OLYMPIA, Wash. — A state Senate bill that would purport to reduce environmental and health disparities on indigenous persons was debated Monday.
Democratic Senator Rebecca Saldana is the sponsor, commenting that this bill “allows us to make sure that we’re incorporating environmental justice principles, data and analysis to make sure we move forward together.”
The bill assigns a role to an “environmental justice task force” to incorporate what it calls environmental justice obligations into state agencies including the departments of agriculture, commerce, ecology health, and others.
Republican Senator Sharon Brown said the bill would have unintended consequences, stating that the bill will adversely impact the demographic that the bill seeks to protect by denying them economic opportunity.
The 12-member council would include “environmental justice practitioners or academics.”
SB5141, also known as the Healthy Environment for All Act, passed the Senate 28-21 Monday.