EV chargers, artificial intelligence, recycling and plastics, student financial aid



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Washingtonians will soon plug into 5,000 new EV chargers
Gov. Jay Inslee talks about the clean air benefits of electric vehicles during a Feb. 1 press conference

Gov. Jay Inslee talks about the clean air benefits of electric vehicles during a Feb. 1 press conference announcing locations of 5,000 new EV chargers.

On Thursday, the state Department of Commerce announced funding awards that will install nearly 5,000 new EV chargers at over 560 charging locations statewide, including 271 fast-chargers and 4,710 Level-2 chargers.

A total of $85 million in grants was awarded based on a competitive scoring system with a focus on projects in areas with few existing chargers or high levels of air pollution, projects built or maintained with union labor, and other standards.

?We?re not just charging our cars. We?re charging our economy,? said Gov. Jay Inslee. ?We?re charging job creation, because just this project will create over 79,000 person-days of work for electricians, masons, and others to get this done.?

?The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has been advocating for the advantages of electric vehicles for a decade now,? said Matthew Hepner, executive director of the Certified Electricians of Washington. ?To see this state funding come to fruition is a goal realized? These jobs are a lifeline, both for our members and the environment.?

The Climate Commitment Act chipped in $21 million of the total to serve Tribal communities and others already suffering from the effects of pollution. Some residents of Spokane County, for example, live for 2.5 years less than the average Washingtonian due to wildfire smoke and pollution exposures. The CCA commits at least 40% of its resources towards addressing air quality in these distressed communities, and installing EV chargers to help folks drive cleaner cars is a start.

?We are working on educating disadvantaged communities about environmental justice,? said Chaune Fitzgerald, director of Women for Wisdom Tri-Cities. ?We?re making sure they will not be left out, because there will be a time where they won?t be focused just on day-to-day issues, but on the future.?

*More information:*


* WA announces $85M to help build thousands of EV chargers [ [link removed] ] (The Seattle Times)
* Thursday?s press conference [ [link removed] ] (TVW)

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AI presents opportunities, challenges ? Inslee orders agencies to investigate

Gov. Jay Inslee?s latest executive order tasks state agencies to explore AI, embrace opportunities, and plan for challenges.

Gov. Jay Inslee?s latest executive order tasks state agencies to explore AI, embrace opportunities, and plan for challenges.

Generative artificial intelligence ? an emergent technology that can create novel text, images and other content ? has the potential to change the world. It also presents ethical concerns. On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order to develop guidelines for how the state might adopt the technology. The ultimate goal is to enable government agencies to use AI to increase the equitable, timely delivery of services while maintaining its ethical and transparent use.

Under Inslee?s order, WaTech will work with cabinet agencies to consider applications of generative AI to improve state operations. WaTech would also develop initial guidelines for state procurement and deployment of the technology.

?This executive order lays out a year-long process for agencies working together to assess the feasibility, benefits and challenges of integrating this technology into agency operations and services,? Inslee said. ?It?s our duty to the public to be thorough and thoughtful in how we adopt these powerful new tools.?

The order also requires assessment of the technology?s potential impact on the state workforce. Agencies will strategize to mitigate those impacts and train workers to use promising technologies to enhance their work.

Washington?s executive order is closely aligned with California?s in that it encourages agency proactivity and emphasizes equity. Washington is now the 10th state to have issued an executive order around AI.

*Read more on Gov. Jay Inslee?s Medium* [ [link removed] ]

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?ReWRAP Act? promises to rein in plastics, boost recycling
Plastics from packaging comprise a quickly-growing proportion of landfilled waste

Plastics from packaging comprise a quickly-growing proportion of landfilled waste at King County?s Factoria Recycling & Transfer Station and statewide. A new bill proposes to reign in plastics and boost recycling statewide.

Packaging isn?t the same as it used to be, according King County?s Adrian Tan. Transfer centers like the Factoria Recycling & Transfer Station in Bellevue used to process a lot more boxes and cans, and a lot less plastic. Nowadays, everything you buy is shrouded in plastic. Washington needs a new way to deal with it all.

?About 70% of the stuff dumped here is sent to landfills ? but it shouldn?t be. Most of could have been avoided, donated, or collected,? said Tan [ [link removed] ] during a visit to the station by Gov. Jay Inslee. ?There?s a lot of stuff going to landfills that shouldn?t go there.?

A 2017 Ecology study [ [link removed] ] found that Washingtonians generated 410,300 tons of plastic packaging waste: the equivalent of roughly 112 pounds per person per year. Instead of being recycled, nearly all of it ends up being landfilled or worse. State Department of Ecology crews collected more than 5.4 million pounds [ [link removed] ] of litter statewide in 2022. That litter breaks down and tiny microplastic particles go on to contaminate local beaches [ [link removed] ] and waterways [ [link removed] ], threatening marine life.

Rep. Liz Berry is helping lead on legislation [ [link removed] ] this session that would bring Washington?s recycling system into the 21st century. The ?ReWRAP Act? would expand curbside recycling services to as many as 1.3 million Washingtonians currently without. And it would motivate extended producer responsibility, forming a coalition of private-sector packagers and manufacturers to modernize practices and material choices to improve recovery rates. In total, the bill would boost the state?s recycling rate from 40% to at least 60%.

