Legislature set to convene January 14 for 105 Days

Jan 9, 2019
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Written by Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs
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The Washington State Legislature convenes for a 105-day Session on Monday, January 14.  Sessions include all holidays and weekends so Sine Die – the end of Session  – is scheduled for Sunday, April 28 at midnight.

The Legislature welcomes 27 new members out of the 147 – 98 in the House and 49 in the Senate.  The one thing the Legislature has to do before it concludes is pass a two-year, biennial operating budget.  This will be in the neighborhood of $50 billion – the largest in state history.

Along with the budget, there will be an estimated 2,500 or more bills introduced by legislators.  In Washington State, there are no limits on how many bills any one legislator introduces.

The WRA Policy and Government Affairs team will review all of the bill introductions every day to determine if they have an impact on the retail industry.  Some bills are short, just changing or adding a word, and others are long, such as the budget that will be more than one hundred pages.

Washington Retail welcomes and encourages retailers large and small to engage and be informed about the many issues that the Legislature will be debating.  We will be reporting on developments in our weekly e-newsletter and hosting calls about the issues.  If you would like to be on our newsletter mailing list, please contact our Director of Communications Jim Szymanski:  [email protected]

If you have any questions or comments about legislation please don’t hesitate to contact me:  [email protected] or 360-704-0048

If you would like to leave a message for your elected officials please give a call to the toll-free Legislative Hotline:  1-800-562-6000.