Legislative Updates

Week 13           Let the negotiations begin!   The Senate passed their operating budget last Friday. Now that both budgets are out of their respective house, the negotiators can begin, in earnest.   And, while there are areas in which the...

Week 12 What a week! The cherry blossoms are in full and beautiful bloom. The Senate heard and passed their budget, the fiscal committees heard and passed many bills, and the cut-off for bills to be out of the opposite house policy committees came...

Week 11 The big event this week was the release and anticipated passage of the House budget. The budget was released on Monday, March 25, amended and passed by the Appropriations Committee on the 27th, and is expected to come up on the House floor...

Has spring sprung?  It has been a beautiful week in Olympia, with the trees starting to develop buds and many people gathering at the sundial!  And, to add to the sunny mood, the revenue forecast was released on March 20.  Although it is not a major...

The second half of the 2019 legislative session has begun!! Wednesday March 13th at 5:00 was the cut-off for bills to get out of their original house. Since the fiscal committee cut-off on March 1, the House and Senate have spent their time debating...

This week was mainly about Rules and floor action! The cut-off for bills to be out of fiscal committee of origin was last Friday (March 1st). Since then, the focus has been on getting bills out of Rules and onto the floor of the House or Senate for...

WEEK 7: Fiscal cut-off!!!   Today, March 1st, is the last day for bills to get out of their original fiscal committee.  House bills with a fiscal impact have to be out of the Appropriations Committee and Senate bills with a fiscal impact out of the...

Week six: Cut-off week Today, February 22nd, is the first cut-off of the 2019 session. Today is the day that bills must be out of their original policy committee or they die. Committees have been spending a lot of time this week hearing and...

Quite the week in Olympia!  Very rarely has the legislature shut down (for any reason) but that they did on Monday!  All hearings were cancelled and very few people were around the capitol.  On Tuesday things started picking up a bit, with 8:00...

Snow, sun and now more snow??!!   The week started out on a snowy note with a number of people who had planned to come to Olympia for hearings or meetings with legislators unable to do so.  That said, the legislature did not come to a grinding halt...