Washington’s Legislature, the state’s governing body, adjourned its 2023 regular session at the end of April with a new two-year state budget, alongside dozens of policy changes on housing, health care, and public safety — and a surprising last-minute failure to pass a critical drug possession law.
The Legislature returned for what turned out to be a one-day special session in May, passing a new version of the drug bill. Now that the dust has settled, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page.
How familiar are you with the Washington Legislature?
Beginner
What is the Washington Legislature?
The Washington Legislature is the governing body that passes statewide laws, similar to Congress at the federal level. It is made up of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Washington has 49 legislative districts, each with one senator and two representatives to serve in the Legislature. You can find your legislative district here.
The Legislature meets every year to create new laws, change existing laws, and fund the state through budgets. “Legislative sessions” operate in a two-year cycle called a “biennium.” The first year session lasts 105 days. The second year session, dubbed the “short” session, lasts just 60 days. The session that wrapped up in April was the long session for the current biennium.
Sometimes it takes years for an idea to make it all the way through the process. The so-called assault weapons ban that passed this year is based on a bill that was filed in every legislative session since 2017.
If it isn’t apparent yet, there is a special term for everything in the Legislature, including “Washington Legislature” itself — commonly shortened in conversation to “waleg.” KUOW has created the following cheat sheet to help you keep track of Olympia speak.
Intermediate
How do bills become laws in Washington state?
One of the main jobs of the Legislature is to pass laws, but the system was designed to make it difficult to do so. On average, only one out of every seven bills introduced becomes law, according to the Washington Legislature’s civic education program. Passing a bill into law involves getting through a maze of obstacles — with many ways for bills to die at almost every step of the process. A bill needs to make it through at least five steps before it even gets to a vote by the full House or Senate (known as a floor vote).
A silent, but powerful, driver in this process is time itself. The state constitution caps the length of sessions, meaning all legislation must make it through the maze by the 105-day session or the 60-day short session, both of which count weekends and holidays. Lawmakers are under constant pressure, with many cutoff deadlines that keep shrinking the pool of bills. Measures that don’t progress fast enough, can die a sudden death.
The only exception is if the governor or Legislature calls for a “special session.” While there is no limit on how many special sessions there can be, each one can only be 30 days long. It’s more common for the governor to call a special session, since the Legislature needs a vote from two-thirds of members in each chamber. This year, Gov. Jay Inslee called a special session to finalize a new drug possession law. In previous years, lawmakers have come back for issues that revolve around the budget, like in 2017 when lawmakers convened three special sessions in a row.
Follow along below with a bill as it makes its way through this maze to become a law. Note, the following visualization represents a typical process a bill might go through. But there are some exceptions for specific types of bills, and the majority party can get creative with certain rules to kill or keep bills moving through the process. For a comprehensive reference, view the Washington Guide to Lawmaking.
Drafting a bill
Anyone can come up with ideas for a bill and even draft bill language (lawmakers, staff, lobbyists, state agencies, you) but only members of the House and Senate can “sponsor” a bill and submit it. When a draft is ready, it is dropped in “the hopper,” the official collection box for bills, and assigned a number. How a bill is written is very important. Bills can be written in ways that make their implementation dependent on outside factors like funding or an amendment to the state constitution.
Introduction and first reading
Once a bill has been dropped, it is “read” on the floor of whichever chamber the prime sponsor belongs to. This is called the “first reading.” Party leadership then refers the bill to a committee based on its topic. There are about 20 standing committees in the House and 15 in the Senate that cover everything from housing and transportation to education, health care and more.
Policy and fiscal committees
There are too many bills and not enough time for every lawmaker to study each measure. Instead, bills are filtered through policy committees where a smaller group of lawmakers and staff research and discuss bills and topics. The committee chair then decides whether to give a bill a public hearing.
Policy and fiscal committees
Public hearings are mandatory for bills to advance through the maze. Hearings are also the first major opportunity for the public to provide their opinions on the bill in person, over Zoom, or in written testimony. Remote testimony became the new norm during the pandemic, giving anyone anywhere in Washington the power to directly address lawmakers on topics or bills they care about. Agendas for committees are also posted online, where people can sign up or look through the text of a bill.
Policy and fiscal committees
After a hearing, the committee chair decides whether to move a bill into “executive session” where it can be amended and voted on. Passing this vote is key to a bill’s survival. If it passes a vote here, it has “passed out of committee.” Bills that need funding, change how money is spent, or change the tax code, must go through the same process in a fiscal committee. Most bills that die, die in the committee phase of the maze.
