Bills on the bubble at the last big cutoff

Plus a vote to ban child marriage, some budgetary fashion and a damning report on public access to government information

Monday marks the deadline for bills passed by the House or Senate to pass the fiscal committee in the opposite chamber. It’s traditionally a day of mourning — or celebration — for bold ideas that die. Here are a few that were still hanging in the balance as we wrote this: 

Tenants vs landlords

If you’re looking for Most Vulnerable Bill, House Bill 2114 from Rep. Emily Alvarado, D-Seattle, might not still be around by the time you get to reading this. That dicey bid to cap rent and fees at 7% a year that we’ve written about this session is facing steep opposition from a coalition of builders, Realtors, and a cohort of landlords who say that cap is too damn low.

Against expectations, it did pass the House this year, but progressive Senate Democrats had to play a tough three-dimensional chess game to even get a second hearing after the companion bill went up in smoke in Senate Housing. The House version bypassed the policy panel and went straight to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.