AWSP Blog

The Session continues. Introductions of new bills and committee hearings continue as legislators work to deal with proposed bills. A reminder that if a companion bill appears to not be moving, that means the other bill will be the prime for action.

North Pines Middle School is a beautiful, state-of-the-art building located in the heart of Spokane Valley. When you enter the facilities, it seems like any middle school in Washington State. It is abuzz with students and typical boisterous middle school activity - staff greeting students at the door, students greeting one another, and staff urging students to get to class. Then, the bell and quiet set in, and the learning starts. There are so many layers to the work happening in our schools across the state to set the learning conditions for our students. North Pines is one of the most diverse schools in the Central Valley School district, and they have taken their job to provide equitable, rigorous learning opportunities for their students seriously.

The 2024 Legislative Session kicked off this week, and it will be a 60-day sprint to the finish. Hundreds of new bills were pre-filed, hundreds of bills are still in play from last year, and hundreds of new bills are being introduced, which makes for lots of reading and a massive bill tracking list. The first cut-off of the session is January 31, when bills must pass off the floor of their house of origin, so this list will be much shorter in just a few weeks. Whew.

The second year of the 68th Washington State Biennial Legislature has begun. Given that this will be a ‘short’ session, the pace will be brisk (an understatement). Numerous bills have been and will continue to be introduced. Some are good ideas; others are not, and some are just plain silly. Hearings have started. A caveat: There are always more bills proposed that will survive the entire process. (Thank goodness!) With that in mind, below is a report and comments on selected bills that may or may not remain as the session unfolds. The point is that until hearings on selected bills are scheduled, most are just titles and text with no explanations or fiscal notes. As these become available, more detail will be presented in this report.

The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) announces that high school students Ms. Gianna Patrice Frank and Ms. Mahika Kavya Malladi will join Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell in representing Washington during the 62nd annual USSYP Washington Week, to be held March 2 — 9, 2024. Gianna Frank of Marysville and Mahika Malladi of Redmond were selected from among the state’s top student leaders to be part of the 104 national student delegation. Each delegate will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study.