Rules Committee
All bills must get through a powerful gatekeeper: the Rules Committee. Rules members decide which bills to put on a “floor calendar,” making bills eligible for debate, amendment, and a vote on the floor of the House or Senate. Get it? Committee members do this by handpicking bills to boost through the process, also known as “pulling” bills. Leadership decides how many “pulls” committee members get each meeting. Bills die at this stage for many reasons, but primarily because of concerns about timing or lack of support from the majority of lawmakers.
Achievement unlocked!
Congratulations! This bill has made it out of all its committees in the first chamber! While people typically refer to bills “passing out of committee” as surviving policy and fiscal committees, this is technically the stage at which a bill has passed out of all committees and is ready for debate — and possibly a vote — by all lawmakers in a chamber.
Floor Action
Now it’s time for the big show! The first step on the floor calendar is “second reading” where a bill is read to the full chamber. This is the only time amendments can be offered on the floor. It’s a great opportunity for the public to learn how lawmakers want to change a bill, based on the amendments they introduce and vote on.
Floor Action
Technically, there should be one day between the second and third readings, but it is common practice in both chambers to suspend the rules and go directly to a third reading, bypassing another stop in the Rules Committee. It is typically during the third reading that the most discussion and debate occurs before lawmakers vote on whether to pass a bill out of that chamber. This is a great opportunity for the public to see if lawmakers think a bill should live to see another vote.
Achievement unlocked!
Congratulations! This bill has made it out of its first chamber! There are rarely surprises on the floor of the House or Senate. Leadership keeps a close count on who supports a bill and often will not bring a bill up if the votes aren’t there to pass it. Once a bill passes a floor vote, it has “passed out of house of origin” or “passed out of first chamber.”
Opposite chamber
Did you get all that? Great! Because every bill that passes in its “chamber of origin” i.e., the chamber where it was introduced, needs to do the whole thing all over again in the “second chamber.” For example, if a bill started and passed in the House, it must repeat the process in the Senate. And vice versa. Bills can die or be amended in the same ways as they did in the chamber of origin. (To save us time and avoid repeating all those steps again, we’re going to use a secret skip to get to the finish line.)
The final deal
For a bill to become a law, both chambers have to pass the exact same language in the bill. If a bill is amended by the second chamber, then the two chambers have some work to do to reconcile the two versions. Leadership decides which bills will be worked on at this stage. There are typically four ways a bill becomes a law.
The easy way If a bill passes the second chamber without amendments — making it identical to the bill passed in the first chamber — it has passed the Legislature and moves on to the governor.
Concurrence The first chamber agrees or “concurs” to the second chamber’s amendments. Congratulations, the bill has passed the Legislature!
Dispute The first chamber disagrees with or “disputes” the second chamber’s amendments and asks the second chamber to drop the changes. If the second chamber agrees to drop the changes, the bill has passed the Legislature.
Conference If the two chambers can’t resolve their differences on a bill, either chamber can request a conference committee where representatives from both chambers meet to work out a compromise. If a compromise is reached, a report of the compromise is made. Both chambers must act to adopt the report and vote to pass the bill, otherwise the bill dies.
Governor
Once a bill has passed both chambers, it goes to the governor. The governor has five days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto the bill (or part of the bill) passed during session and 20 days (excluding Sundays) for bills passed in the last five days of session. The Legislature can override a veto by a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers. Unlike the federal government, if the governor does not take action, the bill becomes law as though it had been signed.
Congratulations!
This bill has made it through the maze to become a shiny new law! Most bills specify an “effective date” i.e., when they take effect. Bills without listed dates take effect 90 days after the legislative session ends.
Advanced
What happened this legislative session?
This year marked the first time since the pandemic hit that lawmakers worked on legislation at the Capitol, in person. Many legislators remarked on how collaborative the session felt.
Lawmakers came in with a renewed buzz of energy to pass a new two-year budget, and to tackle issues on housing, public health and safety. But echoes of pandemic-era sessions remained, with hybrid committee hearings allowing the public to testify on bills remotely and weekly news conferences with legislative leaders held online.
Although Republicans and Democrats joined forces on plenty of key issues, some dividing lines remained. And on the final day, the “Blake bill,” a long-negotiated and must-pass drug possession and addiction treatment bill failed.
Gov. Jay Inslee then called a special session, which convened on May 16, three weeks after the regular session wrapped, for the Legislature to finalize a new drug possession law. A group of legislators from all four caucuses struck a tentative new compromise that includes making drug use and knowing possession a gross misdemeanor, which is punishable by 180 days in jail, a $1000 fine, or both. Gov. Inslee signed the bill into law shortly after lawmakers approved the legislation.
Want to learn more about a particular bill? Visit the Legislature’s bill tracker to see full bill text, amendments, votes, fiscal notes and policy analysis.
Want the highlights of this session?
Read Northwest News Network Olympia Correspondent Jeanie Lindsay’s breakdown by topic below.
