The curtain goes up in Olympia
Toxics in cosmetics, housing, weed, and a bid to whack Eyman's advisory votes
The 2023 Washington Legislature kicks off today. We’re going to skip the community-theater pomp and circumstance in favor of the real action: Which bills get heard early.
Nominally first1 out of the chute is House Bill 1047, which gets a hearing in House Environment & Energy this afternoon. The bill by newly minted Rep. Sharlett Mena would restrict the manufacture, sale, and distribution of cosmetics containing any of nine nasty-sounding chemicals. Mena was elected in Pierce County’s 29th District last year after the retirement of longtime Rep. Steve Kirby. She’s worked for the Department of Ecology and Gov. Jay Inslee, so she knows her way around the building.
She’s also the prime sponsor of House Bill 1048, which would make it easier to bring challenges under the Washington Voting Rights Act. That measure gets a hearing in State Government & Tribal Relations on Friday. New lawmakers frequently get preferential treatment on bills to help solidify their political positions back home. Mena doesn’t need much help there; she got more than 58 percent of the vote in the safely Democratic 29th.
Some other notable action coming up this week:
