Session Aide - Legislative & Policy Specialist

Range: $122,500 - $132,500 p/year, based on relevant experience, education, skills, licenses, certifications, and training.

Range: $52,300 to $92,570 p/year, with experience and qualifications.

The Climate Pollution Reduction Program (CPRP) within the Department of Ecology is looking to fill a Session Aide – Legislative and Policy Specialist (Environmental Planner
1) position. This position is located in our Headquarters Office in Lacey, WA. Upon hire, you must live within a commutable distance from the duty station.

Do you have an interest in environmental policy? Would you like to help champion climate policy and contribute to moving it through the Washington State legislative process? If so, we hope you'll join our team!

As the Legislative and Policy Specialist, you will actively support the Climate Pollution Reduction Program’s legislative and policy work and Senior Legislative Planner, providing project management and legislative analysis. You’ll engage with program leadership and subject matter experts, as well as Ecology’s Governmental Relations team to complete some of the following: the development and editing of bill analyses, fiscal notes, testimony and presentations for legislative meetings, hearings and work sessions, Ecology management and Governor’s Office briefings, and reviewing and editing reports to the Legislature.

Please note that this is a temporary position that will end June 30, 2025.

The Legislative and Policy Specialist position plays a key role in supporting the Program’s legislative efforts. In this position, you will gain significant knowledge of the Program and Agency’s legislative priorities and broaden your understanding of climate pollution reduction and environmental policy. In support of the Senior Legislative Planner, you will track bills and work with the Program staff on responses to inquiries from the Legislature, the Governor’s Office, and constituents.

You will also assist in preparing staff for legislative meetings, hearings, and work sessions. Additional duties in this role include:

• Track, review, and edit bill analyses in the agency’s legislative tracking platform; provide technical assistance to staff as needed.
• Draft, review, and edit written communications.
• Conduct legislative research, analyze, and summarize legislation.
• Take notes on hearings and work sessions.
• Assist with the development of implementation plans for recently passed legislation.
• Assist with the development plan and timeline for legislative reports.
• Schedule and prepare materials for meetings, hearings, and work sessions.

Years of required experience indicated below are full-time equivalent years. Full-time equivalent experience means that any experience where working hours were less than 40 hours per week will be prorated in order to meet the equivalency of full-time. We would calculate this by looking at the total hours worked per week, divide this by 40, and then multiply by the total number of months worked.

Examples of the proration calculations are:

• 30 hours worked per week for 20 months: (30/40) × 20 months = 15 months full-time equivalent
• 20 hours worked per week for 12 months: (20/40) × 12 months = 6 months full-time equivalent

Experience for both required and desired qualifications can be gained through various combinations of formal professional employment, education, and volunteer experience. See below for how you may qualify.

• Experience in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning, and/or program development, landscape architecture, geography, land use or environmental law, public administration with an environmental emphasis, or closely related experience.
• Education involving major study in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning, landscape architecture, geography, land use or environmental law, public administration with an environmental emphasis, or closely related field.

We highly encourage you to apply even if you do not have some (or all) of the desired experience below.

• Experience with: communications, writing…