Testifiers praise CCA and floodplain investments, urge clarity on remedial action language
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Summary
Tribal leaders, conservation groups and ports praised Climate Commitment Act-funded community forest and floodplain programs in the House capital budget but urged clarifying budget language so remedial action grants and reappropriations are not restricted.
Environmental and resource stakeholders welcomed significant Climate Commitment Act (CCA) investments in the House substitute to HB 2295 while urging careful drafting of budget language and sustained funding for proven programs.
Multiple speakers — including representatives of the Nisqually Tribe, Green Diamond, The Nature Conservancy and the Washington Association of Land Trusts — praised $9,370,000 for community forest grants and highlighted a partnership returning roughly 388 acres to the Skokomish Tribe. Speakers framed that return as culturally meaningful and also as an example of natural climate solutions and carbon sequestration funded through CCA appropriations.
Conservation groups and floodplain practitioners urged maintaining or restoring a $37,000,000 Floodplains by Design allocation, citing December floods that highlighted the value of completed projects. Witnesses said FBD projects increased flood storage, protected homes and bolstered watershed resilience.
Ports and cleanup stakeholders raised a related procedural concern: Port of Tacoma and the Washington Public Ports Association asked the House to adopt Senate language clarifying that section 8,018 (as drafted in last year’s budget) should not be interpreted to restrict remedial action grants administered by the Department of Ecology, and asked the House to consider the Senate’s Section 8,005 language to avoid slowing long-term cleanup projects that typically require reappropriations.
University and K‑12 representatives also spoke to decarbonization funding: University of Washington and WSU speakers supported investments for power-plant decarbonization and minor works to address deferred maintenance and energy projects.
Next steps: Advocates urged the committee to keep CCA investments targeted to new climate projects and to adopt clarifying language so remediation and long-term cleanup projects are not inadvertently constrained.