Sudden demise of House riparian-buffer bill makes SB 5353 only riparian protection proposal of its kind left in 2023 session

On its final day this legislative session to endorse Senate policy bills, the Senate Ways and Means Committee backed legislation from Sen. Keith Wagoner that would give up to 12 additional counties another opportunity to participate in the state’s Voluntary Stewardship Program.

The positive vote on Senate Bill 5353 was welcome news to agriculture groups and tribes, after a bipartisan riparian-buffer bill many had supported failed to advance out of the House Capital Budget Committee – a surprising result attributed primarily to opposition from Gov. Jay Inslee.

“It was a Cinderella story of legislation right up until the slipper didn’t fit,” Wagoner said, referring to the unexpected demise of House Bill 1720.

“What a disappointing end that is, to what was shaping up to be a great story of agriculture, tribes and conservationists coming together with members of both parties to put forth a truly bipartisan, balanced piece of legislation.

“I am pleased that the Senate is moving my volunteer-stewardship bill forward, giving us the chance to continue the bipartisan work that Washingtonians deserve and we all want to see.”

The Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) offers an alternative approach for protecting critical areas on lands where agricultural uses exist. It is limited to 27 of Washington’s 39 counties, but under Wagoner’s proposal, the 2012 deadline in state law for counties to take part in the VSP would be removed, opening up the program statewide. His measure would also allow any counties joining the program to access funding for riparian projects.

“The goal of the program is to stop pitting rural landowners, agriculture communities, environmentalists, tribes, and regulators against one another. A Draconian, punitive, and forced approach would only sour cooperation, harm compliance and potentially lead to putting some farms out of business altogether,” warned Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley. “Senate Bill 5353 is about taking the opposite approach – having all sides work cooperatively to both improve our critical areas, while also preserving our farmlands.

“It’s a difficult balance to reach, but we’ve done it with this program.”

Wagoner also stressed how, unlike the failed approach offered by the Democrat majority in the House in previous years, his bill is about making the most of a program that has already proven successful.

“I have seen voluntary stewardship programs work, specifically in protecting critical lands along the Skagit River,” Wagoner added. “Voluntary programs, where we work together with conservation districts, property owners, environmental groups and the tribes produce better results than when we try to mandate a single solution on all property owners. Skagit County is proof of that.”

SB 5353 now heads to the Rules Committee, the last stop before a potential vote by the full Senate.

On Thursday, the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources and Parks Committee voted to advance legislation from Sen. Keith Wagoner that would give counties another opportunity to participate in the state’s Voluntary Stewardship Program.

The program offers an alternative approach for protecting critical areas on lands where agricultural uses exist.

The Voluntary Stewardship Program is available in 27 of Washington’s 39 counties. Wagoner’s proposal would remove the 2012 deadline in state law for counties to take part, opening up the program statewide. The measure would also allow any counties joining the program to access funding, if available.

“We have a difficult balance to reach,” said Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley. “We have to preserve critical habitats, while also preserving our farmlands.

“This bill is about bringing back an idea that has already proven to be successful and opening it up to counties that missed their opportunity to utilize this program originally.

“I have seen voluntary stewardship programs work. If you go to Skagit County and look along the Skagit River, you will see the results of a voluntary stewardship program. Voluntary programs, where we work together with conservation districts, property owners, environmental groups and the tribes, produce better results than when we try to mandate a single solution on all property owners. Skagit County is proof of that.”

Under Senate Bill 5353, the long-ago deadline to join the VSP would be removed from state law, and new counties that choose to join would be made eligible for a share of the implementation funding provided by the state. Implementation in a particular watershed would be dependent upon adequate funding, with that determination being made by the state Conservation Commission every two years.

Testifying on the bill at a hearing last month, Paul Jewell with the Washington State Association of Counties praised the program’s track record of success.

“The program has only been in place for six years. The first 27 adopters went through their 5-year check-in last year, and every plan was approved as meeting objectives,” Jewell told the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources and Parks Committee.

“[The VSP] was always intended to foster cooperation between rural landowners, rural agricultural land users, environmentalists, tribes, and regulators. It is exactly the type of program that we should support and encourage. …We should absolutely allow more counties and the farming industries in those counties to take advantage of this program.”

Wagoner’s approach is viewed favorably by the agriculture community and is considered preferable to one being offered by Democrat leaders in the House. That approach, House Bill 1215, would create and dedicate massive resources to a new grant program focusing on riparian restoration.

