Three bills proposed by Rep Alicia Rule (42nd LD Pos. 1) were signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee during the 2022 regular legislative session.
A description of the three bills passed into law, along with a link to their respective Washington Legistalture bill information pages and a copy of the bill as passed into law, can be found below. All three bills were sponsored by Rep. Sharon Shewmake (40th LD Pos. 1), address
HB 2051 – Required the Washington State Conservation Commission to develop a short-term disaster recovery financial assistance program for farmers and ranchers with a requirement to initially address the damage in Whatcom County caused by the November floods. This bill was signed into law on March 31st, 2022.
HB 1664 – Significantly increases the allocation for school nurses, counselors, and psychologists over the course of the next three years. The bill was developed in response to the devastating toll the pandemic has taken on youth. A U.S. Surgeon General’s report released in early December detailed how children’s mental health has been declining for years and the pandemic has only exacerbated the issue. The report states that emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose 51% for adolescent girls and 4% for boys in early 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019. This bill was signed into law on March 23rd, 2022, and became effective on June 9th, 2022.
HB 2078 – Directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to create a program that will award grants to support schools in offering outdoor learning, requires the OSPI to give priority to schools that have been underserved in science education, and encourages the program to work with education stakeholders to develop principles for outdoor education. This bill was signed into law on March 23rd, 2022, and became effective on June 9th, 2022.