1607-S2 AMH COUT LIPS 416

2SHB 1607 - H AMD TO H AMD (H-1936.1/25) 878

By Representative Couture

NOT CONSIDERED 04/27/2025

On page 1, beginning on line 3 of the striking amendment, after "INTENT" strike all material though "economy" on page 2, line 14 and insert "(1) The legislature finds that Washington is experiencing an affordability crisis. Washington is the eighth most expensive state to raise a child. Parents spend nearly $28,000 per year on essentials like food, housing, child care, healthcare, and on transportation, about $5,000 more than the national average. According to the latest data from the U.S. census bureau household pulse survey, Washingtonians spend the fourth most amount on groceries. In a recent survey, more than 42 percent of adults said they were very stressed about price increases. Thirty-five percent of Washington households self-report living paycheck to paycheck. Recent surveys reveal that more than half of Washingtonians report food insecurity, with many struggling to afford basic groceries. Between August and October 2024, 78 percent of respondents noticed price increases, and 70 percent of food insecure households reported cutting back on both the quantity and quality of food. Many residents must rely on food assistance programs to make ends meet. One in seven children in Washington face hunger.

(2) The legislature also finds that extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs that place new costs on product producers increase the costs of the products that consumers buy. The legislature acknowledges that state estimates of business and occupation tax revenue collections from producer responsibility organizations charged with managing paper and plastic packaging and beverage containers are based on revenue generated from hundreds of millions of dollars in new fees paid by producers to those organizations each year. The legislature recognizes that these EPR programs will create a tsunami of new costs passed on to the products Washingtonians purchase at the grocery store, because our groceries and beverages are shipped and packaged in cardboard, paper, plastic, aluminum and glass.

(3) The legislature nonetheless chooses to increase the price of groceries at this time of an affordability crisis in order to, if successful, marginally improve Washington state’s top ten recycling rate performance through a costly and cumbersome state centralization of solid waste management"

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