Big 3 Briefing, Week 6 - Some Bills Will Die

Rainy Day Recess, Episode 16

See our Show Notes

[00:00:00] Christie Robertson: Welcome to Rainy Day Recess, where we study Seattle Public Schools and the forces that influence our district out in the world. This is Part 6 of a series we're calling “Big 3 Briefing”, in which we're tracking bills in our state legislature related to the Big 3 funding priorities for public education. 

We're tracking this small set of bills partially as a way to give a broader audience an introduction to how the legislative process works, by following them every step of their way along their journey.  

So let's introduce ourselves. I'm Christie Robertson, and my co-host for the series is Megan Larkin, who also has two kids in Seattle Public Schools and some very relevant background to this topic.

[00:00:44] Megan Larkin: Yes. Hi, I'm Megan. I have a Master's in Education Leadership and Policy Studies and used to work in that field. I'm also the Regional Advocacy-Co Chair for Washington State PTA focusing on Seattle. But I don't speak for any of those organizations. I'm just here as a Big 3 fan.  

As a reminder for people, the Big 3 funding priorities for public schools this session are: special education, pupil transportation, and MSOC, which stands for Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs.

[00:01:21] Christie Robertson: That's right.

[00:01:22] Megan Larkin: So this week is all about the first cutoff on the six Big 3 bills.

[00:01:30] Christie Robertson: At a very high level, I like to remind myself that to become a law, every bill needs to get through a policy committee, a fiscal committee, and the floor in its house of origin – the House or the Senate. Then the bill crosses over to the other body and it needs to go through the same cycle all over again on the other side.

[00:01:50] Megan Larkin: Yes, same hoops, just a more compressed timeline. 

We're in the first half of the process, where bills need to make it to the crossover. And we're about to hit the first real cutoff for House of Origin. The policy cutoff is Friday, February 21st, which means that any bill in a policy committee (like the Education Committee is the one that we usually see), it has to be out of there by February 21st or it doesn't move on.

[00:02:24] Christie Robertson: The theme for this week is “Some Bills Will Die”. Because that's what the cutoff actually means, is that any bill that has not been passed out of the policy committee by February 21st is dead for this year. 

[00:02:39] Megan Larkin: Though there are a few caveats to that. Because at the end of the day, if there are enough votes, the legislature can set aside virtually any rule that they want to. Because it is the legislature itself that set these cutoff dates. 

[00:02:56] Christie Robertson: Like, are you saying they could just say, "even though it's past the cutoff for the Education Committee, we're just going to hear it anyway?" I've never seen them do that.

[00:03:04] Megan Larkin: I have never seen them do that either. I'm not sure of the process for policy committees, but I know for bills that are considered Necessary To Implement the Budget (NTIB), they are exempt from some of the cutoffs. 

And nothing is really dead until the end of the session. And even then, it could come back during the short session in 2026. 

Or parts of the bill could be mixed into other bills. We saw that with the special education bills in the Senate. There were aspects of SB 5307 that we really liked that they ended up mixing in to the Pedersen/Braun bill, SB 5263. So even though SB 5307 is very unlikely to make it out of committee, parts of it still live on in spirit. 

[00:04:04] Christie Robertson: Is there any chance that any of our bills won't make it past the policy cutoff, do you think, Megan?

[00:04:14] Megan Larkin: The good news is that all of the Big 3 bills are in fiscal committees right now. And the fiscal committee cutoff is next Friday, February the 28th.

[00:04:24] Christie Robertson: Within the fiscal committees, the bills need to have a hearing and then be voted out of the committee. And how are our six bills doing in terms of getting through those two hoops in fiscal?

[00:04:37] Megan Larkin: None are scheduled for any action this week. We're recording this on February the 18th.

[00:04:46] Christie Robertson: So the scheduling has all been done for this week.

[00:04:49] Megan Larkin: Yes, I believe so.

[00:04:51] Christie Robertson: And we'll get the schedule for next week, like around Thursday? 

[00:04:54] Megan Larkin: I believe so, yeah. So what we're hoping is that the Big 3 Senate bills get scheduled for an executive session in Ways & Means. 

And we are looking for the House transportation bill to get its first hearing. And we're looking for the House special education bills and MSOC bill to get executive action.

[00:05:23] Christie Robertson: Yep, so all that has to happen in the next week and a half. 

[00:05:25] Megan Larkin: Yes. And I feel more optimistic about the Senate Big 3 bills than I do the House ones, particularly the House transportation bill. 

However, the session is always so unpredictable. Like, there's always going to be some curveballs or some craziness. I think it's really important to keep the pressure on to get all of these bills scheduled. 

During our last episode, we talked about how it's a marathon, not a sprint. You know, we just gotta keep going. We're not going to lose interest. We're not going to be distracted. We are just going to keep the pressure on to get these Big 3 bills out of their fiscal committees. 

[00:06:08] Christie Robertson: And unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as signing in Pro when you're trying to get something scheduled for a session. It takes a little bit more direction. 

[00:06:18] Megan Larkin: Yeah. 

