1607-S2 AMH COUT LIPS 417

2SHB 1607 - H AMD TO H AMD (H-1936.1/25) 877

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 state's solid waste management system places the primary responsibility for solid waste management on county and city government. Under our current system, municipal solid waste plans are developed and adopted by locally elected officials under circumstances in which government decision making is open to the public through our public records act and open public meeting laws.

(2) Today, the legislature finds it appropriate to break that system and break trust with the public. The legislature intends to shield decision-making from the public about solid waste management by handing collection responsibilities for important waste streams like paper, plastic and glass over to a nonprofit. The decision-making of this nonprofit will not be subject to open public meeting requirements. The decision-making of this nonprofit will not be subject to the scrutiny afforded by the protections of the public records act. The identity of this nonprofit and its board will be unknown to the public at the time lawmakers grant it incredible authority and responsibilities through this legislation. The public will have no mechanism to hold this nonprofit accountable—the nonprofit and its board never face voters. This nonprofit will be able to control valuable streams of commodities, enter into exclusive contracts, and collect hundreds of millions in fees, and yet it will be immune from traditional consumer protection laws like the prohibition on anticompetitive behavior that exists in state antitrust law.

(3) The legislature intends to reverse its position on solid waste policy and traditional notions of open and transparent government, to achieve, in a best-case scenario, modest recycling rate gains over a long period of time as infrastructure is built out at an all-in cost to the public and consumers that remains unknown but are projected at hundreds of millions of dollars in the first years. The legislature intends to take this step to legalize anti-competitive conduct and anti-transparent governance of solid waste without first conducting a county-by-county needs assessment even though assessing costs before proceeding further was the policy option that had unanimous support in the environment and energy committee. Therefore, the legislature overrides these long-held notions of consumer protection, cost-benefit analysis, transparency and open government"

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