House Appropriations Committee advances scores of bills, debates interpreter costs, competency services and housing near transit

The House Appropriations Committee held an extensive meeting and executive session to consider staff briefings, amendments and final committee votes on a large set of bills covering court access, behavioral health, education funding, environmental policy and housing near transit. The committee adopted and reported a number of bills out of committee with “do pass” recommendations and debated several fiscal and policy tradeoffs.

At the opening of the executive session the committee considered substitute House Bill 1174, which updates statutory provisions relating to the court interpreter program administered by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Committee members adopted Representative Peterson’s amendment (Walker 4-38) that removed added fiscal impacts and the committee reported the bill out with a due-pass recommendation. Debate centered on access to justice and which entities should bear interpreter costs in some court-related proceedings.

The committee also spent substantial time on House Bill 1218, which revises competency evaluation and restoration services for criminal defendants. Staff described a proposed second substitute that would have required the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to establish a growth-cap program and potentially assess penalties to counties and cities that exceed baseline inpatient-competency referral caps; Representative Caldier offered an amendment (Adams 160) to strike the growth-cap and related penalties (that amendment failed), and a standard null-and-void amendment was adopted. Members debated use of carrots and sticks to incentivize local diversion and restoration services and concerns about rural capacity, workforce and potential penalties. The committee reported the bill with a due-pass recommendation.

Education bills drew lengthy fiscal discussion. Substitute House Bill 13 38 would increase the per-pupil maintenance supplies and operating costs (MSOC) allocation; committee amendments trimmed the original proposal, produced significant debate about accountability and permitted uses of MSOC funds, and the committee reported the measure to the floor with a do-pass recommendation after a close roll call. Substitute House Bill 13 57, concerning special education multipliers and pilot grants for inclusionary practices, was amended to change pilot counts, safety-net timing and accounting methodology; staff briefed a multi‑hundred‑million dollar four-year fiscal outlook for the underlying proposals, and the committee…