HB1113 – Increases the State’s targets for emissions reductions to match the Paris Accords’.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Slatter (D, 48th District, Bellevue)
Current status – Had a hearing before the House Committee on Environment & Energy January 15th. Passed out of committee with several amendments January 31st. Had a hearing in the House Appropriations Committee, February 21st. Reintroduced and retained in present status for 2020 session.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
House Bill Analysis

Comments –
The amended bill adds a statement about the importance of supporting working forests to meeting the State’s climate goals, and adds reporting on the carbon sequestration from urban forest practices and on the emission reductions and sequestration increases from forest management practices including prescribed burning and mechanized thinning to the bill’s requirements.

Representative Slatter’s new 2020 bill, HB2311, would increase the State’s targets more.

Summary –
It adds a 19% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2025 (and best efforts to reach a 21% reduction by then) to the State’s targets. It increases the target for 2035 from a 25% reduction to a 40% reduction, and the target for 2050 from a 50% reduction to an 80% reduction.

Requires the State to encourage proactive forest management, “including, but not limited to, prescribed burning and mechanized thinning as a means of reducing emissions”.

Details –
Adds a comparison with other states’ emissions, and reporting on the emissions from wildfires to the current requirements for a report by Ecology and Commerce to the Governor and appropriate committees of the Legislature every two years. Requires a report to the Legislature by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and Review Committee every five years about the effects of these reductions on the economy and jobs.