Submitted by Brendon Wold | Deputy Communications Director

House Republican Caucus

OLYMPIA – Seventh District Rep. Andrew Engell, R-Colville, recently had his first two bills pass the state House of Representatives.

House Bill 1947 would reduce the bureaucracy surrounding small Group B water systems (wells), which many in rural Washington attach to in order to acquire and store water for their homes, property and personal use.

“We have a lot of small water systems in our district,” said Engell. “Most of the time, these systems are created when three or four neighbors share a well in order to save money rather than drilling their own wells. But we need more flexibility in managing these small water systems so rural residents – and even those on the outskirts of urban areas who can’t connect to larger, municipality-owned systems – can have more affordable access to water.

“There’s a layer of bureaucracy, here, a ‘middle man’ that is required by law. This entity, called a satellite system management agency (SMA) certified by the state Department of Health, can sometimes be difficult to find and expensive, which, on these very simple and safe systems, are unnecessary,” Engell explained. “My bill simply says that if certain requirements are met, new small water systems can be created and operated more efficiently and affordably.”

Under Engell’s bill, new Group B public water systems are not required to be owned or operated by a satellite system management agency unless the water system:

• is required to provide treatment to meet water quality standards;
• provides fire flow;
• has atmospheric storage (is exposed to air); or
• serves 10 or more service connections.

His bill passed the House unanimously and now goes to the Senate for further consideration.

Engell’s second bill, House Bill 1606, is about getting state employees – those who recommend rule changes at state agencies or give advice to the Legislature and governor – better access to peer-reviewed scientific journals.

“The state employees who make recommendations to the Legislature should have the latest peer-reviewed information so they can give accurate, up-to-date advice to those making policy decisions,” said Engell. “They used to have this access through the State Library in the past, but after the ‘great recession,’ funding was stripped away and it was never reinstated. Since then, access to science has required individual subscriptions or extensive staff time to visit libraries or otherwise hunt down the information needed.

“Here in Northeast Washington, our residents rely on that accurate information for everything from wildlife and wolf management, to housing, siting and water use decisions,” Engell said. “We probably rely on that accurate, up-to-date information more than any other region.”

House Bill 1606 would commission a study addressing, at a minimum, potential funding, organizational structure and policy mechanisms that would provide state employees with electronic access to peer-reviewed journals. The goal of the study will be to find a way to provide better access to science in a way that saves the state money.

“Texas did something similar a few years ago and through the bulk buying of journals saved millions of dollars,” said Engell.

This bill also passed the Legislature unanimously and is now in the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee.

The 105-day 2025 legislative session has just passed the halfway mark and is scheduled to end April 27.