Legislative News - Week 3 recap

Washington State Conservation Commission sent this bulletin at 01/27/2025 12:05 PM PST

Jan. 27, 2025 | Session Day 15/105

What's happening?

Week 3: Bills, bills, bills

Today marks day 15 of the 105 days that will make up the 2025 legislative session. As of Friday morning, nearly 1,100 bills have been introduced. We continue to monitor bills for potential impacts to our programs, our budget, district operations, and the laws that govern SCC and conservation districts. See more below on the steps a bill needs to take to advance through the Legislature and ultimately become law.

I have already testified twice to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. With so many new members serving on that committee, they are spending the first few weeks getting up to speed on the issues that will come before them. In the first week, each natural resource agency came before them to share their background, purpose, and priorities. The next week, SCC was asked to brief the committee on our recent study of urban agriculture, which was requested by the Legislature in 2023. To demonstrate how conservation districts support food production in urban communities, I asked the Pierce Conservation District to join me and share information on their Harvest Pierce County program.

Currently, our highest priority remains the budget. I continue to meet with legislators to share the important work of conservation districts and the need to maintain funding for our programs. My consistent message is that conservation districts typically do not take on the “low hanging fruit” to advance conservation. They work on some of the most challenging needs, advancing projects that would not happen without their strong relationships and expertise. Conservation districts work directly with people in their communities, creating locally led solutions that work for everyone. Their role in conservation is critical and irreplaceable.

Stay tuned for the next update in two weeks!

-Dani Madrone, Legislative Director of the State Conservation Commission

Resources

Legislative Headlines

Replacements picked for two WA legislators who took jobs in Ferguson’s administration | Washington State Standard
What it’s like as a freshman state lawmaker in Olympia | Washington State Standard
7 takeaways from Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson’s inaugural address | Washington State Standard

Legislative 101

Advancing a bill: a race against the cutoff calendar

The clock starts for advancing legislation the day session begins, governed by the 2025 session cutoff calendar. To modify existing laws or create new ones, legislators need to bring forward a bill for the consideration of the Legislature. Just like in the federal government, the process begins with the introduction of a bill in either chamber, the House of Representatives or the Senate. As bills are introduced, they are assigned a bill number. The legislator who introduces the bill is referred to as the prime sponsor, and other legislators can show their support by signing on as sponsors.

A bill is read into the record by its title at an open session in its chamber of origin (the chamber where it was introduced). After the first reading, a bill moves to a policy or fiscal committee. The committees can advance the bill by holding a public hearing and then choose to either pass the bill as written, make amendments to the bill, reject the bill, or take no action. Policy committees have shorter timelines, and the bill must be passed out of its policy committee by February 21 to continue to advance. If the bill impacts the state budget, it is referred to a fiscal committee and must pass by February 28.

Next, the bill is referred to the Rules Committee, which will decide if it moves to the floor of that chamber for a second reading, allowing debate, potential amendments, and a vote. The bill must pass out of its chamber of origin by March 12. It then proceeds to the opposite chamber, where the process repeats with a new set of deadlines. We'll cover that timeline in a future newsletter and the following steps if the chambers pass different versions of the same bill.

A bill can be held up at any point in this fast-paced process. If the bill stalls, it is usually considered "dead" — though zombie bills occasionally emerge. And bills that have died are sometimes included as a proviso in a budget bill. After each cutoff date at the Legislature, our list of bills to track gets shorter and shorter!

Learn more