[00:06:19] Christie Robertson: So do you want to talk about what you do if your bill isn't scheduled and you want it to be?

[00:06:23] Megan Larkin: Yes. For example, the Senate Big 3 are in Ways & Means. And the leadership of Ways & Means are the people that make that schedule. So You can reach out to those legislators, and it's going to carry more weight if that is your legislator. 

I know a lot of folks that listen to this are in Seattle, and Noel Frame in the 36th is a vice chair on Ways & Means. If you're in the 36th, it might be a good idea to send Senator Frame an email and let her know that we want the Senate Big 3 to get executive action. 

The same principle applies for House Appropriations. Figure out who the leadership is, and ideally have their constituents reach out. But even if you don't know any constituents that are going to reach out, you can still even reach out yourself because that helps keep that pressure on. If senators can be like, “Look, I got all of these emails about this. This is a big deal to people.” That's something that they can point to when they're advocating to get a hearing or executive action on the schedule.

[00:07:41] Christie Robertson: Yeah, and I know we do have some listeners outside of Seattle. We'll include a list of the senators and representatives on the fiscal committees – Appropriations in the House and Ways & Means in the Senate. So you can check if you are one of those very special people right now who have a legislator in one of those committees 

[00:08:03] Megan Larkin: And even if your representative or senator is not in leadership, it's still worth reaching out to them too. They're probably going to have less influence, but they're not going to have no influence and it just keeps that pressure on.

Senate Big 3 Bills

[00:08:19] Christie Robertson: Okay, just a quick update on how it happened with the Senate bills since the last time we talked. In our Week 5 episode, we were asking people to sign in Pro on our Big 3 Senate bills, which had a hearing on February 11th. And we got some great numbers on those. 

[00:08:36] Megan Larkin: Yeah, really great numbers. The special education bill, SB 5263, which is the Pedersen/Braun bill, increases the special education multiplier to 1.32. It gives OSPI funding to do things like training and monitoring of inclusionary practices. And it does quarterly payments for the safety net. We had a whopping 3,058 people sign in Pro and only 20 people signed in Con, which is just a crazy level of support for that bill. 

For the Senate MSOC bill, SB 5192, which is sponsored by Senator Nobles, who's the vice chair of the Education committee... That was like the “controversial” but not really bill, because the Conservative Ladies of Washington decided that they really didn't like the MSOC bill. There was 2,685 Pros and 1,899 Cons. So thank you so much for everyone who signed in Pro on that one. 

That bill, as a refresher, would be a 10% bump in MSOC funding. We'd love to see that higher, but this keeps the conversation going. And it would add an inflationary factor, so adjustments for inflation wouldn't just be, like, whatever the legislature said they should be. It would be tied to an actual measure of inflation. 

The last of the Senate Big 3 bills was SB 5187, which is the transportation bill sponsored by Senator Wellman, the chair of the Education Committee. It got 2,678 Pros and only 593 Cons. As a refresher, that bill would... it's $400 immediately per head for McKinney Vento students, who are the homeless students, is that correct?

[00:10:37] Christie Robertson: Yes. Which districts are by federal law required to transport.

[00:10:38] Megan Larkin: Yes, so that money would be very welcome. It also instructs OSPI to create a new transportation funding formula by 2028, which is a ways off, not ideal.

[00:10:55] Christie Robertson: And what year is this, Megan? 

[00:10:58] Megan Larkin: Yes. Yeah. 2025. That's a hefty three year gap. But, again, it's about keeping that conversation going. So we still want that transportation bill to pass because then we can add in a bunch of stuff that we like. 

I guess something else to mention about the show notes, I created a one pager that summarizes the stuff that we would like to see added to all of the Big 3 bills. So if you are writing emails or maybe you had a meeting with your legislator on Focus Day or something. It might be good to include that information as a follow up. We keep talking about, “we can add in the stuff that we like.” This is letting our legislators know what that stuff is.

[00:11:51] Christie Robertson: That's great.

So, the Senate bills were all heard on February 11th. We are sitting here on February 18th. And the deadline is February 28th. And they still haven't been scheduled for exec. 

[00:12:04] Megan Larkin: Yes. 

House Big 3 Bills

[00:12:05] Christie Robertson: The House bills were heard even longer ago.

[00:12:08] Megan Larkin: Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, the special education bill was heard on January 30th. And then MSOC was February 3rd. And then transportation hasn't been heard yet at all, which is not ideal.  

[00:12:24] Christie Robertson: Do you think that means that the house transportation bill is basically dead? 

[00:12:27] Megan Larkin: I think if I had to rank the health of all of the bills, that the house transportation bill would be, like, at the bottom. But I don't think that it's time to give up on it just yet. So if you are in the 43rd, Nicole Macri's district, and haven't reached out to her yet to get that scheduled in appropriations, we will include in the show notes a template for an email to her. She's vice chair of House Appropriations, as is Mia Gregerson from the 33rd/

[00:13:02] Christie Robertson: That area includes Burien, Normandy Park, Seatac, Des Moines, and parts of Kent, Tukwila, and Renton.

