WAWG
By Diana Carlen
WAWG Lobbyist
With less than a week remaining in the 60-day session as of March 7, the 2026 legislative session enters the home stretch. The Legislature reached two major milestones this past week. The first was March 2, the last day to pass opposite chamber bills from House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees. The second deadline was March 6 at 5 p.m., the last day to consider opposite chamber bills with the exception of budget legislation and bills necessary to implement budgets. That means any policy bills that have not passed out of both chambers (Senate and House) are dead for this year.
In the final week of the session, lawmakers will be focused on negotiating the final operating, capital, and transportation budgets and reconciling differences between bills that passed both chambers. We expect the final negotiated budgets to be released on March 10 or March 11. March 12 is the final day allowed for the 2026 Legislative Session.
One of the primary bills necessary to implement the budget that is still awaiting a vote in the House is the bill dubbed the millionaire’s tax or the income tax on high earners. Earlier this week, the bill was in serious doubt because Gov. Ferguson had sent an email to his campaign supporters indicating the bill was still not in the shape that he could support and that the bill might need to wait until the 2027 session to pass it.
On March 6, a new version of the millionaire’s tax was released. Gov. Ferguson released a statement shortly after the new version was made public indicating that he would sign this version of the bill, as he believed it meets the goal of sending “a significant percentage of that revenue back to Washington families and small business owners to make life more affordable,” which includes expanding eligibility for Working Families Tax credit, reducing taxes on small business owners, and creating a tax exemption on common products such as diapers and hygiene products. See his full statementhere.
Rumors had also been circulating all week that House Democrats might not have the votes to pass the income tax on high earners. It is anticipated that the House may bring the bill up for a vote on Monday.
Notable Action This Past Week:
- Fuel Emissions Compliance Thresholds (Second Substitute House Bill 2215), sponsored by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle), lowers the threshold for fuel suppliers that began importing and selling fossil fuels after Jan. 1, 2023 (the date the state’s cap and trade law went into effect), to 500 metric tons, bringing additional gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, and propane suppliers into the cap-and-invest program and tightening greenhouse gas reporting and transparency requirements. Distributors operating before the Climate Commitment Act remain at the current threshold of 25,000 metric tons per year before being regulated under the CCA. An amendment to House Bill 2215 was adopted in the House Appropriations Committee to exempt emissions from the combustion, oxidation, or other end use of lubricants from Climate Commitment Act compliance obligations beginning Jan. 1, 2027. This was a priority for the agricultural community and will provide some relief to farmers when purchasing lubricants beginning in 2027. The bill passed out of the Senate on March 6 by a vote of 41-7. The bill needs to go back to the House for concurrence since the Senate made amendments.
- Statewide Food Security Coordination (HB 2238), sponsored by Rep. Kristine Reeves (D-Federal Way), expands the Department of Agriculture’s statutory responsibilities to monitor overall food system performance and coordinate statewide food security efforts across agencies, tribes, nonprofits, research institutions, and industry experts. The bill also directs the department to develop and deliver by Dec. 1, 2027, a time-limited, statewide food security strategy focused on ending hunger, improving nutrition and health equity, and strengthening agricultural viability and supply chain resilience, with these new planning provisions expiring July 1, 2028. The bill passed out of the Senate on March 5 by a vote of 45-3. The bill now goes to the governor for his signature.
- EITE Treatment under CCA: (Engrossed Senate Bill 6246), directs the Department of Ecology to provide recommendations to the Legislature regarding no-cost allowance allocation to Emissions-Intensive, Trade-Exposed (EITE) facilities (such as food processors) in the cap-and-trade program between 2035-2050. The revised bill no longer conditions the receipt of no-cost allowances to EITEs based upon submission of EITE plans. In addition, the onerous, expensive reporting elements in the earlier versions of the bill have been deleted. Instead, the bill now requires the owner or operator of an EITE facility, by December 2028 and then quadrenially, to provide information to Ecology regarding facility-specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an assessment of technically and economically feasible measures to reduce GHG emissions at each facility. A coalition of EITEs, including Food Northwest, worked with the prime sponsor of the bill to perfect the bill. EITEs support the bill as currently drafted. The bill passed the House on March 6 by a vote of 57-38. Because the House made amendments to the bill, it needs to go back to the Senate for concurrence, meaning the Senate has to agree to the changes made by the House, which we anticipate happening. Then the bill will be delivered to the governor for his signature. The most current version of the bill can be found here.
- Immigrant Worker Protection Act (2SSB 2105), sponsored by Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-Mukilteo), is attorney general request legislation. It would require an employer, beginning Oct. 1, 2026, to notify its workers within five days of receiving a federal Notice of Inspection of Employment Eligibility Verification Forms I-9 audit. The notice must be posted in conspicuous places on the premises of the employer where notices to workers are customarily posted. The employer must also transmit the notice directly to workers using the primary method of communication typically used by the employer, which must include at least one of the following: hand delivery to the worker; mail with proof of delivery; email with proof of transmission; or text message sent telephonically, which may include a link to a notice maintained on a web page, with proof of transmission. The bill authorizes both the Attorney General and a private right of action to concurrently enforce these protections through civil actions with escalating statutory damages. The bill imposes a $500 penalty for each missed notice which can be doubled if the Attorney General determines that the violation was willful. Workers and former workers could also sue, with the court able to award actual damages or statutory damages equivalent to 40 times the hourly Washington State minimum wage per plaintiff per violation, whichever is greater. HB 2105 passed the Senate on March 5 by a vote of 27-21. Because the Senate made changes to the bill, it now goes back to the House for concurrence for the House to agree to the changes. The most recent version of the bill can be found here.
