Floor action to dominate legislative work Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Following the fiscal cutoff on February 22, Washington state legislators turned their attention to floor action in a virtual world. In both the House and Senate, a limited number of lawmakers and staff are present. Most discussion is conducted with a…

Governor signs stimulus bill, fiscal cutoff looms Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org On Friday, February 19, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law ESHB 1368, putting $2.2 billion into play across the state for activities related to economic and small business recovery, reopening schools, rental assistance, and COVID-related contact tracing, testing, and vaccinations.…

Ding, ding, ding – that’s the sign of the first cutoff! Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Monday, February 15, marks the first cutoff of the session, signaling the Legislature is one-third of the way through this 105-day session. Most committees finished up their work by Friday, February 12, while a few will…

Cutoff week expected to be a busy one Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org This week is expected to be quite busy, as policy committees schedule bills for public hearings and votes in advance of the February 15 deadline for bills to be out of policy committees. Friday marks the last day for…

Legislature likely to act this week on $2.2 billion relief package Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Last week’s report covered the unveiling of the Democrats’ COVID-relief package, which is broken into several large “buckets,” including $688 million for K-12 public schools. HB 1368 had a public hearing on January 26 and passed…