Senate Delays Releasing Operating Budget for One Week
Vol. 1, Issue #7
Faced with a $1.6 billion dollar shortfall, the Senate could
not yet agree on which programs to cut or save. Their
budget, in response to the Governor’s budget, was due
out this week, but it has been delayed until “sometime
next week”. As Bruce Wishart, from People for Puget
Sound stated: “It’s like building a house of cards. If one
Senator doesn’t like the way it is built and asks for a change,
then other Senators have to be appeased with changes
made for the first Senator.” Building the budget means
constant negotiations with all Senators who represent interest
groups from their districts. You could say it is a giant
trading game. And, the worst part of it is that nobody
outside the Senators’ offices knows what the delicately
balanced house of cards looks like until the day it is released.
Once the budget is released, the environmental community
will have about 3-4 hours to read it and analyze the impact
of the cuts. That same day, the Senate Ways and Means
Committee usually has a hearing on the released budget.
At that hearing, the environmental community will explain
the impact of the cuts. Overall, we know that any reductions
to the 1.6% of the general fund budget going to
environmental protection could lead to a decline in our quality
of life in Washington, less opportunities for business to
attract employees to a great place to live and work, and
reductions to our air and water quality. The environmental
community in Olympia is preparing to respond to the budget
by meeting with agency staff and others who could shed
some light on any information. But, for now, everyone is
being very tight-lipped about the pending reductions.
Wetlands Protection Almost Traded for
Transportation Budget
Late this week, the House Democrats voted a bad
wetlands bill out of committee and into the rules
committee in exchange for the transportation budget.
Some of you may have read the Seattle PI article
about this vote. After the publicity, the House
Leadership is apparently reconsidering whether they
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will actually let this bill get to a floor vote. The best
thing to do on this wetlands bill is to contact your
legislator and tell them you do not want to have the
wetlands-transportation trade go to a floor vote! It is
important that they know Audubon members are
March 1st, 2002
worried about the habitat on which birds and wildlife
rely … and of course, our last remaining wetlands are
key habitat for over 300 bird species in Washington.
Competitiveness Council Met in Olympia with
Governor
On Thursday the Governor and Legislators met with
the Competitiveness Council to discuss progress on
recommendations from the Council’s report on making
Washington more business-friendly. Director Tom
Fitzsimmons, from the Department of Ecology, gave
a thorough presentation about the improvements his
agency has already made to streamline their workload,
but without sacrificing environmental protection.
Several major changes have happened at Ecology to
streamline timetables and make decisions more
predictable. For example, EPA has fully delegated
the air program to Ecology, thus eliminating a second
step of review and paperwork. Also, Ecology has set
clear standards and expectations for working with
business customers and measuring those performance
 standards. Audubon started a dialogue with Ecology
to learn more about how Ecology intends to improve
its operations without compromising federal and state
Vol. 1, Issue #7
environmental standards.
Government Efficiency or Delay Tactics ?
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March 1st, 2002
Senate Republicans convinced some Democratic
Senators to vote for several bills that will make
government inefficient. One bill would require the
Governor to personally sign off on all regulations before
they go into effect; this would create a huge bottle-
neck at the top of state government. Another bill
would delay all agency regulations for a year until
legislators had time to review the regulations; in this
case, the legislators should probably just write and
adopt the regulations themselves and put them into
law. These bills simply set up delay tactics. Hard-
fought efforts to protect bird and wildlife habitat, water
quality or other important environmental programs will
be delayed or could be eliminated if these bills pass.
For decades, state agencies have worked with interest
groups and individuals to write regulations that protect
public health, families and our environment. Final
agency decisions are not always liked by all parties.
The bills passed by the Senate attempt to change
the public process simply because some Senators don’t
like the final results of the regulations. Next week,
the House Committee on State and Local Government
will hear these bill. We will oppose the package of so-
called regulatory reform bills and we urge you to call
your Representatives and House Leadership. The list
of bills we oppose are: SB 6749, SB 6251, SB 6252,
ESB 6564 and SB 6793.
Audubon Supports ESSB 6400 Biodiversity
Framework
This week Audubon’s Conservation Director, Naki Stevens,
testified in the House Natural Resources Committee in
support of ESSB 6400. Introduced by Senator Ken
Jacobsen, this bill would begin the discussion about how to
restore and maintain the diversity of Washington’s
ecosystems. The bill finds that extensive scientific work
has been completed by both public and private entities to
map the state’s ecoregions and address ecoregional planning
issues. However, these existing information sources are
not complete, and this information is not necessarily
coordinated or accessible to the public or policymakers.
Also, there is no single entity responsible for developing a
state strategy to conserve remaining functioning
ecosystems and restore habitats needed to maintain
Washington’s biodiversity. The bill calls for a comprehensive
review and coordination of existing biodiversity data. A
temporary committee is created to develop
recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature to
establish the framework to develop and implement a
statewide biodiversity conservation strategy. As of this
printing, the bill is still in the House Natural Resources
Committee. Please call your Representatives and urge
them to vote it out of the committee.
Jobs for our Farms and Healthy Ecosytems
On Wednesday, HB 2657 was heard in the Senate
Agriculture and International Trade Committee, but needs
to get voted out by March 1. This is a great bill that helps
our farmers because the state would purchase Washington-
grown fruits and vegetables for our state institutions and
state-supported facilities.
HB 2758 was also heard on Wednesday by the Senate 2SSB 6353 Migratory Bird Stamp
Agriculture Committee. This bill allows the state to create
a program to purchase agricultural conservation easements Senators Haugen, Oke, and Jacobsen have been

