Legislative update
The Legislature has just passed day 75 of this 105-day session. Though there has been quite a bit of action thus far, there is still plenty of work left to do in the month remaining. As the budgets roll out, Commerce is actively working with legislators to ensure they leave this session having invested in the necessary resources to address our affordable housing and homelessness crisis across the state. Commerce has been supportive of efforts to remove the sunset on the state’s Document Recording Fee that supports local efforts to reduce homelessness, as well as various policy efforts to make it easier for cities to promote more development of affordable housing.
In addition to efforts on housing, Commerce is working with legislators to establish another round of investment in the state’s Clean Energy Fund (CEF) to continue to address the transformation of our energy ecosystem. The CEF enables a mix of projects to support development, demonstration and deployment of clean energy technologies. These new technology solutions create regional jobs that will serve national and global markets. Commerce is hopeful the legislature will invest in CEF this year, and we look forward to continued negotiations on that front.
Legislators have a lot on their plates, from the McCleary decision to local infrastructure and so much more. Commerce is proud to play a role in assisting those efforts as they align with our broader mission of strengthening communities.