As we enter the 5th week of the Legislative session we're tracking a few bills to take action on before Monday afternoon hearings as well as some vital funding that is needed to protect our incredible wildlife in Washington state.
1) Tell your Legislators to Support funding of SWAP, the State Wildlife Action Plan.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has an excellent State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) that helps conserves fish, wildlife and their habitats. This plan takes a much-needed proactive approach to protecting wildlife by focusing statewide conservation actions towards conserving species and habitats before they become rare and listed as endangered species. Unfortunately, WDFW has only 3 percent of the budget needed to implement this vital wildlife plan.
Without adequate funding, WDFW won't be able to adequately protect Washington's incredible wildlife. We encourage you to reach out to your legislators and encourage them to provide WDFW with the full $47.6 million of its Restoring Washington’s Biodiversity request. The button below directs you to one of our partners, Conservation Northwest, who has a drafted an easy email you can sign onto (we encourage you to personalize it!).
2) SHB 1181– Planning for a Climate-Friendly Future
This Growth Management Act (GMA) climate bill will require local governments to incorporate climate-resiliency measures and reduce emissions equitably in their long-term plans. While Okanogan County is currently too small of a county to plan under the GMA, at its current rate of growth it won't be long before it is planning under the GMA (pop. threshold of 50,000). This is a priority bill of the Environmental Priorities Coalition which MVCCAF is a part of.
Sign in Pro before the public hearing on Monday, 2/6 at 4p.m.
3) SHB 1170-Improving climate resilience through updates to the state's integrated climate response strategy.
This bill updates statewide, interagency strategy for addressing climate risks. It strengthens requirements for agencies to consider climate impacts in funding and activities, and improves cross-agency coordination of state response to federal climate resilience funding opportunities.
Sign in Pro before the public hearing on Monday, 2/6 at 4p.m.
4) SHB 1085-Reducing plastic pollution
This bill will help to reduce plastic pollution by requiring refill fountains in new construction, so that people can easily refill their drinking water bottles. It will also phaseout hotel plastic-packaged mini-toiletries and the use of foam-filled floats that are used for docks. Each action taken to reduce plastic, reduces the amount of plastic that will find its way into our landfills, rivers and oceans.
Sign in Pro before the public hearing on Monday, 2/6 at 4p.m.