With less than a week left in the 2021 Legislative Session, some issues are still in flux while others have been passed and already signed into law by the Governor.  Read more

All legislative deadlines have now passed except the big one – when session ends on April 25. To help modulate the flow of bills, the Legislature imposes a set of deadlines for bill action. The last hurdle happened on Sunday. From here on, only bills that have passed both the House and Senate will continue to receive attention. However, budgets and bills necessary to implement the budget are exempt from this restriction.  Read more

The 2021 Washington State Legislative Session is winding down as activity now shifts back to full House and Senate floor consideration. There is less than three weeks left in this regular session. Read more

Last week, the Legislature focused on releasing and hearing testimony on budget proposals - capital and operating spending guidance for the next biennium. Here is the proposed substitute Senate budget (SB 5092) and the proposed substitute House budget (HB 1094).  Read more

This is budget week in Olympia as the Senate and House prepare to roll out its operating, capital and transportation budgets which will govern state spending for the next two years. Read more

While the virtual session has slowed the rate of bill passage, the House and Senate have taken some big policy strides this session -- including moving forward on an update of the Working Families Tax Credit with near unanimous consent. Here’s more on that and other bills that may affect the United Ways of the Pacific Northwest - Washington legislative priorities. Read more

The House and Senate finish marathon virtual floor sessions today as the bodies move as much of their agenda as possible before the latest legislative deadline at 5:00 p.m. After today, attention shifts back to committee activity as House committees consider Senate passed bills and vice versa.  Read more

This week, state legislative activity is almost exclusively in (virtual) assembly as the full bodies of the House and the Senate debate bills that have passed at least one committee. It’s a good opportunity to review the United Ways of the Pacific Northwest legislative priorities in terms of this session. Read more

From now until March 9, legislative action moves to the floor of the House and Senate as these bodies take up bills that have cleared their committees. This year because of the virtual nature of deliberations, it is possible to talk with legislators since they won't physically be tied up in chambers.  Read more

Monday, February 15, was the first committee deadline for voting out bills. In this all-virtual session, the pace of legislation creation has slowed with roughly half the number of bills introduced this year of previous sessions. From here on, only bills that have passed a committee can continue to be considered, unless the bill is budget related. Read more