2018 legislative sessions began Jan. 8 in Olympia and Feb. 5 in Salem – last year's stewardship bills are still active:

• Washington medicine stewardship HB 1047: bill is still alive and is supported by the Washington State Medical Association. The Association of Washington Cities (AWC) with Zero Waste Washington and the Washington State Pharmacy Association created a video highlighting the success of the Secure Med Return / MED-Project stewardship programs in King and Snohomish counties. Similar medicine stewardship programs, funded by manufacturers and mandated by local health ordinances, are also coming soon to Pierce, Kitsap, Clallam and Whatcom counties. The AWC video also points to the logic of expanding secure medicine return statewide with HB 1047.

• Oregon medicine stewardship HB 2645: no activity on this bill, unlikely to move forward.

• Washington paint stewardship HB 1376: bill is still alive, yet without support from the American Coatings Association (and PaintCare) it looks unlikely to move forward.

• Oregon product stewardship for household hazardous waste (HHW) HB 4126: also known as "EPR for HHW," this bill is moving forward with a new bill number (was HB 3105 in 2017). This version includes most of the changes from last session; its passage depends on another bill which would leave a large funding hole.

• Washington Fair Repair HB 2279: passed the House Committee on Technology & Economic Development and was referred to Rules. This bill is supported by the Repair Association. CNN covered recent right-to-repair bills, and Euractiv described how existing EU legislation, the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Directive, could be used "to increase repairability, durability and recyclability of products." Watch TVW video of the January 9 Fair Repair bill hearing.