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OLYMPIA — A new law signed today by Gov. Jay Inslee will ensure hate crimes can be more effectively prosecuted and courts can require offenders to complete rehabilitative programs. “Hate crimes are horrific acts of violence that do more than affect individual victims — they make whole communities feel unwelcome,” said Sen. Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond), chair of the Senate Law & Justice Committee and bill sponsor. “These crimes are corrosive to our society, and we need to have the proper tools available to protect survivors and ensure that courts can effectively supervise offenders in completing rehabilitative programs ...

The Senate on Wednesday passed House Bill 1125, the 2023-25 transportation budget. The $12.9 billion plan invests in traffic safety, expands the state patrol and ferry workforces, funds green transportation options, and keeps work on schedule for transportation projects big and small across Washington.  The bill passed the Senate 42-6.   The Senate amended its own transportation budget proposal, Senate Bill 5162, onto the House’s version of the budget which passed the House on April 3. Now work will begin between transportation leads in the Senate and House to work out ...

OLYMPIA – Sen. Marko Liias’s (D-Everett) bipartisan legislation to protect workers on Washington’s highways was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday.   Senate Bill 5272, which received unanimous support in both the Senate and House of Representatives, increases worker safety by authorizing the use of speed safety cameras in state highway work zones.   The need for this legislation comes as Washington sees an uptick in traffic collisions and fatalities, including in work zones. Data from the Washington State Department of Transportation show there were 283 ...

Legislation to help support the news media by exempting them from the state business and occupation (B&O) tax passed the Washington State Senate today on a 47-1 vote. SB 5199, sponsored by Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah), is intended to support local news outlets that have come upon tough economic times. “I've seen local newspapers and media in my district struggle over the past decade, and too many have already had to shut down,” Mullet said. “Local journalists play an essential role to inform the public, hold politicians and government accountable, and make our communities stronger. That role ...

OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee today signed SB 5729, which ensures that Washingtonians with diabetes will continue to pay no more than $35 a month for insulin. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines). In 2022, legislators passed Keiser’s previous insulin bill, which capped the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 a month, but the cap in that bill was scheduled to expire on Jan. 1, 2024. The measure was intended to be temporary while Congress passed legislation to control the cost of insulin at the federal level, but Congress failed to act. ...

OLYMPIA – New hires in Washington will no longer have to take cannabis tests as a condition of employment, under legislation passed today by the House. Washington joins California and Nevada in banning pre-employment discrimination based on cannabis. Having received minor amendments in the House, the bill will return to the Senate for a vote on concurrence before going to the governor’s desk to be signed. Currently available cannabis tests work by detecting metabolites that can remain in the body for weeks after use, long after there is any chance they are causing impairment. This makes cannabis different from ...

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Senate passed a $69.2 billion, two-year budget today on a 40-9 vote to increase funding for vital state services, including targeted support for behavioral health, public schools, housing and homelessness, and a historic investment to address the climate crisis. The two-year operating budget adds roughly $5 billion in new spending and does not rely on any new general taxes or fees. It leaves more than $3 billion in total reserves to guard against an economic slowdown and protect the state’s historically high credit rating. “Our state’s biggest challenges are prioritized in this budget. It ...

The Senate on Wednesday announced details of the 2023-25 transportation budget, a plan totaling $12.9 billion in investments across the state. The proposal focuses on traffic safety, workforce expansion in the state patrol and ferry system, electrification, transit and other green investments and keeps work on schedule for transportation projects big and small throughout Washington.  A second supplemental transportation budget for the 2021-23 biennium totaling $10.6 billion was also introduced Wednesday. “It was important in this budget that we continued the essential work we started by passing the Move ...

OLYMPIA – Members of the Senate Transportation Committee will release their 2023-25 budget proposal on Wednesday, March 29 at 10:30 a.m.   The state transportation budget funds various projects across the state – including ferries and passenger rail – and focuses on investments to improve traffic safety. This is also the first budget to use money raised by the Climate Commitment Act auctions.   Budget details will be available online at fiscal.wa.gov at approximately 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.   The transportation budget is set to be heard in the Senate Transportation Committee on ...

The Senate capital budget proposal passed the Washington State Senate today on a unanimous vote. The $7.9 billion budget makes historic investments in affordable housing, behavioral health, environmental protection, school construction, and public safety. “I’m encouraged by the strong support for this budget,” said Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah), vice chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, who is the prime sponsor and lead negotiator for the budget. “This is a historic budget that makes investments across Washington in all the issues that folks are concerned about. I’m particularly excited about the record-setting investments we’re making in affordable housing ...