Looking for a summary of our Top Bills?
These are the bills we deem major and significant. Click the image below.
Are you looking for a summary of our Top Bills for 2026? These are bills we deem major and significant. If so, use the filter below.
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Jobs & Business
Concerning contributions in the state paid family and medical leave program.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2345 makes targeted technical corrections to Washington’s paid family and medical leave program to align state law with updated federal tax guidance. The bill adjusts how employer and employee contributions are allocated between family leave and medical leave premiums while explicitly preserving the overall cost split between employers and workers. This ensures the program remains compliant with federal requirements without increasing total premiums or reducing benefits.
By clarifying contribution mechanics in statute, the bill reduces legal uncertainty for employers and payroll administrators who must implement the program accurately. It also protects employees by maintaining the stability and predictability of payroll deductions they already expect. Importantly, the legislation does not alter eligibility, benefit levels, or the total premium cap, preserving the core promise of paid family and medical leave. Small employers remain protected from mandatory employer premium payments, maintaining existing relief for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. This is a practical, administrative fix that prevents future compliance problems and potential tax disputes.
Bill Summary
This bill repeals Washington’s recently enacted luxury aircraft tax and makes conforming changes to tax enforcement statutes to remove that tax from trust fund collections, immediately reducing harm to the state’s aerospace sector. By eliminating RCW 82.48A.010 through 82.48A.040, the measure ends a policy that risked driving aircraft purchases, maintenance, and related investment out of Washington to competing states. The bill protects high-skill aerospace and aviation jobs by restoring predictability and competitiveness for manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers that anchor regional economies.
It also clarifies personal liability rules for trust fund taxes without weakening the state’s ability to collect legitimate taxes, ensuring fairness while maintaining enforcement integrity. The emergency clause recognizes the urgency of stopping economic damage now, not years from now, before contracts and capital permanently relocate. Repeal prevents a narrow, volatile tax from undermining a globally competitive industry that already delivers outsized payroll, innovation, and export value to Washington.
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Criminal Justice
Providing community notification regarding the release or discharge of sexually violent predators.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2349 strengthens public safety by expanding timely, structured community notification when a sexually violent predator is approaching release, conditional placement, or discharge. It amends RCW 71.09.025 to ensure agencies provide comprehensive records early to prosecutors and the attorney general, enabling informed decisions about civil commitment and risk management. The bill also requires concurrent notice of anticipated release dates to sheriffs, county leadership, and local legislators so communities are not caught off guard. By clarifying authority to obtain necessary records while tightly limiting disclosure, the measure balances transparency for safety with protections against misuse of sensitive information.
Updates to RCW 71.09.140 broaden advance notice to local executives and councils when a predator will reside or be placed under a less restrictive alternative, improving coordination among law enforcement and local governments. Victims, witnesses, and next of kin who request notice continue to receive confidential alerts, affirming that survivors’ safety and peace of mind remain central. Mandatory notification to the Washington State Patrol and inclusion in the Washington crime information center further ensures statewide situational awareness. Clear timelines—generally no later than 30 days before release and rapid notice after court orders—replace uncertainty with predictability and preparedness.
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Criminal Justice
Holding state officers and state employees to the same conflict of interest standard that is required of municipal officers.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2352 restores trust in state government by holding state officers and employees to the same strict conflict-of-interest standard that has long applied to municipal officers. The bill corrects a 2025 change that allowed state officials to hold up to a 10 percent ownership interest in entities doing business with the state, a threshold far weaker than the one percent limit imposed on local officials. By lowering the allowable ownership interest back to one percent, the legislation aligns statutory ethics law with the Washington Constitution’s clear expectation of disclosure, recusal, and integrity for legislators and other state officials. The bill recognizes that allowing laxer standards for state officials undermines public confidence and creates the appearance that lawmakers are policing themselves by easier rules than those imposed on cities and counties. It reinforces the principle that public service is a position of trust, not an opportunity for private financial benefit.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2353 raises the dollar threshold at which a formal state predesign study is required for capital projects funded in the state capital budget, moving it from 10 million to 15 million dollars. Furthermore, it directs the Office of Financial Management (OFM) to periodically review and recommend updates to the threshold so it keeps pace with inflation and construction cost changes over time. Many mid‑sized projects under 15 million are relatively straightforward; skipping a mandatory predesign step for them can shorten timelines and free up money for actual bricks‑and‑mortar rather than consultants and paperwork. The current 10 million trigger was set years ago and has not kept up with sharp increases in labor and materials; more projects are being pulled into predesign simply because of inflation, not because they are inherently complex.