[00:13:11] Megan Larkin: And I have heard that Mia Gregerson is the education go-to person on House Appropriations. So if you want to send her an email asking her to get that transportation bill scheduled, that would be great. 

And while you're sending emails to House Appropriations, you can also ask them to schedule the MSOC and special education bills for executive action.

[00:13:35] Christie Robertson: Yep, that's what needs to happen within the next week. 

[00:13:38] Megan Larkin: Yes,

[00:13:39] Christie Robertson: So that's where our bills are sitting. There's a table in the show notes tracking their progress in the house of origin. 

Focus Day

[00:13:46] Christie Robertson: And I guess the last thing we want to talk about is Focus Day.

[00:13:50] Megan Larkin: Yes, 

[00:13:51] Christie Robertson: That was yesterday as we’re recording. 

[00:13:54] Megan Larkin: It was great. I was able to come for part of it. And I know that PTA had like 280 people registered. But I know there were some people like me who did not register but came anyway. And then there were other organizations like WEA that rallied with us. So it was a significant-sized group. We were standing on the steps of the Temple of Justice (which, do not be alarmed, is not an actual...

[00:14:19] Christie Robertson: It's not religious. 

[00:14:20] Megan Larkin: Yeah.) And it's right across from the legislature. And you could hear our chant echo off that building. There were so many of us and it was so loud and it was like a very cool moment.

[00:14:34] Christie Robertson: Yeah. And there were quite a number of kids. and they were great at leading chants.

And, oh, Megan. I met with a few legislators that day and heard from Senator Valdez that he could definitely hear us in his office as we were chanting. 

[00:14:52] Megan Larkin: Oh, that's so cool. That's very satisfying. I hope they all heard us.

[00:14:56] Christie Robertson: There was also an Education committee hearing that day. Or not a hearing, it was an executive session. So a bunch of us went and sat in on that. I think it's always good for them to see people sitting there watching them in their session. 

[00:15:09] Megan Larkin: Yeah.

[00:15:10] Christie Robertson: And it happened to also be the same day that there were the 50501 protests against the federal changes. So Olympia was hopping.

[00:15:22] Megan Larkin: Yeah. It was crazy. It was really busy in a good way. 

I also heard from other folks that did legislator meetings that day, that all the legislators knew about the Big 3. Nobody even had to explain what MSOC was. There was like that degree of familiarity, which made my policy nerd heart very happy.

[00:15:44] Christie Robertson: That's right. That would not have been the case last year. 

[00:15:47] Megan Larkin: No, it definitely would not. 

[00:15:48] Christie Robertson: Yeah. Good job on the messaging.

[00:15:50] Megan Larkin: Yay, go Big 3 coalition. 

[00:15:52] Christie Robertson: And again, that was a conscious decision that a whole bunch of education advocacy orgs came to before session, to really hone in on a clear and understandable message to hammer in over and over so that legislators were really sure about what they needed to do. 

[00:16:11] Megan Larkin: Yes. And for the Big 3 Senate hearing in Ways & Means that just happened, the testimony there was very organized. It was on message, driving the point home. So even if legislators were maybe a little burned out or not paying attention because this was not necessarily their jam, they would have heard the message. Because everybody coordinated, everybody was very strategic about it. And I love that about this session. 

And I think it's so important to note that, because sometimes I talk to people about advocacy stuff, and they're like, "I'm just like, not into yelling and fighting. And it just seems so confrontational."

We did chant at the legislature to the point where we could hear echoes of ourselves, but that only happened after a lot of really thoughtful, strategic relationship building and coalition building. And then even the chants were strategically picked out ahead of time and agreed upon.

So I love the word organizing when it's applied to advocacy because I think that's what it's really about.

[00:17:24] Christie Robertson: If you're not the kind of person to be demanding, a lot of what you do is thank people when they do come through for you. It's very important to follow up and say, "thank you for pushing that through." So that kind of help is very appreciated as well. 

[00:17:39] Megan Larkin: Another thing about thanking people is if you're like, "Oh, I don't know. I don't have a lot of policy expertise. I feel nervous sending these emails." Thanking someone can just be a couple sentences. It's not that time consuming, very low stress, and it's positive, but it helps because they count the number of emails they get. So it's a way of keeping the pressure on that might like, jive better with your comfort level. 

[00:18:06] Christie Robertson: Yeah. If you don't have a lot of detailed information to share, a couple of sentences is great. It takes them a couple of seconds to read, and then they just get that little nudge of, okay, someone appreciated what I did.

[00:18:25] Christie Robertson: That's week six of the Big 3 briefing. Megan and I will be back next week to talk about the fiscal cutoff and about what comes next in this saga. 

Jasmine Pulido and I are also processing a rundown episode with school board meeting analysis and other district news, which will be in your feed after midwinter break.

[00:18:43] Megan Larkin: Exciting. I love those episodes. 

You can find show notes and transcripts at rainydayrecess.org. And please let us know what thoughts or questions you have about the legislature by emailing us at hello@rainydayrecess.org. 

[00:19:02] Christie Robertson: Stay curious, stay cozy, and join us next time on Rainy Day Recess.