Senate Bill 5107, Senate Bill 5107: Defining prevailing wages for residential construction.

Passed the Senate on March 13, 2013 by a vote of 26-23.

The bill provides that a distinct and separate prevailing wage must be calculated and paid to workers employed in residential construction for public works. It also changes the definition of residential construction to include incidental items such as site work, parking areas, utilities, and streets and sidewalks. The intent of the bill is to clarify how wages are to be paid when both commercial and residential construction is involved in a project, such as low income housing which

might also have commercial building space.

House Bill 1612, Substitute House Bill 1612: Creating a firearms offender registry. Passed the House on March 12, 2013 by a vote of 85-10.

This act requires the Washington State Patrol to establish and maintain a central registry for firearm offenders. It is up to the court to decide whether a person convicted of a firearms offense must register, and the registry is for law enforcement use only, i.e. it is not public. It is a

misdemeanor to fail to register when required.

House Bill 1840, Substitute House Bill 1840: Prohibiting firearms possession by persons subject to restraining, no-contact, or protection orders. Passed the House on March

12, 2013 by a vote of 61-37.

This bill prohibits possession of a firearm by a person subject to certain protection, no-contact, and restraining orders, and requires the person to surrender firearms, dangerous weapons, and the person’s concealed pistol license while the order is in place. The restrictions only apply when the order was issued after notice and an opportunity by the person to participate. The order must also include a finding that the restrained person is a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner or an intimate partner’s child. The bill also includes sexual assault protection orders on the list of orders qualifying for weapons surrender.

House Bill 1947, Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1947: Funding the operations of the Washington Health Care Exchange. Passed the House on March 11, 2013 by a vote of

69-29.

The Washington Health Care Exchange was established as a consequence of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA to be a clearinghouse for the purchase of health insurance by individuals or employers. The bill provides that, beginning January 1, 2014, the Exchange may impose an assessment on health and dental plans sold through the Exchange to fund its operations in the following calendar year. The Exchange may only impose the assessment if the expected insurance premium taxes and other funds, such as federal grants, deposited in the Health Care Exchange Account are insufficient to fund operations in the following calendar year at the level appropriated by

the Legislature.

Senate Bill 5802, Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5802: Developing recommendations for meeting greenhouse gas emission targets. Passed the Senate on March 13.

2013 by a vote of 37-12.

The bill creates the Legislative and Executive Work Group that will commission consultants to prepare a report evaluating different approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The evaluation must include a review of comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction programs implemented in other states, regions and countries. It must analyze Washington’s policies to stabilize or reduce GHG emissions that will contribute to meeting the GHG emission reduction targets, including: renewable fuels standard; energy codes adopted by the state building code council; emission performance standards; appliance standards; energy efficiency programs for public buildings conversion of public vehicles to clean fuels; and public purchasing requirements of vehicles that use clean fuels.