Olympia legislative activity winds down after today with the focus turning toward the budget and working out compromises on bills that have passed both houses but in different form, such as S.B 5600 which extends protections to tenants.  Read more

Yesterday was the committee deadline for bills not related or necessary to the state budget.  Meanwhile, budget conferences have begun to sort out the differences between the House and Senate versions of our state’s two-year plans for operating and capital spending.  Read on about what that may mean for United Way priorities. Read more

It's been an active week with the House and Senate releasing budget and revenue proposals and their fiscal committees cranking through bills to meet the April 9 deadline for passing bills on to the floor.  And. . . good news about the Working Families Tax Credit. Read more

It's time to contact your legislators regarding the House operating and capital budget. Votes will be taken this week. And stay tuned, the Senate budget proposal will likely be released later this week.  Read more

While we wait for the next edition of the proposed 2019-21 biennial budget bill due out next week, Senate and House committees are actively taking up bills passed from the other legislative body, including those discussed below.   Read more

At 5 p.m. today (Wednesday, March 13), the Legislature will have reached its self-imposed deadline for bills passing their house of origin. By tomorrow, the Senate will only be considering bills that have been approved by the House.  And the House will only consider bills approved by the Senate.  The exceptions are budgets and matters necessary to implement budgets.   Read more

We're keeping our tracking list up-to-date even though changes are happening quickly as the state House and Senate actively engage in floor debates. Here's what has happened so far this week.  Read more

This is an exciting week in Olympia.  With many bills starting to move to the House and Senate floor, housing and homeless advocates will be working the Capitol hallways side-by-side with advocates for the United Ways of Washington's agenda and full funding of the 2-1-1 Washington Information Network.  Read on for details and how you can get involved, even if you're not coming to Olympia this week. Read more

The first major deadline for 2019 legislation on Friday. For a bill to stay active in this year's session, it has to have cleared the bill's committee of origin by Friday unless it is in one of the fiscal committees (Such as Senate Ways & Means, House Finance and House Appropriations.).  The fiscal committee deadline is March 1.  Some important activities will benefit from your active participation.  Read more

This weekend's snow has slowed work down in the Legislature but good things have been happening.  Read more