E2SSB5955 Immediate Call To Action!

Two minutes to get Port Package Updates passed this month!

¹E2SSB5955, the Port Package Update bill we’ve all been waiting for, has passed in the Senate and now needs to go through the same process in the House. We’ll have an Explainer Post shortly. But for now, we simply need two minutes of your time to help get it over the line! (Skip to Action Item.)

The next step for this bill is a hearing TUESDAY February 20 in the Local Government Committee, starting at 10:30AM. You’ll be able to watch the proceedings live on TVW here: Watch on TVW. Because they are so slammed for time, the day following that hearing, committee members will vote whether or not to move the bill forward.  At this point it’s about showing that a great number of you care about the issue.

Action Items

To do that, we need you to do two very simple things from your desk or phone. Each task requires only a minute, but you need to do them as soon as possible and no later than Monday (the day before the hearing!)

Task #1. Sign in PRO on E2SSB5955

1. 1. Click this link (or paste into your browser): https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/House?selectedCommittee=31646&selectedMeeting=32020#
   2. Select E2SSB5955 Large Port Districts
      
   3. Select the type of Testimony you wish to provide
      I would like my position noted for the legislative record
   4. Fill out the form (be sure to select ‘PRO’) and submit.That’s It!

Task #2. Write an email directly to the House Local Government Committee members who will vote to move the bill forward.

This matters because frankly, committee members are far more likely to read emails from individual constituents than plow through testimony. Here are their emails and our suggested text:

To: Davina.Duerr@leg.wa.gov, Keith.Goehner@leg.wa.gov, Emily.Alvarado@leg.wa.gov, April.Berg@leg.wa.gov, Cyndy.Jacobsen@leg.wa.gov, Marcus.Riccelli@leg.wa.gov

Subject: Pass E2SSB5955

You would have to live under our flight path to understand how absolutely necessary a good sound insulation system is for good health and quality of life. But the cost of a properly functioning system, one that addresses not only noise reduction but also provides healthy indoor air quality, is far more than most people living near Sea-Tac Airport can afford. The systems so many of us initially received in exchange for a permanent Avigation Easement did not meet those goals.

To be clear: this is not about cosmetics. Both the health impacts and harms to middle-income housing stock are undeniable. Increasingly diverse new homeowners unknowingly exchange the health of their families for the last affordable middle housing in King County. That is not the bargain we made in exchange for having over 1,000 planes fly over our heads every day.

Our understanding is that the Port has learned from past mistakes and that the systems they now provide are best in class. So giving them the tools to do this much needed work will provide both current and future owners a replacement or repair the State will not have to worry about for many decades to come. It is more than fair that the State help finance this program given the great economic benefits the Port of Seattle provides to the entire State.

We urge you to help protect our families and our community for future generations by passing E2SSB5955.

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¹For government nerds, the original Senate Bill 5955 has been amended several times since originally being filed in the Senate Senator Karen Keiser. The ‘E’ ‘2’ and ‘S’ indicate those changes. ‘Engrossed’, ‘Second’, ‘Substitute’. When a bill passes out of one side of the legislature, it must then go to the other side for review. But it retains the numbering of the originating bill.