By Representative Christine Watkins, District 69
The third special session called by the legislature and the fourth special session called by the governor were completed on Thursday.
We finished the third session by passing several bills. 2SB 3006 is the Financial Relief Funding Bill. This bill funds new and existing programs and services related to relieving economic injury to individuals and business. 100 million dollars are to be used exclusively for COVID-19 issues. It will give grants to small businesses, grants to agriculture (up to $40,00 per grant) and 20 million in grants to be used for housing assistance for the unemployed. There is also financial assistance for commercial businesses. None of this assistance is to be used as loans; it will all be grants that do not have to be paid back.
SB 3007 COVID-19 Provisions gives civil immunity related to exposure to coronavirus. This law gives immunity to businesses from litigation if someone feels they got the virus from going into a business or restaurant. It has a very narrow scope of coverage.
2SHB 3005 Pandemic and Emergency Response requires the governor to notify the Senate President and the Speaker of the House before he declares a state of emergency or other executive order in response to an epidemic or pandemic disease. The time frame is 24 hours of lead time. It also allows the legislature to stop certain executive orders by a joint resolution.
In the fourth session in the afternoon, which was called by the governor, we passed several more bills.
HB 3008 Rail Fuel Sales Tax Amendments, a bill that the governor had vetoed, was heard again. The bill repeals the state sales and use tax exemption for sales of fuel to a rail carrier for use. The repeal will put 3.6 million back into the state coffers. The money will have dedicated uses; 10% will be used for railroad environmental studies, 10% will be given to cities to be used for railroad crossing safety education and improvements, and 80% will be allocated by the legislature to areas where railroad crossings need to be improved for safety purposes.
1SB 4003 is a Special Needs Scholarship program that was also vetoed by the governor. After negotiations, the improved bill passed. The scholarship goes only to students who have IEP’s (Individualized Education Plan), but it added a means test on household incomes; in other words, you will qualify by income. It is focused heavily on middle income families who usually don’t qualify for special needs scholarships. It also creates a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association so that donations to the program can be accepted.
Bars were forcibly shut down because of the virus and HB 4004 Bar Re-licensing allows them to have more time to renew their alcohol license. The bars or restaurants have until Aug. 31 to pay the $2,000 license fee.
We will have more special sessions. We have to revamp our 2021 budget because of the 500 million to a billion-dollar loss to our state budget. Business in not normal at the legislature; we have advised all entities that receive funding from the state to start cutting now and not to plan on allocations that they received in the 2019 regular session.
Stay well. I am supporting all plans that will help our economy get back to normal.