SB5526 – Requires a report to the Legislature on the global availability of lithium and rare earth minerals used in battery manufacturing.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Fortunato (R; 31st District; Auburn)
Current status – Had a hearing in Business, Financial Services & Trade January 20th. Replaced by a substitute and passed out of committee February 1st. Referred to Rules; still there at cutoff. Sent to the “X” file February 17th.
Next step would be – Dead bill.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Comment –
I hope the study will take account of recent work by Amory Lovins, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, about how the substitution of other materials, technological innovations, and increasing recycling are rapidly reducing the need for rare minerals in these applications. (See “RMI Reality Check: Greener, Friendlier Alternatives Exist for Rare Minerals in Batteries“)

Summary –
Substitute –
The substitute would also have Commerce research successful approaches and methods used to develop infrastructure for recycling EV batteries, including incentives for manufacturers to extract critical materials from them for reuse and requirements for designing them to support recycling. It would have the Department collaborate with Ecology in drafting legislation to establish a statewide recycling program for EV batteries, and allow collaborating with PNNL and the Joint Center for the Deployment and Research in Earth Abundant Materials as well. It specifies that this work is subject to appropriation, and requires a report to the Legislature by June 30th 2023.

Original bill –
The bill would require the Department of Commerce to report to the Legislature on the global availability of lithium and rare earth minerals used in battery manufacturing, since “the State is increasingly encouraging new energy storage technologies such as electric vehicles and electric grid scale battery storage … dependent on rare earth minerals and difficult-to-source earth components.”