WA Legislature - Update (April 26, 2025)

In the home stretch, the conference committee on the operating budgets planned to release compromise language for consideration among the last bills receiving attention in both chambers.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Saturday April 26th, the 104th day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 2 takeaways:

There were no introductions of cannabis-related legislation on Friday, and none staged for Saturday.
- There were no introduction reports in the House nor the Senate for Saturday April 26th.

On Saturday, the final operating budget language would be revealed and legislators would convene floor sessions in advance of adjournment sine die the following day.
- 8am: WA Senate - Session
  - [ TVW - Morning, TVW - Afternoon, TVW - Evening ]
  - At publication time, there were 33 bills on the Senate floor calendar including one cannabis-related item.
    - HB 1551 - Social Equity Program Evaluation
      - See the bill text, bill report, and fiscal note for more details.
      - Presumed ineligible for consideration after the Opposite House Cutoff on Wednesday, the legislation remained calendared at publication time along with nine other House bills which were not acted upon.
- 10am: WA Legislature - Conference Committee Meeting - SB 5167 [ Event Details ]
  - SB 5167 - Operating Budget and Supplemental Operating Budget
    - On Thursday, legislative staff announced that the conference committee on the operating budgets would formally release their report containing revised bill language on Saturday morning, setting in motion final approval by both chambers of billions of dollars in State revenue appropriations.
- 11am: WA House - Session
  - [ TVW - Morning, TVW - Afternoon, TVW - Evening ]
  - After convening late again on Friday night, representatives opted to push their planned start time back 2h.
  - At publication time, there were 37 bills on the House floor calendar but no cannabis-related legislation.