Washington State Democracy Legislation & ACTION NEEDED

The Washington State legislative session continues. This is the FIRST year of the biennium, which lasts 105 days, ending on April 27th. All bills introduced this year will carry over to next year if they don't pass this session. 

PRIORITY BILL:

Even-Year Elections:

HB 1339 – Shifting general elections for local governments to even-numbered years to increase voter participation.

Status & Hearings: 

• Public hearing held on Jan 21 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. You can view the hearing HERE.

• Executive session held on Feb 4 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. Passed out of committee & referred to House Appropriations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for public hearing on Feb 13 in the House Committee on Appropriations at 4:00 PM (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Permits cities, towns, and certain special purpose districts to choose to hold their elections in even-numbered years instead of odd-numbered years.

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Protections Against Voter Reg. Challenges:

HB 1916* - Amending voter registration challenges and managing voter registration lists.

*This is a NEW Bill to replace HB 1223.

Status & Hearings: 

• Scheduled for public hearing on Feb 11 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 14 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 9:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Outlines procedures for updating voter lists. 

• Limits frivolous claims by modifying forms, processes, and methods of adjudication for voter registration challenges.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Washington VOICES Act for Ranked Choice Voting

HB 1448 – Increasing representation and voter participation in local elections.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held on Jan 28 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 11th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary:  

• Also know as the Washington VOICES (Voting Options, Implementation, Compliance, Education & Standards) Act.

• Permits the use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in elections for offices in counties, cities, towns, school districts, fire districts, and port districts, and establishes certain requirements for RCV ballot design and vote tabulation.

• Establishes an RCV work group to advise and aid the Secretary of State when developing implementation and support materials for local governments that enact RCV.

Please also register your support for HB 1448 HERE.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Voting Rights Restoration:

HB 1196 – Revoking a person's voting rights only when convicted of a state crime punishable by death.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held on Feb 5th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 11 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• This bill would revoke a person's voting rights only when convicted of a state crime punishable by death.

• It would amend Washington state's RCW (Revised Code of Washington) definition of "infamous crime" as a state crime punishable by death.

• This definition applies for purposes of voter qualifications and does not apply when the term "infamous crime" is used in other titles of the Revised Code of Washington, unless otherwise stated or the context requires otherwise.

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Preclearance Guidelines with WA Voting Rights Act:

HB 1710 – Concerning compliance with the Washington voting rights act of 2018.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held on Feb 5th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 11th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Identified "Covered jurisdictions" that within the previous 25 years, has become subject to a court order, government enforcement action, court-approved consent decree, or a settlement in which the political subdivision conceded liability based upon a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, the 15th amendment to the United States Constitution, or any voting-related violation of the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution or of the Washington Constitution, must get preclearance to implement any change to the method of election of members of a governing body, including the removal of seats, the addition of seats elected at large, or the conversion of one or more seats elected from a single-member district to one or more at-large seats or seats from a multimember district.

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Voter Guidelines under WA Voting Rights Act:

HB 1750 – Creating guidelines for voter suppression and vote dilution claims under the Washington voting rights act.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held on Feb 5th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 11th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• This bill would create guidelines for voter suppression and vote dilution claims under the Washington voting rights act.

• The bill encourages participation by all eligible voters and would provide voters in this state with a means to challenge all forms of racial discrimination in voting, including vote dilution and suppression.

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Local News:

SB 5400 – Supporting local news journalism.

Status & Hearings: 

• Public hearing held on Jan 28 in the Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 14 in the Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce at 8:00 AM. (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Establishes the Washington Local News Journalism Corps Program (Journalism Corps Program) in the Department of Commerce to make grants supporting the employment of news journalists covering civic affairs in underserved communities.

• Requires $20 million of the funds deposited into the Workforce Education Investment Account to be used to support the Journalism Corps Program each fiscal year.

• Increases the cap for the workforce education investment surcharge that is imposed on select advanced computing businesses from $9 million annually to $15 million annually.

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Ballot Signature Gathering:

SB 5382 – Concerning requirements pertaining to signatures and addresses of ballot measure petitioners and petition signature gatherers.

Status & Hearings: 

• Public hearing was held on Feb 4 in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Scheduled for executive session on Feb 14 in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 10:30 AM. (Committee Materials). You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Requires signature gatherers circulating initiative and referendum petitions to sign declarations, and provides lines on the petition to do so.

• Requires the secretary of state to verify residential addresses when verifying petition signatures.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Jail Voting Access:

HB 1146 – Improving access and removing barriers to voting in jails and state hospitals.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations on January 15th. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Executive action taken on Feb 7th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. Passed out of committee and will be referred to House Appropriations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Requires county auditors to create a Voting Plan (Plan) for each jail and state hospital within the county, including details about how the jail or hospital will help people who are incarcerated register to vote and access and complete a ballot.

• Requires jails and state hospitals to implement their Plans and provide voter registration information, ballot-related information, and ballots to people who are incarcerated.

• Authorizes the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) to investigate and bring an action against a county, jail, or state hospital for a violation of this act and authorizes the court to award $25,000 per violation to the AGO for remittance to the Office of the Secretary of State to use towards increasing accessibility for voters in jails and state hospitals.

• Requires the Secretary of State to contract with the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and Governance to identify challenges and make recommendations related to voter registration and voting access for people who are incarcerated in jail or patients in a state hospital.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Act for Civic Engagment:

HB 1147 – Supporting civic engagement for incarcerated and institutionalized individuals in state custody to promote inclusion and rehabilitation.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations on Jan 15th. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• An executive session was held on Jan 31 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations and the substitute bill PASSED out of committee. Referred to House Appropriatiions. You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary Substitute Bill: 

• Establishes a right to civic engagement for individuals who are incarcerated or receiving treatment at certain state institutions and provides provisions for enforcement of the right.

• Creates the Civic Engagement Coordinator within the Office of Equity (OEQ) and establishes duties of the OEQ to assist certain agencies in upholding an individual's right to civic engagement.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Language Access:

HB 1381 – Improving meaningful access to elections by increasing language assistance.

Status & Hearings: 

• Public hearing held on Jan 21 in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Executive action taken on Feb 7th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. Passed out of committee and will be referred to House Appropriations.You can view the hearing HERE. 

Bill Summary: 

• Sets the threshold lower than the federal threshold for when counties must provide language assistance during elections by requiring counties to do so when more than 2.5 percent of citizens in certain language minority groups (LMG) are of voting age or are qualified to register to vote, are limited-English proficient, and have not completed the fifth grade at a rate higher than the national average.

• Creates a pilot program that requires counties with populations between 125,000 and 225,000 to provide language assistance during elections when more than 1.5 percent of citizens in certain LMGs are of voting age or are qualified to register to vote, are limited-English proficient, and have not completed the fifth grade at a rate higher than the national average.

• Requires the Secretary of State to determine which counties are subject to these language assistance provisions.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Expanding Automatic Voter Registration:

SB 5077 – Concerning expansion of voter registration services by government agencies.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held on Jan 21 in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• An executive session was held on Jan 24 in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections. PASSED out of committee and will be sent to the Senate Rules Committee. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Passed to Rules Committee for second reading. This bill may be headed to the Senate Floor for a vote soon. 

Bill Summary: 

• Requires the Governor to decide which additional local, state, federal, and tribal agencies may offer automatic voter registration.

• Authorizes the Health Benefit Exchange to provide Healthplanfinder information to the Secretary of State to facilitate voter registration.

• Clarifies the voter registration process if the Department of Corrections is designated to provide voter registration services.

• Authorizes the Secretary of State to employ online voter registration through agency and other websites.

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PRIORITY BILL:

Election Day Holiday:

HB 1116 – Recognizing election day as a state holiday.

Status & Hearings: 

• A public hearing was held in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations on January 14th. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Executive action taken on Jan 17th in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. Passed unanimously and referred to House Appropriations. (Majority Report). You can view the hearing HERE. 

• A public hearing was held on Jan 27 in the House Committee on Appropriations. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Executive action taken on Feb 5th in the House Committee on Appropriations. Substitute bill passed unanimously. You can view the hearing HERE. 

Substitute Bill Summary: 

• Designates Election Day as a legislatively recognized day.

• Encourages governmental entities and educational and cultural organizations to recognize Election Day and engage in educational programming.

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Election Security:

SB 5014 – Concerning election security.

Status & Hearings: 

• Public hearing held on Jan 21 in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections. You can view the hearing HERE. 

• Executive action was taken on Feb 7th in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections. Passed substitute bill out of committee and referred to Senate Rules. You can view the hearing HERE. 

Original Bill Summary: 

• Requires secretary of state approval on any equipment or platforms used to provide voter assistance.

• Sets forth security breach disclosure requirements for organizations contracted to provide support to, or manufacturers or distributors of the voter registration database system or official voter list, or both.

• Mandates cybersecurity measures to be implemented by each county auditor.

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Automatic Voter Registration for Tribal Members:

HB 1713 – Concerning automatic voter registration for tribal members.

Status & Hearings: It has not yet been scheduled for a hearing this session.

Bill Summary Substitute Bill: 

• Upon final execution of a state-tribal compact of this act, the secretary of state must receive and process voter registration information for all members of a tribe from the tribe.

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Addressing Money in Elections:

SJM 8001 – Calling on Congress to exercise its authority under Article V of the United States Constitution to regulate money spent on elections.

Status & Hearings: It has not yet been scheduled for a hearing this session.

Bill Summary: 

(5) States that the amendment does not limit the rights of individual human beings to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free exercise of religion, or freedom of association.

Please register your support for SJM 8001 HERE.

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