The 2014 Legislative Session hit a major cut-off date today, and non-budgetary policy bills that didn’t pass the house of origin by 5:00 p.m. are dead for this year.
Most major bills made the cut, however, says House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan.
“We started the session with a list of priorities,” Sullivan said. “Many of those had passed the House with bipartisan support last session, only to die in the Senate – and they passed with bipartisan support again this session.”
At the top of that list was the Dream Act.
In an unprecedented move, the House passed the Dream Act to the Senate on the first day of the 2014 session. Though they let it die last year, this time the Senate responded with a similar bill a few weeks later. Today, that legislation was the first Senate bill passed by the House this year, and is now on its way to Governor Inslee’s desk.
Besides unfinished business from 2013, the House passed legislation addressing issues that emerged during the interim.
Among top priorities awaiting action in the Senate:
HB 1043 – Eliminating differential tuition and maintaining the GET program
HB 2377 – Early start act
HB 2536 – Breakfast after the bell
HB 1313 — Paid sick and safe leave
HB 2725 – Involuntary treatment decisions
HB 2594 – Expanding health care
HB 2201 – Tax preference transparency
HB 1294 – Toxic-free kids and families
HB 2347 – Oil transportation
HB 2148 – Reproductive parity
HB 1279 – Motor voter preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds
HB 1413 – Voting rights act
HB 1840 – Protecting victims of domestic violence
HB 2706 – Restricting access to marijuana for minors
HBs 2331, 2332, 1333, 1334 – Worker protections
HB 2472 – Save Toward a Retirement Today (STaRT)