that will use federal funds to help local governments when
they start similar programs at the local level. The new
program will help local governments fight conversion of
agricultural lands they have not otherwise protected through
land use planning processes. We hope this bill is also voted
out of committee this week.
Vol. 1, Issue #7
shepherding this bill through the Senate, and it is now
in the House Natural Resources Committee awaiting
action to move it out of committee. This is a good bill
that increases the stamp fee from $6 to $10 and
funds migratory waterfowl projects. We certainly hope
this important funding bill passes out of the committee;
it is another revenue source during these days of
budget cutting.

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Audubon Chapter Volunteers Could Help DNR
Lands

March 1st, 2002

HB 2294 is an important bill for Audubon Chapters
that see a need to restore and maintain Department
of Natural Resources lands. For example, the Black
Hills Audubon Society (BHAS) could volunteer to do a
once-a-year trash clean up in Capitol Forest and at
the same time check out the birds and wildlife. (Of
course, this would probably be a summer-time activity!)
This week the House Natural Resources, Parks &
Shorelines Committee heard testimony on this bill that
expands the opportunities for volunteers at recreation
sites operated by the Department of Natural
Resources. We hope this bill moves out of committee
Ghost Nets…NEEDS to get out of House Rules and can begin a new relationship of volunteering
Committee ! between our chapters and DNR.

SB 6313 is the favorite bill from our Kitsap Audubon Chapter.

It will help clean up abandoned fishing nets and gear floating
in our state waterways. The bill is now in the House Rules
Committee and should be moved out soon. Please call
your Represenatative and ask that it be pulled out of
rules…otherwise it may die of neglect…just like those fishing
nets.

Bills That Audubon Suports

Keeping Families Healthy and Moving
—Bill Id#— —Title— —Status— —Date— —Sponsor—
E HB 2440 Transportation/land use plan Senate Transportation 02-19-02 Romero
E SSB 5748 Transportation/land use plan House Transportation 01-17-02 TRAN (McAuliffe)
SSB 5841 Growth management act House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 SLG (Patterson)
2SSB 5909 Vessels/financial responsibility House Agriculture & Ecology 02-19-02 WM (Fraser)
E2SSB 6718 Clean energy consumption House Technology, Telecommunications & Energy 02-19-02 WM (Fraser)
SB 6737 Watershed plans House Agriculture & Ecology 02-17-02 Fraser
 Healthy Neighborhoods, Smart Kids, and Clean Technology
Vol. 1, Issue #7