“Many farmers are worried that – if implemented in its current form – the House bill could have a devastating impact on the availability of usable agricultural lands, similar to last year’s proposed Lorraine Loomis Act,” said Wagoner. “That unsuccessful approach would have included an unnecessarily large bureaucracy and stringent mandates, eliminating hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and possibly putting some farmers out of business.

“The approach in our bill is about preserving critical lands through a less bureaucratic and more flexible voluntary stewardship program that is already getting the job done everywhere it has been permitted.”

SB 5353 now heads to the Rules Committee, the last stop before a potential vote by the full Senate.

By The Chronicle staff
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State Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, criticized his Democratic colleagues on the state Senate Law and Justice Committee on Friday for rejecting Republican attempts to reform what he called a “criminal-friendly flaw” in a police pursuit law.

According to Padden, the Democrats chose to instead take a partisan approach, delaying a solution for at least 18 months.

Senate Bill 5533, passed out of the state Senate Law and Justice Committee last Thursday, would create a policy work group within the state Criminal Justice Training Commission composed of community and law enforcement stakeholders. The work group would be tasked with creating a model vehicle pursuit policy to be presented to the Legislature by Oct. 31, 2024.

“This bill won’t fix the problems caused by not allowing law enforcement officers to use ‘reasonable suspicion’ when they decide whether to engage in vehicle pursuits of suspects. Instead, it would basically kick this important issue down the road for 18 months, or maybe longer, by having the state Criminal Justice Training Commission start a work group on it,” said Padden, who serves as the top Republican on the Law and Justice Committee. “A key reason why Washington is seeing a spike in crime is because officers are not allowed to pursue suspects in most cases. We need to take action now on this matter, not study it for a year or longer.”

Both Padden and state Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, another Republican on the Law and Justice Committee, offered amendments to SB 5533 before it was passed out of the committee.

Padden’s amendment would have increased the size of the work group and required the group to consider additional factors when drafting a model policy for vehicular pursuits by officers. The amendment was defeated along party lines.

Wagoner’s amendment would have prevented the bill from going into effect unless the Legislature also passed a law changing the threshold required for law enforcement to engage in a vehicular pursuit from probable cause to reasonable suspicion. The amendment was ruled “out of scope” by the committee chair Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond. Padden challenged that ruling but his motion was defeated in a five-to-five vote.

“We’ve been hearing from our communities, from our mayors, from our county commissioners, from our police departments, how important it is for us to fix this,” Wagoner said. “I haven’t heard any calls to study it. I’ve heard many calls to fix it and it is important that we get the fix right. That’s why I support the study and I support the idea of a model policy that protects everyone. But in the meantime, we are not keeping our communities as safe as we could. We can argue about cause and effect … but I know this for a fact: The switch went one way and things got worse. It might be prudent to switch the switch the other way and see if we can at least maintain the status quo or get things better while we study a model policy. Sometimes, when the Legislature doesn’t want to move on something, we kick it to a joint task force or a study. I don’t want to see that happen with something that is so critically important to the safety of our communities.”

Today the Senate voted 48-0 to approve Sen. Keith Wagoner’s measure designating January as Americans of Chinese Descent Month.

“They say the third time’s a charm, and I hope in this case it’s true,” said Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, who has been working on the issue since 2020.

“I want to thank everyone in this chamber who voted for the bill last year, and I want to thank the Chinese-American community for trusting me to move this bill forward. 

“Washington should be leading the way on this issue; we’re a perfect fit. Americans of Chinese descent make up the largest percentage of Asian Americans in our state. When we teach children of all backgrounds our history, we give them a tool. It is very important that we allow our schools to share the vital history of Chinese-Americans in our state. It’s a colorful history, with some dark moments and some very uplifting moments, but our children deserve to know that entire history.”

Senate Bill 5000, the first measure introduced in the Senate for the 2023 legislative session, would designate each January as Americans of Chinese Descent History Month. The bill would also encourage public schools to designate time for appropriate activities in commemoration of the state’s complicated history with the Chinese community – the good and the bad – and to remember and honor the many contributions and achievements made by the Chinese-American community.

The measure is similar to Senate Bill 5264, which Wagoner introduced in 2021. That bill also passed the Senate 48-0 in 2022, but the House of Representatives failed to bring it up for a vote.

Wagoner is hopeful this year’s bill will make it into law.

“Thank you for voting for this bill,” he told his Senate colleagues. “But please do all you can to help get this bill across the finish line and to the governor’s desk. Let’s finish the job.”