?This bill will allow for 542,000 additional households in Washington to receive curbside recycling collection. Serving these additional households will require more drivers, creating additional jobs for drivers to transport materials,? testified Matthew Hepner [ [link removed] ], executive director of the Certified Electricians of Washington. ?Overall, this bill is estimated to create 650 additional direct jobs and 1,000 indirect induced jobs.?

Improving recycling rates and manufacturing practices would slow down buildup at landfills, which are ?explosive? sources [ [link removed] ] of methane emissions. It would reduce litter and environmental contamination. It would make Washington state a healthier and cleaner state.

?I don?t want to live in a world where there are islands of garbage in the ocean, plastic littering streets and green spaces and our campus, or microplastics in our bloodstreams,? wrote University of Washington student Kaleigh McGarry in a letter in favor of the act to the editor of her campus paper.

Read More: Make companies responsible for the waste they produce in WA [ [link removed] ] (Op-Ed, The Seattle Times)

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Legislative session ? week 4 in review

The deadline for legislators to pass bills out of policy committees arrived Wednesday. Fiscal committees have until Monday to pass bills, while major budget-related bills will continue to be up for consideration throughout the remaining weeks. ?

Among the bills continuing forward is a fentanyl education bill known as the Lucas Petty Act. Petty was a 16-year-old student who smoked a marijuana joint laced with fentanyl, killing him in his childhood bedroom. Just this week, another sixteen-year-old in Gig Harbor [ [link removed] ] died under similar circumstances. Petty?s mother testified in favor [ [link removed] ] of the act, saying, ?The DEA has pointed out that they?ve seen fentanyl laced in almost all street drugs, including vapes.? SB 5923 [ [link removed] ] sponsored by Mari Leavitt and companion bill HB 1956 [ [link removed] ] sponsored by Sen. Lisa Wellman await fiscal committee action.

?Passing SB 5923 means giving schools, communities, and families essential tools to combat opioid and fentanyl use. I urge your support: it?s not just an educational measure, it?s a life-saver,? said Mercer Island Mayor Salim Nice [ [link removed] ] during Wednesday?s hearing in Senate Ways & Means. The Senate this week passed a bill to require all public schools to carry naloxone [ [link removed] ] to reverse overdoses, used 42 times [ [link removed] ] inside Washington schools during the 2022-23 school year.

The Oil Industry Accountability Act [ [link removed] ] (SB 6052) requested by Gov. Jay Inslee to lift the veil on gasoline pricing mechanics passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy, and Technology on Tuesday. ?We should have the ability to see what drives (fuel costs) and how that impacts us,? said prime sponsor Sen. Joe Nguyen [ [link removed] ] before casting his vote.

Proposals to deploy speed cameras are cruising along. Legislation sponsored by Rep. Jake Fey [ [link removed] ] and Sen. Curtis King [ [link removed] ] would continue WSDOT?s work zone camera [ [link removed] ] program begun last year. Another proposal supported by Sen. Marko Liias [ [link removed] ] and Rep. Brandy Donaghy [ [link removed] ] would permit local municipalities to deploy cameras along state highways and also city streets. And finally, Rep. Andrew Barkis introduced a bill to establish a pilot program to explore the use of automated highway cameras [ [link removed] ].? This was first proposed by the governor in his transportation budget.? The last two years have been the deadliest on Washington roadways [ [link removed] ] since 1990; automated speed cameras are proven to reduce speeding and save lives.

*Read more:*


* TVW Legislative Review episodes (Monday [ [link removed] ], Tuesday [ [link removed] ], Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (airs 8:00 p.m. at TVW.org)
* What bills are dead, alive after WA Legislature?s first cutoff [ [link removed] ] (The Seattle Times)

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News you might have missed:

WA ranks #1 in need-based student aid

The Washington College Grant (WA Grant) [ [link removed] ] is the nation?s most generous program for student aid towards college or career training, a claim backed by annual survey data released by the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) this week. Expanding access to college and career training has been a significant priority for legislators and the governor during recent years.

Reproductive Freedom Alliance urges Supreme Court to protect mifepristone

The safe and common abortion medication mifepristone has been under fire since a federal judge ruled to halt distribution of the drug last year. This week, the Reproductive Freedom Alliance [ [link removed] ] filed an Amicus Brief with the United States Supreme Court, arguing that an embargo of the drug would be harmful to women. "While we confront an anti-choice Supreme Court and anti-choice Congress, states remain on the frontlines of protecting access to abortion care," said Gov. Jay Inslee. The Reproductive Freedom Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of 22 governors, including Inslee.

Commerce awards grants towards infrastructure supporting new housing

The state Department of Commerce Tuesday announced a total of $47 million in grants awarded in support of 43 sewer, water, and stormwater construction projects across the state. The infrastructure will support construction of more than 3,000 affordable housing units. Since 2021, and including today?s awards, Commerce has invested more than $88 million in Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program funding, supporting the creation of over 7,800 affordable housing units.




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