Washington Bikes update from Olympia

Great news! The “Safety Stop” bill and Washington Bikes’ other priority legislation to make biking safe, inviting, and intuitive are all moving forward. Next, committee hearings continue in opposite House and Senate chambers.

The 38th day of the 60-day legislative session marked an important deadline: House of Origin cut-off — when bills have to move out of their house of origin to continue along in the legislative process. This upcoming week, the state Legislature’s focus will shift to the budgeting process. We expect to see the supplemental operating, capital, and transportation budgets released early next week — when it will be critical to defend bike and pedestrian safety funding from potential cuts due to I-976.

Washington Bikes is happy to report solid progress for our priority legislation along with bills we are supporting in the 2020 short session in Olympia. While we’ve been busy working to advance key policies, we’ve also been working to protect and grow important investments in Washington’s transportation budget, specifically in Safe Routes to School and bike and pedestrian funding. Read on below to see the current status of important bills. 

SB 6208: Allowing people who bike the option to treat a stop sign as a yield, known as “the Safety Stop.” 

• SB 6208 (Sen. Billig, 3rd LD – Spokane) passed out of the state Senate with a vote of 44-1. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation committee for further consideration.

HB 2461: Adding health as a Washington State Department of Transportation policy goal. This bill aims to improve the health of Washington’s residents by considering health implications and encouraging active transportation when designing, building, and maintaining Washington’s transportation system.

• HB 2461 (Rep. Riccelli, 3rd LD – Spokane) passed out of the state House with a vote of 57-41.

HB 2587: Establishing a program for the designation of state scenic bikeways. This bill is modeled after Oregon’s scenic bikeways program.

• HB 2587 (Rep. Ramel, 40th LD) passed out of the state House with a vote of 96-1. The bill has been referred to the Senate Transportation committee for further consideration.

HB 2197: Establishing an exception to the requirement that vehicle license plates be visible at all times for vehicles using certain cargo carrying devices (allowing temporary obstruction of a car license plate for a bike rack, trailor, etc)

• HB 2197 (Rep. Thai, 41st LD – Bellevue) passed out of the state House with a vote of 96-2. The bill has been referred to the Senate Transportation committee for further consideration.

SB 6493: A technical fix bill for the legislation that created the Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council.

• SB 6492 (Sen. Liias, 21st LD – Mukilteo) passed out of the state Senate with a vote of 44-0. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation committee for further consideration.

HB 2684: Applies the rules for traffic control signals that apply to circular signal indicators when they are green, yellow, and red to traffic control signals like bicycle shaped traffic signals.

• HB 2684 (Rep. Shewmake, 42nd LD – Bellingham) passed out of the state House with a vote of 66-30. The bill has been referred to the Senate Transportation committee for further consideration.