Onward and Upward: Transit Oriented Communities Moves forward in the Legislature

We are pleased to announce that our legislative priority is moving forward with strong support in both the Washington State Senate and House. Last week House Bill 1490 passed out of House General Government Appropriations with a strong 9-5 vote. Thanks to the leadership of House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Representative Darneille and House Speaker Frank Chopp who garnered strong support for the bill, it passed the House fiscal committee with resounding support.

Last night the Senate version of the bill (SB5687) passed out of Senate Ways and Means with little fanfare or controversy. We would like to sincerely thank Senators Prentice, Fraser, Tom, Fairley, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Pridemore, Regala, and Rockefeller for supporting this important environmental priority in Senate Ways and Means. If you are a constituent of one of these Senators please send them a big thank you.

Both the Senate and House versions are in the rules committee, which is the last stop before a floor vote! We will be making some friendly tweaks to the bill on the floor as a result of the stakeholder meetings that Rep. Nelson has been holding over the last couple of weeks. The floor cutoff is next week. We are working hard to ensure that the Transit Oriented Communities Bill gets out of the House in the upcoming days and moves forward on its way to becoming a law. Thank you for your support and for tuning in!