Three bills for rural communities pass the legislature, signed by governor

Yahoo

23-04-2025

Apr. 23—OLYMPIA — Gov. Bob Ferguson signed 35 bills into law Monday, including three pieces of legislation sponsored by Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake. Dent's bills include topics such as large animal veterinarian care, the pesticide task force and allowing small regional airports to use real estate excise tax funds.
"I feel good about what I've been able to accomplish," Dent said. "I've been able to do some things that are in my area of expertise, in my wheelhouse, so to speak, and move those bills through the legislature."
Dent said, despite three bills being signed into law, there are still a handful he is fighting for during the final week of the 2025 legislative session.
One bill Dent mentioned is House Bill 1912, which would add an exemption from taxes under the Climate Commitment Act for fuels used for agricultural purposes. The bill has passed both chambers and is waiting for consideration from the House Speaker, Senate President and Governor as of Tuesday.
The other is House Bill 1539, which would address wildfire protection and mitigation. The bill passed the legislature and was delivered to the governor on Tuesday for consideration.
"There's been some wins here this year, there have also been some bills that are not so much, but that part is pretty normal," Dent said. "For every session, you hopefully always have a few wins and there's always some things you didn't (get passed). I will just come back again next year. That's what you do. Overall, it's probably been as positive as any session since I've been here. But we have a new administration, which gave us new people at the agencies. It's just been different and when I say different, it's been different in a good way."
Veterinarians
House Bill 1705 aims to address the shortage of large animal veterinarians in the state. The bill establishes a work group tasked with examining and providing recommendations on strategies to recruit, train, and retain large animal veterinarians. The work group will include representatives from various sectors, including agriculture, veterinary medicine, health and historically marginalized communities, Dent said.
The bill passed both chambers of the legislature unanimously.
"Veterinarians quite often are kind of a chain or a fence, a barrier, so to speak, between diseases that affect the animal world and the diseases that could affect the human world," Dent said. "We need them there to kind of act as another line of defense against some of the bad things that can happen. The bird flu is one of them. That can affect humans. We want to make sure, if we can, to have that line of defense in place."
The Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine has trained nearly 7,000 veterinarians since its founding in 1899, according to the bill summary. The WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital facility is the largest veterinary referral center in the Pacific Northwest, testing thousands of animal patients every year. Large animal services specialize in horses, foals, dairy and beef cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, camels, llamas and alpacas.
However, the field is seeing a decline in professionals specializing in large animal care, attributed to factors such as inadequate financial incentives, high student debt and the physical demands of the profession, according to the bill summary. The data collected shows that over the past 20 years, only three to four percent of veterinarians enter food-related care.
"A lot of the newer, younger vets tend to gravitate into working on dogs and cats, because, No. 1, it pays a lot better and No. 2, it's a lot easier," Dent said. "So, we are trying to come up with a plan to how do we increase that pipeline for large animal veterinarians to be able to come in, to get them interested, get them into school and get them out there helping our farmers and ranchers."
The work group's findings, due in preliminary and final reports by December 2025 and June 2026, respectively, will be part of addressing the veterinarian shortfall.
"I expected some pushback on this bill, and there was none," Dent said. "People just like the idea. They were all supportive. I worked on this for over a year, and while I wasn't necessarily totally in love with the bill, I finally decided, well, I'll drop it, at least and we'll start the conversation. I just couldn't believe how it took off like wildfire, and everybody got behind it."
Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said she was in favor of the bill because she has large animals and has said she has had challenges with finding care for them.
"I am very much in support of a large animal veterinarian study to see how we can increase the availability of large animal veterinarians," Warnick said. "My own family has horses and cows and it's sometimes very difficult in case of emergencies to find a veterinarian and even if it's not an emergency, finding someone who is willing to work on large animals is still challenging."
The bill's fiscal statement estimates around $253,500 to be spent for the implementation of the legislation between 2025 to 2027. Around $28,000 will go to the Department of Agriculture, $203,500 to WSU and $22,000 to the Department of Health.
