Published date: January 20, 2026
Legislative Session 2026 started … Yay?
The 2026 legislative session started January 12th and is scheduled to last 60 days, ending March 12th. This is a supplemental budget year, and the state operating budget is about $2.3 billion in the red. Yet, that has not kept legislators from introducing new bills, which is unfortunate for those of us who work in Olympia.
All the bills that did not pass last session are still technically viable for this session, and, so far, the House has introduced 475 new bills and the Senate has added another 391 to that. The APWA tracking list, much more limited in scope than other entities, has over 116 bills on it.
That’s a lot of bills to consider given the policy committee bill deadline is February 4th, and the fiscal committee deadline is February 9th. The full 2026 cutoff calendar can be found here: https://leg.wa.gov/bills-meetings-and-session/session/session-documents/cutoff-calendars/ . Policy committees are straining to get through as many bill hearings as possible given the roughly 3 weeks to consider their own chamber’s bills. They have less than half that (9 days) to consider the other chamber’s bills when bills flip chambers (a bill must pass both the House and Senate to get to the Governor’s desk).
As of this writing, we have already completed 1 week of hearings. The budget committees held hearings on Governor Ferguson’s supplemental budget proposals. The Governor’s supplemental operating proposal includes a $1 billion transfer from the budget stabilization account (aka Rainy Day Fund), and around $400 million in new resources due to proposed revenue shifts and closing tax preferences. One of those revenue shifts was $75 million from the Public Works Assistance Account (PwAA) to the state general fund (beginning June 30, 2026). Estimates indicate that the sweep could leave the PWAA in the red for some 10 months in FY 2028 and result in $6.5 million in negative accrued interest, which could significantly limit the Public Works Board’s (PWB’s) capacity to meet future infrastructure funding requests from local governments. There were also $797 million in cuts included in the proposal. The Governor’s supplemental transportation budget proposal focuses on maintenance and preservation and includes $164 million for paving this summer.
During his State of the State speech, the Governor cited a statistic that the top earners in the state are currently only paying 4% of their household income in taxes while the lowest earners pay about 14%. His support a “millionaires” tax creates legitimate expectations that Legislature will consider a “high-earner” tax on those who make over $1 million a year. The supplemental budgets can be found here: https://ofm.wa.gov/budget/state-budget-2025-27/26-proposed-supplemental/ .
This week, the policy committees are kicking it into a higher gear with full hearing schedules and committee bill votes. Here are the hearings of transit interest in week 2:
Appropriations (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 1/19 @ 4:00pm
HB 2251 – Public Hearing – Concerning climate commitment act accounts. (Remote Testimony Available).
Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 1/19 @ 4:00pm
SSB 5690 – Public Hearing – Concerning actions of the department of transportation to notify utility owners of projects and seek federal funding for utility relocation costs. (Remote Testimony Available).
Local Government (House) – HHR E and Virtual JLOB – 1/21 @ 8:00am
HB 2174 – Public Hearing – Establishing accident risk zones. (Remote Testimony Available).
HB 1529 – Public Hearing – Increasing opportunities for cities to utilize county resources for road construction and maintenance. (Remote Testimony Available).
Transportation (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 1/21 @ 4:00pm
HB 1823 – Exec Session – Modifying transportation improvement board provisions.
Community Safety (House) – HHR D and Virtual JLOB – 1/22 @ 8:00am
HB 2203 – Exec Session – Creating the offense of reckless interference with emergency operations.
Local Government (Senate) – SHR 3 and Virtual JACB – 1/22 @ 1:30pm
SB 6154 – Public Hearing – Concerning local government permits for replacing existing culverts. (Remote Testimony Available). (If measure is referred to committee.)
Transportation (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 1/22 @ 4:00pm
HB 2109 – Public Hearing – Addressing vehicle loads on public highways. (Remote Testimony Available).
Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 1/22 @ 4:00pm
SB 6032 – Public Hearing – Addressing vehicle loads on public highways. (Remote Testimony Available).
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4 and Virtual JACB – 1/22 @ 4:00pm
SB 5857 – Public Hearing – Concerning architectural and engineering fee funding assistance limits for school district construction and modernization projects. (Remote Testimony Available).
Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans (House) – HHR C and Virtual JLOB – 1/23 @ 10:30am
HB 2397 – Public Hearing – Requiring timely reimbursement of state agencies and local jurisdictions mobilized under the Washington state fire services mobilization plan. (Remote Testimony Available).
HB 2351 – Exec Session – Protecting emergency responders and emergency response operations in Washington.