Hirst Bill Stalled But Alive Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. With just days remaining in the current legislative session, there's still hope for a bill that could fix the Supreme Court's Hirst decision that all but eliminates well drilling on rural farm lands.Representative John Koster says there is a backup plan...
JOHN KOSTER ... "Representative Jacqueline Maycumber of Republic and I introduced legislation to help people in worse-case scenario. House Bill 2195 would ensure tax relief to property owners that are affected by the Hirst decision. There's no reason they should continue to pay the same tax rate if their property is devalued by lack of action by the legislature to fix this."
Koster says that's if all else fails ...
JOHN KOSTER ... "But if the legislature passes a comprehensive solution through Senator Warnick's bill, my bill won't be necessary and I hope that's the case. But, the end of the session's approaching, which is the 23rd, and without some lack of urgency from our Democratic friends, we must provide some relief for those that would be adversely impacted."
Koster says they're doing what they can ...
JOHN KOSTER ... "Our idea was to help every property owner whether they live in rural Washington or downtown Seattle to understand that they will be impacted unless we act to fix Hirst. And raising awareness on those urban people that this is going to significantly affect them right on top of their ST3 and everything else, the taxes they'll incur because of that, that'll help put some pressure on the other side to come to the table and get this thing fixed."
The bill that would fix Hirst passed the Senate, but has stalled in committee in the Democratic controlled House.