Truly large or high‑risk projects above 15 million still undergo predesign, so the state can catch design flaws, scope creep, and siting issues early, protecting taxpayers from overruns. This legislation allows OFM and capital‑budget staff to focus limited analytical bandwidth on the highest‑dollar, highest‑risk projects instead of processing predesigns for every mid‑range building. Agencies already do internal planning and feasibility work; HB 2353 simply lifts an outdated statutory trigger so the mandatory extra layer is reserved for the largest projects. Concentrating predesign on the largest, riskiest projects is smart risk management, not deregulation; it’s about targeting scrutiny where the potential downside is highest.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2355 creates a new regulatory overreach for “domestic workers” that reaches deep into private households by treating many families as “hiring entities” subject to detailed workplace mandates and enforcement by the Department of Labor and Industries. It broadly covers nannies, housekeepers, gardeners, cooks, and household managers (and even some independent contractors) if they work four or more hours in any month, which will sweep in ordinary, informal arrangements that are not run like businesses. The bill imposes overtime and minimum-wage requirements and then adds compulsory written agreements that may need to be translated into languages understood by both parties, along with state-produced disclosures and recordkeeping of hours, pay, and leave. It further requires advance written notice before termination—two weeks for most and four weeks for live-in workers—or else mandates severance pay, even when family circumstances change quickly. The measure prohibits a wide set of household behaviors and contract terms, including mandatory predispute arbitration, nondisclosure/nondisparagement clauses, and noncompetes, while also regulating monitoring and communications in ways that will be difficult to apply cleanly inside a home.
Enforcement is aggressive: the department can investigate complaints, expand investigations beyond the original complaint, and impose civil penalties, and the bill authorizes private civil lawsuits for damages plus attorneys’ fees and costs. A rebuttable presumption of retaliation is created if a household takes an “adverse action” within 90 days of a worker asserting rights, shifting litigation risk onto families and making routine scheduling or performance decisions harder to defend. Although the bill includes some carve-outs (casual babysitting, pet sitting, and family members), it still risks pushing families away from hiring help at all, reducing flexible childcare and household support options and potentially encouraging off-the-books arrangements. The compliance burden and legal exposure will fall most heavily on middle-income households that cannot afford HR support, lawyers, or sophisticated payroll systems, even when they are acting in good faith. This bill is an attack on the ordinary living of many family households.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2356 amends Washington’s public records law to allow the next of kin of homicide victims to ask a court to temporarily block the release of sensitive law enforcement records when disclosure would cause substantial and irreparable harm. The bill gives families a clear legal pathway, through a motion and affidavit, to protect deeply personal and traumatic information from being released in ways that are not in the public interest. It does not create an automatic secrecy rule, but instead preserves judicial oversight so courts balance transparency against real human harm.
By limiting this authority specifically to homicide cases and excluding perpetrators from qualifying as next of kin, the bill is carefully and narrowly tailored. It recognizes that graphic details, investigative materials, or private family information can compound trauma for grieving families if released prematurely or unnecessarily. At the same time, it maintains Washington’s strong public records framework and does not eliminate access when disclosure truly serves accountability or public safety. This approach reflects compassion without undermining transparency or press freedom.
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Military & Veterans
Establishing the Washington division of civil air patrol as part of the Washington military department.
Bill Summary
HB 2357 creates a Washington division of civil air patrol within the Washington Military Department. The proposed legislation states that the division will be available to serve at the call of the governor when ordered to active state service, mirroring how other state military assets are mobilized in emergencies. It authorizes the division to cooperate with state agencies, local governments, and federally recognized tribes on cadet training, communications, disaster relief, cyber security missions, and search‑and‑rescue missions. The bill allows agreements for these missions and reimbursement of expenses, which makes it easier for counties and tribes to tap CAP’s aircraft and volunteers when lives and property are at risk.