Housing supply
The Legislature dubbed this year the "big one" for housing — with Gov. Jay Inslee repeating a favorite phrase: "Go big so people can go home." Lawmakers didn't take up the governor's multi-billion dollar bond plan. Nevertheless, the Legislature delivered big changes on the policy and spending fronts, earmarking more than $1 billion to tackle housing needs and address homelessness — including $400 million for the state's Housing Trust Fund in the state's new budget.
Some of the policies lawmakers approved would also allow for the construction of different types of homes in neighborhoods that have in the past been exclusively zoned for single-family homes. House Bill 1110, commonly called the "missing middle housing" bill, would require that cities allow the construction of more duplexes and fourplexes. In larger cities, the legislation would require that six-plexes be permitted if they're close to transit stops or include affordable units.
Another bill, House Bill 1337, would make it easier for people to build or use accessory dwelling units, or ADUs — those are units people typically have in their basements, above their garage or in the backyard that are on the same lot as a single-family home. Lawmakers also approved Senate Bill 5045, which incentivizes renting ADUs to low-income families.
A bill to help speed up the permitting process so that construction can begin more quickly, Senate Bill 5290, also passed, and lawmakers approved a covenant homeownership bill, House Bill 1474, to address the lasting impact of racist discriminatory homeownership policies of the past.
Public health and safety
In a surprising turn of events on the final day of the regular session, lawmakers failed to pass the long-negotiated "Blake Bill," which aimed to boost addiction recovery and treatment options while also enhancing legal penalties for drug use and possession. The measure was meant to replace the state’s current drug possession law, which expires July 1. The bill was subject to emotional debates all session long, but the final version missed the mark for progressive Democrats and Republicans.
After the regular session adjourned, Inslee said the Legislature's failure to pass the bill was "unacceptable." He called lawmakers back for a special session on May 16, and they passed a bipartisan compromise on the issue in a single day. Under the new law, public drug use and drug possession are both gross misdemeanors, punishable by 180 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. Jail time could increase to a year for someone with prior offenses.
In addition to creating new criminal penalties, the legislation also directs millions of dollars in funding toward expanding treatment facilities and resources across the state. The law also includes a requirement for prosecutors to approve pretrial diversion from the legal system and into recovery, and allows for city and county governments to craft their own rules for harm reduction services, like needle exchanges. It also says that people who complete 12 months of treatment will have their possession and drug use charges dismissed. Learn more about this new law here.
Legislators also remained split this session on changes to the state's police pursuits law with Senate Bill 5352, after police reforms passed in 2021 were criticized for being too restrictive. The final bill was sent to the governor after weeks of Republicans pressing for bigger rollbacks of limits on police pursuits, and resistance from Democrats who wanted to maintain the initial policy. This year's bill says police can now pursue suspects if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they committed a list of specific crimes, including vehicular assault — but it also requires that police only conduct a pursuit if safety risks caused by losing the suspect are greater than the risks of the chase itself.
Republicans say this year's bill was better than nothing, calling it a "half-step" in the right direction, but want to come back to it again next year. There were plenty of other dividing lines drawn in the realm of public safety this session, as Democrats passed new firearm regulations signed into law by Inslee days after the session came to an end: House Bills 1240 and 1143, as well as Senate Bill 5078, which creates new legal liabilities for the firearm industry. The ban on high capacity firearms — commonly referred to as an assault weapons ban — was debated in the Senate twice after the House rejected an exemption for military members. It went into law as Inslee signed the bill, and is already facing legal challenges. The new 10-day waiting period and safety training requirements created with 1143 go into effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Lawmakers also authorized the use of speed cameras in highway construction zones with Senate Bill 5272. But a number of traffic safety bills died this session, including one that would have lowered the breathalyzer limit for someone to be charged for drunk driving.
Hotly debated health care
Washington was not exempt from fights over abortion and gender-affirming care this session, as the Democratically-controlled Legislature passed several measures to protect access to those services while states across the country criminalize them. There weren't enough votes in the Legislature to amend the state constitution to protect abortion, but a majority of legislators voted yes on House Bill 1469 to create a new so-called "shield law." It prevents the state's courts, cops and judges from carrying out legal action against people providing or seeking abortion and gender-affirming care for out-of-state charges.
The Legislature also approved bills to give people more control over their health data with House Bill 1155, protect medical licenses for providers through House Bill 1340, and reduce costs for abortion services with Senate Bill 5242. And Democrats fast-tracked a bill, Senate Bill 5768, to give the state Department of Corrections the authority to distribute the abortion medication mifepristone, after the state acquired a three-year supply in response to a federal court case challenging the FDA's regulation of the drug.
