{"id":2855,"date":"2025-01-31T15:13:51","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T22:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/?p=2855"},"modified":"2025-02-06T15:14:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T22:14:42","slug":"welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends and Neighbors,<\/p>\n

The 2025 legislative session is underway, and I am back in Olympia for the 105-day session.<\/p>\n

I have a new role, chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee or \u201cENET\u201d in Legislature-speak. My number one goal for ENET is to \u201ckeep the lights on.\u201d Basically, making sure we are taking the steps needed to green our electricity grid while preserving your access to affordable energy. In the past, utilities have been able to plan for relatively stable demand for electricity, but that isn\u2019t true anymore thanks to the rise of data centers and AI, reindustrialization and the electrification of things like heating and transportation. The goal is generating, transmitting, and supplying carbon-free energy that will grow our economy and produce green jobs.<\/p>\n

Thanks to major bills like the Climate Commitment Act<\/a> and the Clean Energy Transformation Act<\/a> we have a sketch of what this green future looks like, but it\u2019s time to fill in the details and get to work building the necessary infrastructure. The progress we\u2019ve made is exciting, but we need to ensure state laws and regulations keep pace.<\/p>\n

Along with energy, there\u2019s challenging work ahead of us: better funding our schools, making more affordable housing available, and continuing to address our behavioral health crisis and improve public safety.<\/p>\n

This session, I\u2019ve introduced bills on some of these topics, which I\u2019m excited to share!<\/p>\n

Bill Update<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

SB 5332<\/a> would remove barriers to placing mobile dwelling units, or MDUs, on residential properties. MDUs are movable homes with utility connections, such as a tiny home on wheels. They\u2019re an inexpensive, easy to deploy form of housing, and they help address the critical shortage of very low-cost housing.<\/p>\n

SB 5214<\/a> will create a Mobile Markets Program in Washington. The folks at Twin Sisters market<\/a> brought to my attention that they were not able to accept WIC and senior nutrition dollars at their mobile farmer\u2019s market. Twin Sisters does great work bringing fresh food to folks who might not have access. They aggregate fresh food from farmers and move around the community to serve food deserts in Birchwood neighborhood and East Whatcom County.<\/p>\n

By creating a mobile markets program, markets like Twin Sisters will be able to accept WIC and senior nutrition dollars. This should help the farmers Twin Sisters and the local farmers whose produce they sell.<\/p>\n

SB 5359<\/a> and SB 5466<\/a> would work to accelerate the clean energy and infrastructure development we need to deliver green jobs and a cleaner energy system. SB 5359 establishes a new Clean Energy Development Office within the Department of Commerce, which would help plan and support clean energy projects and electric transmission facilities.<\/p>\n

The office would work alongside local governments to help them integrate clean energy development planning, partner with the Office of Economic Development to help communities realize clean energy\u2019s economic potential, and work with the Workforce and Education Coordinating Board to help Washingtonians access good careers in the industry.<\/p>\n

SB 5466 would establish a Clean Energy Transmission Office within the Department of Commerce. Until recently, the electricity business was a sleepy business and there was a relatively flat demand for electricity. Now, demand is increasing significantly due to the growth of data centers, new industrial projects that bring good jobs and cutting-edge technology and electrification of transportation and heating, all while trying to green our grid. It is imperative that we are able to connect new green energy projects to businesses and homes. Improving our energy transmission technology will improve grid reliability and resilience, especially during extreme weather, help Washingtonians access low-cost renewable energy, and provide businesses the power they need to fuel our economic growth.<\/p>\n

Keep in Touch!<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can see, there\u2019s lots of work to do. There are challenges ahead, but I look forward\u00a0to collaborating with you as we work to move Washington forward. You can reach me anytime at\u00a0Sharon.Shewmake@leg.wa.gov<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 your input is always valuable.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends and Neighbors, The 2025 legislative session is underway, and I am back in Olympia for the 105-day session. I have a new role, chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee or \u201cENET\u201d in Legislature-speak. My number one goal for ENET is to \u201ckeep the lights on.\u201d Basically, making sure we are taking the steps needed to green our electricity grid while preserving your access to affordable energy. In the past, utilities have been able to plan for relatively stable demand for electricity, but that isn\u2019t true anymore thanks to the rise of data centers and AI,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":2557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWelcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update! - Sen. Sharon Shewmake<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update! - Sen. Sharon Shewmake\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Friends and Neighbors, The 2025 legislative session is underway, and I am back in Olympia for the 105-day session. I have a new role, chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee or \u201cENET\u201d in Legislature-speak. My number one goal for ENET is to \u201ckeep the lights on.\u201d Basically, making sure we are taking the steps needed to green our electricity grid while preserving your access to affordable energy. In the past, utilities have been able to plan for relatively stable demand for electricity, but that isn\u2019t true anymore thanks to the rise of data centers and AI,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. Sharon Shewmake\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T22:13:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T22:14:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2024\/07\/Shewmake_FullSignature.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"588\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"162\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jgold\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jgold\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/\",\"name\":\"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update! - Sen. Sharon Shewmake\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T22:13:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-06T22:14:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3610933a719273484ba344af438a26\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1970},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/\",\"name\":\"Sen. Sharon Shewmake\",\"description\":\"Putting People First\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3610933a719273484ba344af438a26\",\"name\":\"jgold\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddede2abf20aefe44bf654009e9e88ee16d268b1bc24f5e0dba7986b3d2edb8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddede2abf20aefe44bf654009e9e88ee16d268b1bc24f5e0dba7986b3d2edb8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jgold\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/author\/jgold\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update! - Sen. Sharon Shewmake","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update! - Sen. Sharon Shewmake","og_description":"Dear Friends and Neighbors, The 2025 legislative session is underway, and I am back in Olympia for the 105-day session. I have a new role, chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee or \u201cENET\u201d in Legislature-speak. My number one goal for ENET is to \u201ckeep the lights on.\u201d Basically, making sure we are taking the steps needed to green our electricity grid while preserving your access to affordable energy. In the past, utilities have been able to plan for relatively stable demand for electricity, but that isn\u2019t true anymore thanks to the rise of data centers and AI,...","og_url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/","og_site_name":"Sen. Sharon Shewmake","article_published_time":"2025-01-31T22:13:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-06T22:14:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":588,"height":162,"url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2024\/07\/Shewmake_FullSignature.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"jgold","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jgold","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/","url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/","name":"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update! - Sen. Sharon Shewmake","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-31T22:13:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-06T22:14:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3610933a719273484ba344af438a26"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg","width":2560,"height":1970},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/01\/31\/welcome-to-the-2025-session-bill-update\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Welcome to the 2025 Session: Bill Update!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#website","url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/","name":"Sen. Sharon Shewmake","description":"Putting People First","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3610933a719273484ba344af438a26","name":"jgold","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddede2abf20aefe44bf654009e9e88ee16d268b1bc24f5e0dba7986b3d2edb8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddede2abf20aefe44bf654009e9e88ee16d268b1bc24f5e0dba7986b3d2edb8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jgold"},"url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/author\/jgold\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/12\/Featured-Image-2-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2856,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions\/2856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}