Essential information on each bill is below. For more details, click on the bill number – e.g., “SB 5000.” The new page will show the progress of the bill, videos of debate, and the link to send a comment to your legislator about the bill.
-
Parenting
Prohibiting puberty blocking medications, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition surgeries for minors.
Bill Summary
This Washington state bill proposes to restrict medical interventions related to gender transition for minors. Specifically, it would prohibit puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and certain surgeries aimed at altering a minor’s perceived gender. Exceptions are made for individuals with diagnosed disorders of sex development or those requiring treatment for conditions arising from previous transition procedures. The bill defines “sex” as biological factors present at birth and “gender” as encompassing psychological and social aspects.
Bill Summary
In 2024, Washington House Bill 2262 sought to authorize the Department of Commerce to establish and enforce energy efficiency standards for replacement tires. The proposed legislation would have allowed the department to prohibit the sale of replacement tires based on their rolling resistance. Additionally, the department would have been allowed to rely on information from California agencies to justify banning certain tires. Fortunately, this bill did not make it out of committee.
In response, Rep. Jim Walsh, R – Aberdeen has prefiled a bill for the 2025 legislative session to protect consumer choice and prioritize road safety in Washington state. This legislation, House Bill 1041, ensures that tires meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards (pursuant to 49 U.S.C. Sec. 30111) can be manufactured, sold, and used across the state without interference from additional state or local regulations.
Walsh’s proposal seeks to prohibit restrictions on tire usage or sales through greenhouse gas reduction strategies or emission standards, such as those modeled after California’s vehicle emission policies. “Tires are critical to vehicle safety, especially in Washington’s rugged and wet conditions,” said Walsh. “Limiting tire options does practically nothing to protect the environment. People in Washington should be free to choose the tires that best meet their needs without bureaucratic overreach limiting those options.”
The idea behind reducing rolling resistance is that it decreases fuel consumption. However, most of the environmental benefits are based on theories and models rather than actual driving data. Rolling-resistant tires typically have less tread depth, resulting in less road grip. Furthermore, the tires need replacing more frequently and they are more expensive than traditional tires.
-
Taxes
Creating a sales tax exemption for equipment purchased by fire districts in rural counties.
Bill Summary
House Bill 1047 proposes a sales tax exemption for equipment purchased by eligible rural fire districts. The bill aims to alleviate disproportionate costs faced by these districts due to their large service areas and small tax bases. Eligibility is determined by population, with districts exceeding 10,000 residents excluded. The exemption covers fire and emergency medical apparatus and related equipment, and takes effect October 1, 2025. The bill modifies existing sales and use tax laws to implement the exemption.
Bill Summary
Rep. Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, is proposing a new law that would expand when citizens can be charged with crimes motivated by bias even though bias was only part of the motive behind them committing the crime. House Bill 1052 seeks to amend the definition of a hate crime.
As it stands now, a person is guilty of a hate crime if they commit an act “because of” their belief about another person’s race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics. The proposed change would modify the phrase “because of” to “in whole or in part because of,” ensuring that jurors can convict if bias is a partial, but not sole, motivation.
Ryu believes that hate crimes often have mixed motives. They range from minor offenses, such as spitting on someone because of his or her race, to serious acts of vandalism. Sadly, these “perceived offenses” can include a church member speaking about the evils of homosexuality or a teacher refusing to address a student by their preferred pronoun. There is no stop to what can be charged as a ‘hate crime’ if ‘bias’ is defined by the ‘victim’.
It will, if passed, place Washington alongside several other states which include California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York, and Wisconsin, which have already adopted similar language in combating mixed motives in hate crimes. Please oppose this horrendous bill.
Bill Summary
State lawmakers have created at least 650 exceptions to the state’s Public Records Act. This proposed legislation from Peter Abbarno, R-Centrailia and Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, would require an updated report on the access to public records within state agencies. The report, due this year, would also shed light on the cost of litigation when agencies deny a public records request. This bill also recommends creating the Office of Transparency Ombuds, an independent state agency dedicated to helping requesters to obtain public records.