Wipes bill clears House floor

OLYMPIA - A bill, sponsored by State Representative Alex Ybarra (R-Quincy), regarding compliance with labeling requirements for wipes, passed the chamber on Monday.

“It was a really simple bill,” said Ybarra. “Basically, those wipes that you can't flush, they have to put a do not flush label on the packaging and that do not flush label has to be approved by the federal government.”

Substitute House Bill 1213 clarified legislation and extended out compliance dates that were passed in 2020 for nonwoven flushable wipes manufacturers.

Ybarra explained that part of the compliance required participation by federal and state agencies which many manufacturers felt would not allow them to get approval before the hard deadline of July 2023.

The bill passed the floor vote unanimously with 93 yeas, including yeas by Ybarra and District 13 Rep. Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake).

The bill was also sponsored by Representatives Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Seattle), Alex Ramel (D-Bellingham), Beth Doglio (D-Olympia) and Nicole Macri (D-Seattle).

The bill was first introduced to the house on Jan. 10 and was referred to the Environment and Energy Committee. A public hearing was held on Jan. 16, followed by an executive session on Jan. 19. No action was taken and it was scheduled for another executive session on Jan. 23. In that executive session, the first substitute bill passed the committee. After being referred to the rules committee for review, the substitute bill was placed on the floor calendar and passed on Feb. 6.

Bills that update existing laws and regulations are called clean-up bills, Ybarra said, which fit perfectly with his wipes bill.

“When I got onto the floor and started talking about my wipes bill, I said ‘Hey, this is a clean-up bill’ and I got a pretty good chuckle out of that one,” Ybarra said.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.