AWSP Blog

There’s a certain rhythm to the Legislature as the session continues. Action begins to move from the public hearings, to executive ones, to rules and dribbling onto the floor for action. The 17th of February is the first cut-off, and in all likelihood, the 6th is a closer measure of when new bills will cease being introduced. (It takes time to schedule, hear, etc. in order to meet the February deadline).

Bills continue to be introduced but the real action happens as committees hold public hearings and executive sessions on various bills. Executive sessions often follow. Changes in planned agendas also often happen at the last moment. Listed below are bills that show some movement. Others were reported last week but are not repeated this week if no activity has occurred to date.

Definition of “An embarrassment of riches”. So many good things that it is difficult to fund just one. The legislative session has concluded, the Governor has acted, and now as the show goes on, districts have to adjust. The supplemental budget (ESSB 5693) approved by the Legislature and the Governor increased general fund spending to $64 billion, an increase of $5 billion over the budget approved in April 2021. The final budget increased state spending by 24% over the previous biennium and by more than 50% since 2017.

The legislative clock continues to count down. The Senate is dealing with 85 bills while the House has 65 on their calendar for possible action. March 4th is the last day to consider opposite house bills. Both chambers then retreat into cloaked meetings to negotiate bills differences. While these negotiations are going on, any upcoming committee agendas will generally be scheduled work sessions to set direction for the interim and next session. That’s assuming they meet.

Each chamber is now engaged in floor sessions deciding the fate of various bills. Committee action is at a minimum. The next critical deadline is Feb. 15th when bills need to be out of their house of origin and committee hearings restart. As an annual reminder, no bill is ever ‘dead’ until Sine Die, and any bill deemed ‘necessary to implement the budget’ (NTIB) remains alive until the bitter end.