It’s nearly half-way into the 105-day session and time’s up for Washington state lawmakers to pass non-budget bills out of committee.
Feb. 20 was the first policy cutoff of the session and the end for many of the more than 2,200 bills introduced so far this year.
Lawmakers are still considering an increase to the state’s minimum wage, a push to make it a crime to hold a phone while driving, a bill to require doctors to notify parents when a teen seeks an abortion, a push to remove personal belief as a vaccine exemption. The full list of bills that made out out of committee by the policy cutoff deadline is here.
Stalled bills include a push to discourage minors from vaping, an effort to abolish the state’s death penalty, a bill to make it a crime to secretly record video at a farm and a proposal to end Daylight Savings in Washington.
Gov. Jay Inslee last week signed the first bill of the session, adding nearly $218 million to the 2013-2015 operating budget for natural disasters, court payouts and other unexpected costs.
Bills with a fiscal note have until Friday to receive a committee reading. The next deadline for bills to pass out of their house of origin is March 11.