- IncomeTax (Senate Bill 6346), sponsored by Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle), creates a new 9.9% state individual income tax on high-income residents (those with adjusted gross income of $1 million). Under the proposal, households earning more than $1 million annually would pay a 9.9% tax; the first $1 million of someone’s annual income would be deducted, and anything earned after that would be subject to the 9.9% tax. The tax does not include the value of an individual’s home or retirement savings. Notably, an earlier amendment was adopted to the income tax bill that rolls back expanded retail sales taxes lawmakers adopted last year on certain services such as IT, temporary staffing, and live presentations. Under this amendment, the repeal would take effect Jan. 1, 2030. A tax on advertising services that drew a lawsuit from cable giant Comcast would remain in place. The bill is currently on the House floor calendar awaiting a vote.
- Estate Tax Rate Rollback (Engrossed Senate Bill 6347), sponsored by Sen. Claudia Kauffman (D-Kent), rolls back the scheduled estate tax increases passed by the Legislature last year which made Washington state the top estate tax in the nation at 35%. SB 6347 restores the state’s estate tax rate structure to a 10% to 20% rate for those dying on or after July 1, 2026. The bill is currently on the House floor calendar awaiting a vote.
- Hazardous Substance Tax Exemption Extension (Senate Bill 6244), sponsored by Sen. Nikki Torres (R-Pasco), extends the existing hazardous substance tax exemption for qualifying agricultural crop protection products that are temporarily warehoused but not otherwise used, manufactured, packaged, or sold in the State of Washington. The bill extends the scheduled sunset from 2028 to 2038. The bill is currently on the House floor calendar awaiting a vote. The bill is likely considered “necessary to implement the budget” and not subject to legislative deadlines.
- Increasing Transmission Capacity (Senate Bill 6355), sponsored by Sen. Hunt (D-Issaquah). After two bills failed to pass the Senate floor in dramatic fashion at the house or origin cutoff (SB 5466 relating to increasing transmission capacity and SB 5609 relating SEPA cultural resources review), SB 6355 was introduced and referenced in the Senate budget to make it not subject to legislative deadlines. SB 6355 establishes a Washington Electric Transmission Authority run by a 10-person board of directors. The Authority has numerous duties outlined in the bill that include supporting the expansion of and upgrades to the electric transmission system as a state-wide resource for transmission. The bill establishes a tribal clean energy partnership workgroup to identify and evaluate opportunities for tribal participation in clean energy facilities and infrastructure. The new bill includes a $5,000 fee for petitions for the transmission authority to support a transmission project. The new fee allowed it to be declared “necessary to implement the budget,” exempting it from nonbudget legislative deadlines. SB 6355 passed the Senate 30-19 on March 3. It received a public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee on March 5 and is scheduled for executive session on March 9.
Notable DEAD Bills:
- Environmental Crimes (Second Engrossed Substitute Bill 5360), sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma),was a comprehensive environmental enforcement bill that would have created a tiered system of criminal penalties for violations of Washington’s key environmental statutes, including the Water Pollution Control Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Hazardous Waste Management Act. The bill was introduced originally in 2025, but no action was taken until the house of origin cutoff. The Senate brought it up as the final bill before the deadline and passed it out by a vote of 27-22. The bill was amended on the floor. The bill has significant opposition from business groups who argue it could open individuals up to criminal prosecution who unwittingly or unintentionally break the law. The bill also faced significant opposition from labor groups. The bill was heard in the House Environment & Energy Committee on Feb. 23, but was not brought up for a vote in committee by the opposite policy committee cutoff deadline and is dead this session.
- Data Center Energy Regulation (E2SHB 2515), sponsored by Representative Beth Doglio (D‑Olympia), establishes a new regulatory framework for “emerging large energy use facilities” defined as very large data centers with at least 20 megawatts of maximum aggregate contract demand primarily engaged in data processing, hosting, and related services. The bill requires specialized utility tariffs or contracts designed to prevent cost shifts to other customers, long‑term service commitments with minimum annual charges and exit fees, full cost recovery for interconnection and service, curtailment during energy emergencies, treatment of marginal load through demand response or equivalent demand reductions, and exposure to real‑time wholesale prices. A public hearing was held in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Feb. 27, but not brought up for a vote in committee by deadline.
- Agricultural Regulatory Reform Task Force (House Bill 2619), sponsored by Rep. Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake), would have created a temporary joint legislative task force to identify and recommend ways to streamline, eliminate, or modify existing regulations that contribute to stress for agricultural producers, particularly in land use, water, grazing, and pesticide oversight. The task force, composed of bipartisan legislators and key agency representatives, would have been required to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by Nov. 1, 2028. The bill was not brought up for a vote on the Senate floor by the deadline.