The legislation is scheduled to take effect 90 days post-session adjournment, contingent upon budget approval.
Pesticide Application Safety Committee
House Bill 1294 proposes the extension of the Pesticide Application Safety Committee until July 1, 2035. Originally established to enhance communication and collaboration among stakeholders in pesticide application, the committee comprises legislators, agency heads from relevant departments and representatives from agricultural institutions. It monitors data collection processes relating to pesticide safety and recommends policy options aimed at improving pesticide application protocols.
"We did that so we could kind of keep track of what's going on," Dent said. "So instead of being heavy-handed, we can work with industry to find better techniques, to make sure the industry has the latest techniques, the best management practices, and whatever resources they may have, so they can operate in a safe and efficient manner. That went pretty well, and the committee has been a good committee with good people who are really engaged in doing the right thing and protecting our use of pesticides, and also the people that are around them. But it expires in 2025. The agencies, along with the industry, wanted to re-up this thing."
The bill also seeks to remove restrictions on the advisory group's ability to conduct in-person meetings, thus facilitating better interaction among its diverse members — including farmworkers, growers, health center representatives, aerial applicators and toxicologists.
The initial expiration date for the committee and advisory group was set for July 1, 2025.
"t's going to go out now to 2035, so we have a 10-year extension, which is a good thing," Dent said. "We need to keep our tools available to our agriculture producers, that they use to produce the food that we use, that we buy, that we like to eat, and also keep working with our farmworkers. We promote safety. It's about efficient and prudent and responsible use of pesticides. I'm excited that we got that one across the line. It's just going to be good, it's good for our industry, it's good for the farmworkers and it's good for the public. I don't see a downside to this bill."
This measure garnered bipartisan support, passing the House with a vote of 97-0 and the Senate with a vote of 49-0.
Warnick said she was in support of the renewal of the committee because she has been serving on it and she said they are making good progress.
"It's something that we need to continue," Warnick said. "The work that has been started by the various stakeholders is important for the safety and future of agriculture in Washington."
Although the bill contains an emergency clause for an effective date of July 1, 2025, it will be null and void unless adequately funded in the budget.
The bill has a proposed expense of around $618,400 in 2025 to 2027. In 2027-29, the expenses are around $674,400 and in 2029-2031, the cost is about $673,000. The funds go to the Department of Health, University of Washington, Washington State University and the Department of Agriculture.
Airports
House Bill 1650 proposes an amendment to allow local real estate excise tax revenues to be utilized for airport capital projects, specifically benefiting small airports. The core objective of HB 1650 is to include small airports in the definition of "capital projects" eligible for funding through local REET, according to Dent.
Traditionally, REET funds have been limited to public works projects such as roads, parks, and government facilities, leaving funding for airports limited and often unviable, according to the bill report. Nonetheless, the bill recognizes that small airports, as defined by their inclusion in the Washington aviation system plan and the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, are critical to local economies and public safety, Dent said.
"If the governing authority of a community that had an airport wanted to spend some money on an airport, then they could make a choice to do this," Dent said. "We're not telling them they have to do that. It's just another option for them."
The economic significance of regional airports is highlighted in public testimony, citing the Tacoma Narrows Airport's contribution of approximately $160 million annually to Washington's economy.
Additionally, these airports serve multiple functions, including facilitating business travel, educational programs for aviation students, and emergency services. Currently, small airports face logistical challenges, particularly concerning deferred maintenance, inadequate staffing and difficulties in securing matching funds for federal grants, which complicates their operational capacities, according to the bill report.
There is no anticipated expenditure on the bill. Furthermore, the bill does not impose additional taxes but rather grants local governments the flexibility to allocate existing revenues from REET for airport projects if they opt to do so.
"It's a pretty simple bill, but there were some counties that wanted it, and we worked hard to move that bill," Dent said. "It was because sometimes it's difficult for people to truly understand that it's that simple. All we did was add an option to where you could spend the money, but it will help, because we don't have enough funding for our airports."