u EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
Understanding the Basics is Critical BY BRIAN DANSEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
In my previous articles, I have talked about formulating legislative agenda items and having ongoing communications with you during the legislative session. With that in mind, I thought I would go over how the bill process works in Olympia.
Understanding the basics of the legislature is incredibly important and will help us regain standing in this state. The first thing to know is that in Washington State there are 49 legislative districts. For each legislative district there are two State Representatives (98 total) and one State Senator (49 total) with each district representing approximately 140,000 people. The House and Senate are considered the different “Chambers” of the Legislature. While both the House of Representatives and the Senate are very much alike, there are also distinct differences. First, State Representatives run in elections every two years, whereas State Senators run every four years.
4 | THE FRONT ROW | WSIADA.COM JANUARY 2022
When the legislature convenes every January, the State Representatives and the State Senators will gather in Olympia (preCOVID; today, it’s a hybrid of in person meetings and zoom style meetings). From there, members of both chambers are allowed to begin the process of dropping bills at the Code Reviser’s Office. State Representatives and State Senators are the ONLY people who can drop bills. Government Agencies can recommend a bill to a lawmaker, just as a paid lobbyist can, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the member of the legislature themselves. Once a bill is “dropped” at the Code Reviser’s Office, it gets filed and is then sent to the appropriate chamber to be taken up in the legislative session. However, this is the part of the process that is understood the least. The bill now goes to the appropriate committee of origin for a hearing and the opportunity for the public to comment in support or opposition of the underlying bill. The committees themselves are always controlled by who has the majority in the legislature. In Washington State, that has meant one-party control for nearly 35 years. After the bill gets a hearing in its committee of origin, it then goes one of two places. If the bill costs money it goes to the Ways & Means Committee, whereas if the bill is only a policy bill and doesn’t carry any financial burden, it goes to the Rules Committee to be considered for a vote. Whichever party is in power determines which bills will get a full vote on the Floor and which won’t see the light of day. Now, the bill is ready to be debated and ultimately voted on. However,
this is only half of the journey, because once you have gone through all of that----you start the process completely over in the opposing chamber! In other words, if you dropped a bill as a Senator, you would go through this entire lengthy process, and then it would go to the House of Representatives and to another committee, and then to their Rules Committee or Ways & Means Committee and then finally to the Floor for a vote. Once a bill gets to this point, there is still no guarantee you will pass your bill because the final thing needed for a bill to become a law is the Governor’s signature. The governor has the ability to veto any bill, which is frankly rare these days because by the time a bill has gotten through both chambers of the legislature, it shows that it is probably not too controversial, and so typically there are few vetoes. I hope this helps you understand the legislative process just a little bit better. It also gives us multiple opportunities to weigh in on any bills we need to. Be on the lookout for more information about this topic as we get closer to the legislature convening in January.
On behalf of everyone at WSIADA, from the Board of Directors and staff, we wish you and yours a very Happy New Year!
