Othello preps for 2024 legislative session

Nov. 16—OTHELLO — Othello's state legislature lobbyist, Holly Sanabria of Gordon Thomas Honeywell Government Relations, gave a presentation at Monday's regular Othello City Council meeting on preparing the city for the 2024 legislative session.

"I'll begin by providing a general overview of what to expect for the 2024 session, then review the city's legislative priority for this session and I'll wrap up by talking about next steps. The 2024 session will be a short 60-day session and the second year of the biennium."

The 2024 session begins Jan. 8, Sanabria said.

"The legislature's primary objective during a short session is to adopt supplemental operating capital and transportation budgets. And supplemental budgets are designed to make really minute changes to the biennial budgets, or what the legislature adopted the previous year, and account for changes in revenue projections and program or project costs," she said. "The most recent operating budget forecast shows the state has roughly $900 million more than what was anticipated when the budget was adopted. Meanwhile, the transportation, budget and project acts around the state are continuing to come in higher than they were estimated and received funding for in the current budget. So legislators will need to determine how to manage these costs."

Every bill that was introduced in 2023 that did not pass will be automatically reintroduced, Sanabria said, and legislators can also introduce new bills.

"So our ask this session is centered around the water supply project that the city has been working on for several years now," Sanabria said. "We have received significant state investment for Othello's water supply goals, and we continue to remain hyper-focused on it. At the state legislative level, it is what Othello is known for and there is support for this work across the aisle. So, it puts the city in a great position to continue pushing for partnerships for this major investment.

The requested funds will go towards designing a water treatment plant, Sanabria said.

"As you all know, we received funding last session for the pre-design phase of this project, as well as funding to support the Lions Park project," she said. "So the next goal is to demonstrate to the state that this funding for those projects will be rolled out and completed on time and on schedule."

The city of Othello is currently in the process of installing playground equipment at Lions Park using its funds from the state.

"Because we are approaching a supplemental budget year, there is less funding to go after in comparison to the very successful session we just had receiving 1 million in total investment between the two projects," Sanabria said. "So the city's request of $400,000 to go towards the design phase of the water treatment plan is definitely a reasonable request for this session."

Sanabria said this will be the final session Jay Inslee will serve as Washington's governor. Sanabria said he has taken an interest in Othello's efforts towards a sustainable water source, and the new governor will have to be introduced to those efforts.

"The city took the opportunity to meet with the governor's water policy staff and briefed them on this project, where we're at and the $400,000 requests that we plan to make. The city was also able to submit a formal request for that funding through the governor's office. And that means that the city's project will be on the list of consideration as the governor develops his budget proposals for 2024. If the city's project is included in the Governor's proposal, it will definitely give us a leg up as we pursue it during the legislative session."

Finally, Sanabria commented on the process as a whole.

"We are making great strides and will continue to advocate in the months leading up to session and during session for the inclusion of this project within the state's final budget."

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.