—Bill Id#— —Title— —Status— —Date— —Sponsor—

SHB 2308 Recycling & waste reduction Senate Environment, Energy & Water 02-18-02 AGEC (Linville)
E SHB 2326 Climate & energy center Senate Environment, Energy & Water 02-19-02 AGEC (Linville)
E SHB 2376 Derelict vessels Senate Ways & Means 02-28-02 NR (Rockefeller)
HB 2397 Organic food products Senate - Passed to Rules for 2nd reading 02-26-02 Linville
E SHB 2506 Green building task force Senate - Passed to Rules for 2nd reading 02-25-02 AGEC (Romero)
E SHB 2522 Clean technologies/purchase Senate Environment, Energy & Water 02-18-02 SG (Sullivan)
SHB 2648 Capital budget applications Senate - Passed to Rules for 2nd reading 02-28-02 CB (Murray)
2SHB 2697 Growth management & economic devmnt Senate State & Local Government 02-18-02 APP (Reardon)
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SSB 5105 Chiropractors Senate Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions 01-16-02 LCF (Prentice)
E SSB 5748 Transportation/land use plan House Transportation 01-17-02 TRAN (McAuliffe)
SSB 6284 Air pollution/vehicles House Transportation 02-17-02 EEW (Jacobsen)
SSB 6329 Emission control inspection House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 EEW (Regala)
2SSB 6356 Children/environmental health House Appropriations 02-28-02 WM (Franklin)
March 1st, 2002

E SSB 6400 Biodiversity conservation House Appropriations 02-28-02 NPS (Jacobsen)

SB 6420 Organic food products House Agriculture & Ecology 02-17-02 Rasmussen
SB 6480 Recycling & waste reduction House Agriculture & Ecology 02-15-02 Eide
SSB 6598 Natural science/wildlife education House Appropriations 02-28-02 EDU (Kohl-Welles)
E SSB 6619 Climate & energy center House Agriculture & Ecology 02-17-02 EEW (Poulsen)
SSB 6658 Energy conservation projects House Technology, Telecommunications & Energy 02-15-02 EEW (Poulsen)
E2SSB 6718 Clean energy consumption House Technology, Telecommunications & Energy 02-19-02 WM (Fraser)
SJM8005 Vessel safety standards House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 Fraser
E SJM8023 Hanford Reservation cleanup House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 Hale

Supporting Washington Farmers, Salmon, and Outdoor Recreation

—Bill Id#— —Title— —Status— —Date— —Sponsor—
E HB 2288 Environmental mitigation Senate - Made eligible to be placed on 2nd reading 02-28-02 Fisher
HB 2329 Conservation easements Senate Judiciary 02-11-02 Lantz
HB 2375 Trust lands Senate - Passed to Rules for 2nd reading 02-28-02 Rockefeller
E HB 2498 Industrial land banks Senate State & Local Government 02-16-02 Fromhold
SHB 2648 Capital budget applications Senate - Passed to Rules for 2nd reading 02-28-02 CB (Murray)
HB 2657 Agriculture products/state facilities Senate Agriculture & International Trade 02-19-02 Hunt
HB 2669 Animal waste/energy resource Senate Environment, Energy & Water 02-16-02 Linville
E2SHB 2671 Permit assistance center Senate Environment, Energy & Water 02-19-02 APP (Linville)
SHB 2758 Agriculture conservation easement Senate - Made eligible to be placed on 2nd reading 02-28-02 AGEC (Quall)
SSB 6257 Contract harvesting/timber House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 NPS (Jacobsen)
SSB 6313 Derelict fishing gear House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-22-02 NPS (Oke)
SSB 6329 Emission control inspection House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 EEW (Regala)
SB 6484 Conservation easements House Judiciary 02-15-02 Haugen
SSB 6553 Invasive aquatic species House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 NPS (Poulsen)
SJM8030 Puget Sound House - On Rules Review list for 2nd reading 02-28-02 Jacobsen

Bills that Audubon Opposes

—Bill Id#— —Title— —Status— —Date— —Sponsor—
E SHB 1005 Public utility rights-of-way Senate Ways & Means 02-27-02 TTE (Morris)
E SHB 2305 Shoreline management Senate Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines 02-20-02 LGH (Hatfield)
SHB 2637 Long-term energy supply Senate Environment, Energy & Water 02-16-02 TTE (Morris)
E SHB 2866 Hydraulic permits Senate Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines DPA 03-01-02 NR (Doumit)
SSB 5107 Rural counties/growth management House Local Government & Housing 02-15-02 SLG (Sheldon, T.)
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Vol. 1, Issue #7
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March 1st, 2002

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