Senate adopts a package of House bills on appraisals, wildfire aviation, pennies and marine rules

The State Senate on Friday advanced and passed multiple House bills, moving a package of measures that lawmakers said would streamline transactions, make wildfire aviation funding permanent, provide guidance to small businesses on cash transactions, align marine safety rules with practice, and reduce certain reporting burdens.

Senator Cortez, who moved adoption of a committee striking amendment and later to suspend the rules to advance House Bill 2624 to final passage, said the bill is intended to speed purchases by entities acting for public purposes. "A lot of times tribes, nonprofit nature conservancies ... when they look to purchase a piece of property, they like to move on it relatively quickly," Cortez said, adding the measure would exempt those buyers from having to obtain an appraisal immediately prior to closing so they can act swiftly. The Senate adopted the committee amendment and later passed the bill as amended; the secretary reported 30 ayes, 18 nays and one absent, and the presiding officer declared the bill passed.

The Senate also passed House Bill 2104 to make aviation assurance funding for wildfire response permanent. Senator Short urged support, saying the aviation resources provided to local fire districts last year "worked wonderfully" and were an important asset in fighting wildfire. The secretary reported 47 ayes and two excused on final passage.

On cash transactions, the Senate considered substitute House Bill 2334 to allow businesses discretion in rounding cash transactions to eliminate pennies when exact change is not available. Senator Grama said the measure is permissive and is intended to give clarity and predictability to small businesses such as corner stores. An amendment from Senator McEwen clarifying that customers who have exact change may still pay exact amounts was adopted. The substitute bill passed as amended; the roll showed the bill declared passed with 45 ayes, two nays and two excused reported in the roll call.

House Bill 2436, which clarifies statutory language about horsepower requirements for tugboats towing oil tankers and aligns statute with current practices recommended by the Department of Ecology and the Puget Sound pilots, was advanced and passed. Senator Lovellette described it as a technical fix "to comport current practices with what they're doing," and the bill was adopted with the secretary reporting 46 ayes, one nay and two excused.

Finally, engrossed House Bill 2575, described by Senator Shoemake as a government-efficiency bill that reduces certain reporting requirements under environmental laws, passed on final reading. Shoemake said the change would save money in state agencies and utilities that could be redirected to low-income energy assistance; the secretary reported the constitutional majority for passage.

Procedural motions to excuse members (including Senators Jeff Wilson and Kaufman) were granted during the session. Senator Richeli moved and the Senate agreed to adjourn until 9 a.m. Friday, March 6 (the 54th legislative day).

The session record included roll-call tallies read by the secretary for each final passage. Where precise statutory citations or chapter numbers in the spoken record were unclear in the transcript, the article uses the bill numbers as read on the floor and notes when statutory text references were not fully specified in the transcript.