Runaway youth in Washington will now have the option to defer shelters contacting their parents if they leave home to seek gender-affirming or reproductive health care under Senate Bill 5599. Republicans and parents rights advocates fiercely opposed the bill as it made progress through the Legislature. Rep. Skyler Rude (R-Walla Walla) voted against it, saying on the House floor that he doesn't oppose access to gender-affirming care, but worries the bill could leave supportive parents in the dark.
"There are a lot of loving parents out there that may support their child in some of these choices down the road but might feel that it's not an appropriate time at 13 or 14 or 15 years old," he said.
But supporters say it's a vital change to ensure runaway transgender kids don't end up on the streets. "They're going to have access to supportive services and supportive people," said Rep. Julio Cortes (D-Everett).
Workforce shortages
As the state continues grappling with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, lawmakers took steps to address workforce shortages this session, notably among nurses and hospital workers. With Senate Bill 5236, the Legislature struck a compromise between nurses' unions and hospitals to strengthen requirements and state oversight for hospital staffing plans. Another bill, Senate Bill 5582, also passed, to help build up the pipeline of nurses by directing the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to develop a nurse training plan, and start a pilot program for online courses.
Lawmakers also approved House Bill 1762, to shore up protections for warehouse workers. The bill requires employers to communicate quotas and other workplace standards more clearly with employees, and to include meal and rest breaks in their quota calculations.
Another piece of legislation that passed, Senate Bill 5123, would prohibit employers from discriminating against job candidates who legally use cannabis. But the bill doesn't apply to certain jobs like firefighters, 911 dispatchers, corrections officers, or airline pilots. It also doesn't apply to positions where a person's life could be at risk if they're impaired on the job.
Schools and special education
Schools, and special education in particular, were the subject of several bills this session. Following an investigation by The Seattle Times and ProPublica, the Legislature approved Senate Bill 5315, which enhances the state's oversight of nonpublic schools providing services for students with disabilities, and requires that those schools maintain accessible complaint resources online for people to report violations of students' rights.
The Legislature also approved bills like House Bill 1658, which would allow students in high school to earn elective credits for their work experience, and another bill to eliminate fees for students earning college credit in high school.
Despite legislators scaling down the initial proposal, lawmakers still passed House Bill 1238 to provide more free school meals to students across Washington — specifically those in high-need schools.
State spending
Throughout it all, the state's next two-year budget loomed in the background. Some policy proposals got slimmed down or left behind due to their initial cost as state economists predicted a slowdown in state revenue, and lawmakers remained wary of Covid-19 relief funding expiring.
But Democrats notched a win when the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the new capital gains tax — that decision came out just as Democrats began unveiling their initial budget proposals in late March. The majority tossed around the idea of new taxes with just days left in the session — in the end, there weren't enough Democrats in the Senate on board to expand the state's Real Estate Excise Tax or to raise the cap on local property tax collections. Earlier efforts to create a universal basic income or create a new "wealth tax" also failed.
Ultimately, lawmakers passed a new $69.3 billion operating budget alongside a new construction and transportation budget. It included a big chunk of change for housing in particular, but also targeted $2.9 billion new dollars for K-12 education, $417 million of it for special education.
Legislators also decided how to spend revenue from the state's new carbon emissions auctions for the first time, targeting projects for salmon recovery, wildfire protections, energy efficiency and carbon emissions reductions. Lawmakers set aside more than $1 billion for behavioral health, with the state's new construction budget including another $613 million to build a new forensic hospital at Western State Hospital.
Miscellaneous
Among the policies that failed this session was the so-called "right to repair" bill that would have required tech companies to make parts and tools for repairs more widely available to businesses and people who own those devices. Rep. Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac) said more people are warming up to it, even though it didn't have enough votes to pass through the Senate this year.
"It's really about working with Republican senators – and senators – to get them comfortable with this idea," she said, noting she plans to bring the bill back next session.
The Legislature also didn't pass a bill to eliminate the child sex abuse statute of limitations, legislation to ramp up oversight of parent reunification spurred by the case of missing Oakley Carlson, or a bill that would have banned new natural gas connections for Puget Sound Energy customers. The final weekend of the session also saw the demise of a bill that would have made clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse, when lawmakers couldn't agree on whether information heard in confessional should be subject to that reporting requirement.
Despite some fiery debates, lost legislation, and grueling compromises, lawmakers made a few lighter changes this year too. They named a new state dinosaur and put their worst cow puns on full display before passing a bill authorizing special highway permits for dairy haulers.
They also passed new limits on boaters' proximity to Southern Resident orca pods, approved plans to study and prepare for magic mushroom therapy in Washington, green-lit a redo of the search for a new regional airport, and finalized a permanent $35 cost cap for a one-month supply of insulin.
Lawmakers also nearly unanimously approved legislation declaring January of each year as Americans of Chinese Descent History Month.