Washington Legislature Forges Ahead on Assault Weapons Ban, New Drug Law

If bills had tombstones, March 8, 2023, would be the date after the dash for scores of proposals in the Washington Legislature.

Wednesday marked a key deadline in Olympia, where most bills that don't get a vote in either the House or the Senate are considered "dead" and can't move on this year.

Some potentially impactful policies died, including a bill to cap rent increases and one to lower the state's blood alcohol limit for driving to 0.05% from the current 0.08%. Utah is the only state to have switched to 0.05%.

Other bills march ahead to face scrutiny in the other chamber, including a proposal the House passed late Wednesday night to ban the future sale of dozens of types of firearms classified as assault weapons, including AR-15s, AK-47s and M-16s, the furthest such a bill has gotten after years of attempts.

Some bills that survived, if passed into law, would:

• Roll back some limits on when police can chase suspects in cars, lowering the evidentiary threshold from probable cause to reasonable suspicion, Senate Bill 5352;
• Step up penalties for drug possession, Senate Bill 5536;
• Reduce out-of-pocket abortion costs for patients, Senate Bill 5242;
• Allow some multifamily housing like triplexes and fourplexes in more neighborhoods, House Bill 1110;
• Speed up the permitting process for developers, Senate Bill 5290;
• Ban certain toxic chemicals in cosmetics, House Bill 1047;
• Reduce barriers to certification for home care aides, Senate Bill 5278.

Some bills that died would have:

• Lowered the blood alcohol limit for driving to 0.05% from 0.08%, Senate Bill 5002;
• Changed the state constitution to protect access to abortion and contraception, Senate Joint Resolution 8202;
• Limited police traffic stops for nonmoving violations like a broken taillight, House Bill 1513;
• Capped rent increases, House Bill 1389;
• Allowed people to sue a police officer if they acted unlawfully in the line of duty, House Bill 1025.

Some bills, while still kicking, are a pared-down version of what lawmakers initially proposed. For instance, a bill that started out as a proposal to provide free breakfast and lunch to all Washington public school students has been whittled down to instead provide free meals for students in grades K-4 in the state's lowest-income schools.

Over the past week, lawmakers and legislative staff put in long hours in the House and Senate chambers, with some floor debates going late into the night.

In a demonstration of how frantic the Capitol can get in the days before the deadline, state representatives gave a standing ovation for legislative staffers when Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, thanked them at the dais for their work after the House's last vote late Wednesday.

Jinkins told reporters Thursday that more than 300 bills have passed the House, and nearly 200 of those were passed unanimously.

There are exceptions to the chamber cutoff — such as bills that bring money into state coffers through taxes or fees. A proposal to tax assets like stocks and bonds over $250 million was slated for a late afternoon hearing Thursday.

And it's a truism in state legislatures that nothing is ever officially dead until the last gavel falls. Lawmakers have yet to propose a budget, and the 105-day session is scheduled to end in late April.

And though some bills might be dead this year, that doesn't mean they will never be revived.

Policymakers say that it can take several years of advocacy and discussion for a proposal to get enough traction to transform into law.

"Legislation is something like wine," Gov. Jay Inslee said late Wednesday night, shortly after the state House passed the ban on assault weapons. "It takes time on occasion."