After the bill was amended in the House and the Senate refused to concur in the amendments, a conference committee of House and Senate members reached a compromise. As passed, the bill adds about $155 million in spending to the $33.6 billion two-year budget approved last year, including $58 million more for school supplies and technology; $22 million more for mental health programs, and $25 million more for the opportunity scholarship fund.

This bill extends the $40 local homeless housing and assistance document recording surcharge through June 30, 2019. It requires 45 percent of the state’s non-administrative allotment of the surcharge fee revenue to be set aside for private rental housing vouchers and requires an annual independent audit of the expenditure of

the document recording fee revenue.

This bill allows a county that elected to fully plan under the Growth Management Act (GMA) and that has 20,000 or fewer inhabitants to reduce the planning obligations that it and the cities within it must satisfy

under the GMA.

The bill increases the membership of the Opportunity Scholarship Board to 11 members and the quorum to seven members, and changes the membership composition to add additional business and industry representatives as well as members appointed by legislative leadership. It also authorizes the Board to elect to have the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) invest funds in the Scholarship and Endowment Accounts with other funds subject to investment by the WSIB.

This bill imposes restrictions on state and local agency procurement and usage of extraordinary sensing devices, defined as sensing devices attached to unmanned aircraft systems. These are generally referred to as “drones.” State agencies may not procure drones without the express permission of the legislature and any use of them is only allowed as specified in the bill, including FAA registration, a unique identifier number, and written guidelines submitted by the using agency.