The 2024 legislative session is upon us!
Below is our bill tracker so you can quickly see where these bills are and what actions you can take to support them. We will keep this updated with opportunities to sign in Pro, submit testimony, and other ways to engage in this year's legislative session. Throughout session, you can always call the Legislative Hotline or contact your electeds:
1. You can email or call your legislators at any time - check out District Finder to find your elected and how to contact their offices directly. Your message should be simple and concise - "Please help eliminate plastic pollution in Washington by supporting the ReWRAP Act and Extended Producer Responsibility in Washington during the 2024 Legislative Session."
2. Speak with your electeds in person during Plastic Free Washington Coalition's Advocacy Day in Olympia on January 15th. If you are interested in coming to Olympia to meet with your legislators, email psteelquist@surfrider.org.
3. Call the Legislative Hotline at any time during session at 1-800-562-6000 to leave a voice message for your Representative and Senator in support of HB 2049 (the ReWRAP Act) and HB 2144 (Bottle Bill)
4. Follow Surfrider Washington's social media and keep an eye on our newsletter for action alerts about other ways you can stop plastic pollution at its source.
Last year the WRAP Act failed to pass the House of Representatives, but this year we are reintroducing similar legislation thanks to our bill's sponsor and champion, Rep. Liz Berry. The Re-WRAP Act will do a number of things to reduce litter and improve recycling rates and access across the state:
What about HB 1900? HB 1900 is a bill for "Implementing strategies to achieve higher recycling rates within Washington's existing solid waste management system." While this sounds good, this bill doesn't do nearly enough to update our recycling system. As such, we are not supporting this competing bill. You can find a comparison chart of these two bills here.
ReWRAP Act resources:
Full text of HB 2049
"Improving Washington's solid waste management outcomes."
Full text of SB 6005
"Improving Washington's solid waste management outcomes."
Watch the Jan 9 House Enviro & Energy Committee Hearing
A complimentary bill to the ReWRAP Act is HB 2144, which would implement a bottle return program (also known as Deposit Return System, or DRS) in Washington similar to what they have in Oregon. Studies show that states with DRS in place have significantly higher recycling rates than those without.
Some stats from a recent report about bottle bills across the US:
Resources: