
April 21, 2025 Final week of the 2025 session The legislative session will adjourn, sine die, on Sunday, April 27. This is the final week for legislative action. We are still waiting for the Legislature to agree on a final revenue and spending package for the operating, capital, and transportation budgets. Legislators are also wrapping up work on policy bills. Bills had to pass out of the opposite house last week, but work continues to resolve differences that may occur if the opposite house amended the bill. In those cases, a bill needs concurrence—in other words, the house of origin needs to approve the changes. If they do not concur, the bill dies or the chambers (House and Senate) send the bill to a conference committee to work out a compromise that both sides can agree to. Bills that are fully adopted by both chambers go to the Governor for signature. The Governor has five days to act on bills that come to him before the last week of the session, and 20 days for bills that come after. May 20 is the final deadline for the Governor to sign or veto bills. The Governor can veto all or specific sections of a bill. Check out our final Bill Hot Sheet for this session to see where many of the bills we’ve tracked closely ended up. For a comprehensive debrief on city outcomes this session, register for our session recap webinar on May 22. Happy Sine Die to all who celebrate, Candice Bock Government Relations Director It’s not looking good: A modest update to the local property tax cap is in peril HB 2049 proposes a modest, optional, and data-backed change to the outdated local property tax cap. While it passed out of the House Finance Committee on Saturday, we are hearing that Governor Bob Ferguson has indicated he is not in favor of this option and is therefore unlikely to sign it. Hearing this, AWC sent a letter to the Governor late on Friday urging him to support this legislation to fund essential community services like public safety. The legislative session is not over yet, so it’s not too late to make an impact. Talk to your legislators and the Governor’s Office to tell them how your community would benefit from a modest, but locally impactful update to the cap. Use AWC’s communication resources to help you. More Great news for cities: Priority public safety funding bill passes the Senate HB 2015 passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote, bringing Washington closer to two new pathways for public safety funding. Contact your legislators to say “thank you” and tell them how important this funding will be to your city’s ability to hire more officers and co-responders. Read more about the current version of the bill along with clarifications about what the new grant and sales tax do for cities. More Final week of session brings new revenue package to help fill budget gap The Senate and House have introduced new bills as the Legislature seeks a final budget deal to bridge the state’s revenue gap. Most bills were heard and scheduled to pass out of the Senate and House fiscal committees. Time is running out to reach agreement and end the session by April 27. Meanwhile, the Governor has expressed concern with a budget that relies too heavily on new revenues, citing concerns about Washington’s economy if federal funding continues to be reduced. More Register for AWC’s 2025 legislative session recap May 22 \| Online Join the AWC Advocacy team for a full recap of city-related issues from the 2025 legislative session. Hear AWC’s team of lobbyists provide an overview of outcomes on AWC’s legislative priorities, summarize the impacts of passed legislation on cities, and talk through the adopted state budget. Register now. CityVoice Podcast: Advocating for your city outside of legislative session, with Carl Schroeder With just one week left in the legislative session, AWC's Government Relations Deputy Director Carl Schroeder discusses strategies that city and town leaders can use to strengthen relationships and secure support for their communities' priorities between legislative sessions. Communication, coalition-building, and inviting state legislators into local budget processes are all methods of building bridges to future success in Olympia. Listen here. Then download the Strong cities advocacy guide to see why session is just the tip of the iceberg and to find practical advice on year-round advocacy. Visit AWC’s bill tracker for easy access to the bills you’re most interested in and to filter by the information you’re looking for, whether it’s a brief description of a bill, the status of bills you’re tracking, or AWC’s comprehensive coverage. Tip: Don't forget to bookmark the tracker and check it regularly for the latest updates. This week’s bill highlights: Affordable housing Housing Accountability Act crosses the finish line, but is now optional (SB 5148) More Parking bill passes Legislature with preemptions intact (SB 5184) More Budget & finance Local tax rate notification passes (SB 5315) More Environment & natural resources Recycling Reform Act passes the House (SB 5284) More HR & labor relations Bill undermining grievance settlements sent back to Senate with amendments (SB 5503) More Small city police arbitration bill passes Legislature (SB 5040) More Public works & infrastructure Legislature adopts updates to responsible bidder criteria on public works projects (HB 1549) More Public works prevailing wage bill stalls ahead of opposite house fiscal cutoff (SB 5061) More Stakeholders to continue work on prompt pay bill—expect it to return next year (SB 5176) More Transportation Amended bill increasing cap on relocation assistance payments goes back to House (HB 1733) More Bill to include tribal impact assessments in city transportation planning fails to advance (SB 5374) More Primary roads through a central business district may be designated “shared streets” (SB 5595) More FEMA ends Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. A federal program investing in hazard and disaster mitigation projects and programs was abruptly canceled in early April. More Commerce seeks feedback on guidance for setting residential development fees. Comments due April 30. More NLC provides a summary of executive actions and their impacts on local governments. This resource is updated periodically with links and summaries for executive orders and information for impacted cities. More Want the latest on all the legislative action? Join AWC’s City Action Call this Friday (city members only) Join us this Friday at 12:30 pm for our final City Action Call of the 2025 session. In these meetings, AWC lobbyists provide legislative updates and city officials have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. Register now.
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