Update: The Council passed the 2016 legislative priorities unanimously at its Jan. 4 meeting.

The 2015 legislative session was the longest in Washington state history when it adjourned on July 10. The Legislature heads into its next round, a continuation of the 64th session, on Jan. 11, and the Mercer Island City Council was set to vote Jan. 4 to communicate its priorities for consideration.

The Legislature works within the framework of a two-year cycle.  A “long” session was held in 2015 (105 days, plus extensions) and a “short” session (60 days) is scheduled for this year. It should end on March 10, barring additional special sessions that can be called by the governor and last no more than 30 days.

All three of the 41st district legislators – Rep. Judy Clibborn, Rep. Tana Senn and Sen. Steve Litzow – live on Mercer Island.

“Mercer Island has strong working relationships with all of the 41st district representatives, which is only enhanced by living in the same community,” said Kirsten Taylor, assistant city manager.

Clibborn and Litzow were instrumental in passing a transportation package last session that funded SR 520 and other projects with a gas tax increase, while Senn and Litzow worked on bills to support social-emotional and early learning.

Among Mercer Island’s priorities are “set a statewide price on carbon pollution,” “support the adoption of a statewide transportation program that includes local and regional transit service funding (without I-90 tolling),” “support recreational immunity bill clarifying that recreational properties may support other lawful purposes” and “support state funding for counselors in each school to help address mental health and social emotional learning.”

The recreational immunity bill item is related to the Susan Camicia lawsuit, said City Attorney Kari Sand.

Mercer Island and other cities, counties and the Washington Recreation & Parks Association (WRPA) want to clarify that for purposes of recreational immunity statutes, the term ‘outdoor recreation’ also includes bicycling even if the property -in the Camicia case, the I-90 trail – also serves a transportation (commuting) purpose, Sand said. The city has not yet teamed up with a specific legislator to sponsor such a bill, but that is the intent.

Senn’s office will work on school counselor funding this session, Taylor said.

“Mercer Island has a uniquely strong presence of mental health counselors in the schools, but consistent state funding is necessary to help support mental health and social emotional learning in the schools,” Taylor said.

Some items are taken from lists compiled by the Association of Washington Cities (AWC), the King County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Legislative Forum, the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C) and A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH).

The Mercer Island PTA also submitted a request to the Legislature to comply with McCleary ruling and fully fund basic education. 

At its meeting on Dec. 7, the Council asked for clarification on a few of the items, including a vague directive to “strengthen the Public Records Act in response to changing technology and burdensome requests.”

On Jan. 4, Taylor clarified that the item involved giving cities additional tools to resolve conflicts with public records outside of the courtroom and to charge a reasonable fee for electronic and commercial requests.

“When information is provided at no cost or low cost for commercial requests, the company’s profit is subsidized by Washington’s taxpayers,” Taylor said. “Cities need the ability to recoup a portion of related costs.”

In addition, the Public Records Act is nearly four decades old and has failed to keep up with advancing technologies, she said.

Most councilmembers on both Dec. 7 and Jan. 4 agreed that their priority should be to work with the school district on fulfilling the obligation to fully fund basic education. A few different proposals were floated in the last session, one of which was a “levy swap,” SB 6102, that would transfer some responsibilities held by local districts back to the state. The concern is that the proposal may not be “revenue neutral.” In other words, wealthier districts like Mercer Island could end up paying more and getting less.

According to the priorities, Mercer Island also wants to “help cities prepare for and address impacts of natural disasters and other emergencies” and give cities the authority to ban fireworks sales and use during dangerous conditions. Another goal is to “increase the purchase age for tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21, and regulate vapor products.”