Nothing within this bill changes or interferes with the existing Washington Wing of the federally chartered Civil Air Patrol, its rights, or its cooperation with the federal government. It simply establishes a state “division” that works alongside, not in place of, the federally chartered CAP, avoiding disruption to current volunteer operations while providing clearer state‑level authority and support. This legislation strengthens a proven, low‑cost, volunteer‑driven force that helps find lost hikers, supports emergency communications, and offers character‑building cadet programs for youth, which aligns with a focus on disciplined service rather than new bureaucracies. It has bipartisan sponsorship reflecting broad agreement that this is a practical readiness and community‑service bill.
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Housing & Property
Modifying certain funding and exemptions related to providing and maintaining affordable housing and related services.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2359 broadens what local housing taxes and fees can be spent on. It lets counties and cities use existing housing and related services sales taxes and housing‑surcharge accounts not just to build units, but to fund ongoing operations, maintenance, and services for existing affordable housing. The legislation prioritizes deep‑subsidy, permanent supportive housing and directs “Affordable Housing for All” account money toward projects targeting households at or below 30% of area median income and adds operations, maintenance, and supportive‑services as explicit, ongoing uses. Additionally, it narrows income targeting to government‑defined “very low‑income” and “extremely low‑income” groups and ties more local revenue streams to those categories.
This legislation grows a permanent homeless‑services bureaucracy. By shifting more money to operations, maintenance, and services for existing supportive housing, the bill funds agencies and service providers first, instead of focusing on personal responsibility, treatment compliance, or measurable exits from homelessness. It embraces the “housing first” model with little leverage. Nothing in the bill requires sobriety, work participation, or strong behavior standards as a condition of receiving these expanded subsidies. It simply expands the allowable uses and prioritizes OMS funding. Furthermore, it re‑tools local housing‑dedicated sales taxes and surcharges so they can be used to plug ongoing operating gaps instead of time‑limited capital projects, making it harder to ever sunset these taxes or redirect them.
HB 2359 doubles down on an approach that has not delivered visible reductions in street disorder in places like King County, but does expand the budget and authority of housing and service bureaucracies. It makes it easier for progressive local governments to argue for higher local housing taxes later, since operations and services can always claim to be underfunded once the statute invites those uses. Opposing this bill keeps pressure on the Legislature to pursue approaches that pair shelter and housing with treatment requirements, enforcement of laws, and performance metrics, rather than writing a more open‑ended check to the same system.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2362 is a comprehensive public safety measure designed to significantly reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by impaired driving in Washington. The bill lowers the per se blood alcohol concentration limit for driving from 0.08 to 0.05, aligning Washington with international best practices and evidence showing meaningful reductions in fatal crashes. Legislative findings cite clear data that crash risk doubles at 0.05 and that jurisdictions adopting this standard see, on average, an 11 percent annual reduction in alcohol-related fatalities. The bill applies this standard consistently across motor vehicles, commercial vehicles, vessels, and applicable military and recreational contexts, closing loopholes and ensuring uniform enforcement. It maintains strong due-process protections while updating penalties, license consequences, and ignition interlock requirements to reflect the new threshold.
Notably, the bill pairs enforcement with prevention by requiring a statewide, multilingual public education campaign that emphasizes safe alternatives to impaired driving and includes collaboration with hospitality businesses. It explicitly preserves existing civil liability standards for alcohol vendors, ensuring businesses are not exposed to new legal risks simply because the legal limit changes. The legislation also mandates an independent evaluation by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to assess safety, equity, and economic impacts, with an expiration clause tied to that review. This data-driven approach ensures accountability and allows lawmakers to adjust policy based on real-world outcomes. Supporting House Bill 2362 aims to save lives, modernize Washington’s traffic safety laws, and take a responsible, evidence-based step toward reversing the alarming rise in impaired-driving fatalities.