By Colton Dodgson

The Chronicle

A bill written to help finance flood reduction and wildlife preservation in the Chehalis River Basin — and passed by the state House of Representatives — has undergone some scrutiny in its time in the Washington state Senate.

Executive action was taken in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on March 2 to negotiate the $700 million over 10 biennia figure proposed in the version of the bill approved by the House — HB 1154. As of March 4, the bill’s current version was placed on second reading by the rules committee and is currently on the floor calendar.

While the dollar amount is still being debated, according to Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund, the hope is that an amount close to what was proposed in the state bill is ultimately agreed upon.

She called the executive action the first “serious” road block the bill has encountered.

“It’s still fluid, still a lot of things going on,” Fund said following the meeting. “But, I’m hopeful. If it had died last week, I’d have been pretty sad. We have a lot of good advocates, you know, like I said, this is the signature bill for (Rep.) Richard DeBolt (R-Chehalis).”

During Friday’s mayor’s meeting with the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners, Fund attributed the scrutiny over the amount of money dedicated to the length of the proposed time frame.

“It’s a bond, so, some folks are concerned about bringing the dollars out … and new legislators come in and they have to abide by what other legislators have done,” Fund said. “There’s a lot of discussion, a lot of politics discussed in this, but we are advocating strongly.”

Fund said she spoke with Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins and her perception of the bill was positive.

“She said it was a very good bill,” Fund said. “She’s all for it.”

Ron Averill, the chair of the local projects committee for the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority, mentioned the bill’s scrutiny is of “real concern.”

“Federal money is hard to get,” Averlil said during the meeting. “I keep on telling folks that are involved that we have to be really careful when we go to federal money which pocket we take it out of. We need it and I’ll tell you, the $700 million spread between both flood mitigation and aquatic species restoration doesn’t go far enough. There’s going to eventually be a need for money to come from elsewhere.”

He continued by pointing that the bill did make it through the committee stage and is slated to be read on the floor, meaning the bill isn’t yet dead.

“If it were dead, we’d be dead,” Fund said.

Vader Mayor Pro-Tem Samantha Lovelady said didn’t downplay the meaning of the bill to the town.

“For a town like Vader, that’s lower income, we need any help we can get in that regard,” Lovelady said after the meeting. “Flooding, any sort of money that can help our citizens in that way, to protect us, is super important.”

She added that the town would be discussing the now-fluid nature of the numbers proposed in the bill. Lovelady called the executive action a surprise, but said her and the Vader city council would have to roll with the punches.

“Now that numbers are going back, it’s definitely on our plate,” Lovelady said.

Before the bill can pass the senate, a version needs to be approved by both the House and the Senate. With the end of the legislative session on March 12, a resolution looks to be fast approaching.

“We’re very eager to know what happens,” Fund said. “Very eager.”