Substitute House Bill 1110
During the 2019 session of the Washington State Legislature, a proposal to impose a costly new fuel policy for Washington called a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) was introduced in House Bill 1110. During the 2019 session, HB 1110 was passed by the House and moved to the Senate, where it did not move out of committee.
During the 2020 legislative session, HB 1110 was introduced again and in January had a hearing in the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, after which the proposal was referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. On March 2nd, HB 1110 had a hearing in Senate Transportation where more than 300 people attended to oppose the bill. When the 2020 session adjourned, HB 1110 had not moved out of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Substitute House Bill 2957
In the final days of the 2020 regular session, the Washington State Legislature moved forward a proposal – House Bill 2957 – that would have expanded the so-called “Clean Air Rule” and given broad new authority to the Washington State Department of Ecology to impose costly new regulations on both “direct and indirect” greenhouse gas emissions sources. Any new regulations – which could have included the adoption of a costly, ineffective Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) – as well as restrictions on the use of natural gas and other fossil fuels would not have required legislative approval or oversight. An independent study estimates the cost of such regulations could be up to $6.8 billion on top of the cost of an LCFS. HB 2957 contained no cost containment provisions.
HB 2957 was independent from House Bill 1110 described above.