things in life and consider them resources of the state. “The state, including each political subdivision of the state, shall serve as trustee of the natural resources of the state, among them its waters, air, flora, fauna, soils, and climate.” It is not, under all circumstances, within the power of the state to serve as trustee and protector of all natural resources of the state, and not within its powers certainly to be the trustee and protector of climate.
These kinds of bills written to establish absolute power of the state over the established power of the people of the state and should never be passed.
Thank you for your support!
January 31, 2022