Washington Department of Veterans Affairs

WDVA Legislative Update: Feb 28, 2025

Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs sent this bulletin at 02/28/2025 08:56 AM PST

2025

WDVA Legislative Updates

Welcome to the WDVA Legislative Updates Email List! The first day of the Regular Legislative Session was January 13, 2025 and the session will last 105 days.

Upcoming Legislative Cutoff Days are:

February 28 when bills must pass from house of origin fiscal committees.
March 12 when bills must pass from their house of origin.

You can find more information on each of these bills by visiting https://leg.wa.gov/ .

Find out how to testify on a bill at: Washington State Legislature.

Check the WDVA Legislative Updates page for updated information throughout the week.

Bill Tracking as of February 28, 2025

Click Here to Download PDF

Bill Number	Title	Sponsor (Combined)	Status	Bill Summary	Hearing Dates
HB 1016	Veterans/employer incentives	(Abbarno)	H Finance	Creates employer credit for hiring a veteran or spouse of veteran full-time for 20% of wages and benefits paid up to $3,000 per hire. $5 million statewide annual credit cap.	Feb 4, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Finance
SHB 1022	Homes for heroes program	HOUS(Connors)	H Cap Budget	SHB: Creates a down payment and closing cost assistance program for people who work in targeted professions and meet certain income requirements. (Adds paraeducators & clarifies child care prof eligibility)	Feb 20, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Capital Budget at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.
SHB 1023	Cosmetology compact	APP(Ryu)	H Rules R	HB: Enacts the cosmetology licensure compact.
HB 1050	Naval Academy license plates	(Shavers)	H Transportation		Feb 25, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Transportation
HB 1073	National guard retention	(Leavitt)	H Approps	HB: Creates a Washington National Guard retention program. Directs the Adjutant General to study retention needs, determine eligibility criteria, and determine the amount and schedule of retention bonuses. Requires the Military Department to report on retention needs and recommendations every three years.
2SHB 1102	Veteran support and services	APP(Shavers)	H FINDP2S	2SHB: Expands funding for veterans' services by allowing counties to levy a separate veterans' assistance property tax. Requires the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) to provide information to recently discharged veterans about veterans benefits, services, and available resources. Expands county eligibility for the WDVA's Veterans Service Officer Program (Program) to counties where the percentage of veterans receiving benefits is below the national average. Prioritizes counties with the lowest percentage of veterans receiving benefits for the Program. Requires the WDVA to provide reports every two years including county-specific information about the number of resident veterans and services available.
HB 1106	Disabled veterans/prop. tax	(Barnard)	H Rules R	Reduces the combined service-connected evaluation rating percentage from 80% to 20% over a period of three years to increase the number of veterans that qualify.
HB 1114	Respiratory care compact	(Leavitt)	H Rules R	HB: Enacts the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact.
HB 1161	Veteran employability	PEW(Ryu)	H Approps	Creates the Veteran Employability Training and Career Advancement for Reentry Program to assist justice-involved veterans with civilian life. (SHB adds ESD to the bill.)
HB 1165	Property tax exemptions	(Shavers)	H Finance	Expanding access to property tax exemptions by increasing each median income category by 5% beginning in 2027.	Feb 4, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Finance
HB 1179	Property tax value freeze	(Volz)	H Finance	Proving a property tax valuation freeze for seniors and disabled veterans.
HB 1335	Military spouse employment	(Richards)	H Approps	Amends existing law regarding discrimination to include military spouses.
HB 1366	Military surplus vehicles	(Orcutt)	H Transportation	Allowing vehicles that have been an active part of military operations to operate on the public highways to be involved in parades, veterans' events, car club activities, community events, exhibitions, and other limited circumstances.
SHB 1371	Veteran parking privileges	TR(Orcutt)	S Transportation	(companion SB 5410) Establishes eligibility for parking privileges for people with disabilities for veterans who have received a qualifying discharge with a 70 percent disability rating or higher from the United States (US) Armed Forces or the US Department of Veterans Affairs and who use a service animal.
HB 1397	Local property tax levies	(Orcutt)	H Finance	Credits the county veteran's assistance levy and the county mental health and developmental disabilities levy against the state property tax levy.	Feb 4, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Finance
SHB 1541	Veterans affairs adv. comm.	TEDV(Abell)	H Rules R	SHB: Modifies the membership of the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee by allowing the Governor to appoint members from state veterans' homes, a federally recognized tribe, a current or former Washington National Guard member, a justice involved or formerly incarcerated individual, and an individual with certain lived experiences.
SHB 1738	Veteran benefits access	TEDV(Shavers)	H Approps	SHB: Expands eligibility for certain pension, retirement, and veterans' benefits based on military service. Adds federal commissioned corps to definition of uniformed services. Expands type of military service that qualifies military spouses and dependents for pension and retirement benefits, license moratoria, and veterans' employment.
HJM 4002	Medal of Honor Bridge	(Dent)	H 2nd Reading	Requests the Washington State Transportation Commission to commence proceedings to designate the bridge that carries Interstate 90 over the Columbia River near Vantage, Washington as the "Medal of Honor Bridge" to show respect and remember Medal of Honor recipients.
SSB 5017	Uniformed & overseas voting	SGTE(Nobles)	H State Govt & Tr	By request of Secretary of State: SSB: Adopts the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA) to extend to state elections law protections found in federal law to military and overseas voters and to bring greater uniformity to the military and overseas voting processes in state law. Updates provisions throughout the Revised Code of Washington for consistency with UMOVA.
SB 5200	Veteran medical foster homes	(Wagoner)	S 2nd Reading	SSB: Provides an exemption from the state's Adult Family Home licensure requirements for a Medical Foster Home that meets certain requirements
SSB 5338	Veterans affairs adv. comm.	SGTE(Nobles)	H Tech, Econ Dev	SSB: Reconfiguring the membership of the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee.
SB 5398	Veterans w/ disabilities/tax	(Conway)	S Ways & Means	Concerning property tax exemptions for veterans with disabilities.
SSB 5410	Veteran parking privileges	TRAN(Braun)	S 2nd Reading	SSB: Authorizes veterans who have a 70 percent or higher disability rating from either the United States Armed Forces or United States Department of Veterans Affairs and who use a service animal as defined in federal law to apply for special parking privileges for persons with disabilities.
SB 5420	Veteran benefits access	(Lovick)	S Rules 2	Ensuring access to state benefits and opportunities for veterans, uniformed service members, and military spouses.
SGA 9212	DAVID PUENTE JR.	()	S Confirm cal	Gubernatorial Appointment for David Puente Jr.

This list is maintained for bill tracking purposes and is not an indication that WDVA supports or opposes any of these measures. If you have any questions, please contact heidia@dva.wa.gov.

Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs

1102 Quince St. SE, PO Box 41150, Olympia, WA 98504-1150
1-800-562-2308

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