by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
March 3, 2026
We’re in the home stretch of Washington’s 2026 legislative session.
It means a near-constant culling of the legislation that lawmakers are considering. Monday and last Wednesday marked important deadlines to get bills out of committees in the chamber opposite where they were introduced.
Measures that didn’t clear these hurdles are likely dead for the year.
Backers of bills that made it can’t breathe a sigh of relief yet.
The rest of this week will be filled with floor action in the House or Senate, as bills have to pass the chambers by 5 p.m. Friday. Budget legislation and measures considered “necessary to implement the budget” are immune from the deadlines.
Lawmakers have a lot of work to do as they sprint to the finish. They have dozens of bills they want to send to the governor and three budgets to finalize — not to mention a controversial income tax on million-dollar earners — before the session ends March 12.
Here’s a sampling of the bills that didn’t survive the latest deadlines.
Environmental crimes
A contentious proposal to increase penalties for crimes that harm the environment is one of the casualties.
Senate Bill 5360 would’ve created a new, tiered system of punishments for violations of the Clean Air Act, Water Pollution Control Act and Hazardous Waste Management Act. Backers saw it as a way to hold polluters accountable. Critics said the idea went too far, exposing too many people and businesses to too much criminal liability in the course of their work.
It passed the Senate with no Republican support and a few Democrats defecting, before cratering in a House policy committee. For Republicans, the bill was high on the list of Democratic-backed measures they wanted to block this year. It advanced further in 2025.
Cryptocurrency
AARP pushed hard for guardrails around emergent cryptocurrency kiosks that scammers have used to defraud people out of thousands of dollars. The ATMs are often found in grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants.
Senate Bill 5280 would’ve added a new $2,000 daily transaction limit and implemented new disclosure requirements to help protect consumers. It passed the Senate with some bipartisan support.
But it couldn’t make it past the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee. Chair Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, had said the version that came from the Senate didn’t have the support of the majority of the committee. She said last month she wanted to bring together the crypto industry and advocates to hatch a compromise — an effort that apparently fell short.
“In these difficult times, it’s important to be sensitive that different cultures move money and things of value in different ways and we do not want to remove those mechanisms,” Walen said in an email last month. “We DO want to protect consumers and we DO want to create guardrails around their use, while also allowing our residents to avail themselves of all kinds of money transmission services available, safely.”
Cathy MacCaul, the advocacy director for AARP Washington, is frustrated.
“The House of Representatives is responsible for the demise of this bill and it comes at the expense of Washington consumers who will continue to be exposed to scams, financial exploitation, and irreversible losses,” MacCaul said in a statement.
Expanding the Board of Natural Resources
Another toppled bill would have added tribal representation to the Board of Natural Resources, which decides on state logging sales and land management policies.
Requested by the Department of Natural Resources, Senate Bill 5838 would have added two tribal members to the six-person board.
Critics argued that because tribes are not beneficiaries of state trusts, tribal members could be more likely to vote against timber sales. Supporters argued that the state could learn from Native American land management practices.
The bill passed the Senate, but did not advance out of the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Wildfire insurance
Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer pitched lawmakers on a pair of bills dealing with property insurance and wildfires.
Senate Bill 6079 would’ve barred insurers from using wildfire risk as a disqualifying risk factor for properties if they meet standards for wildfire preparedness.
And Senate Bill 5928 would’ve required insurance companies to provide policyholders with their wildfire risk score when it affects their policy. Policyholders would’ve been able to ask for a revision to their score. It would’ve also forced companies to share information about their wildfire risk models with Kuderer’s office.
The proposals had varying levels of bipartisan support in the Senate, but smoldered out in the House.
Kuderer called it “troubling” that the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee didn’t advance her proposals.
“These are good bills that will make a significant difference to people in our state who are struggling to keep their homes insured due to our state’s increased wildfire risk,” she said in a statement.
A trio of other bills Kuderer requested also passed the Senate, but didn’t get out of the same House committee.
Artificial intelligence
While lawmakers have several ideas to regulate emerging artificial intelligence, a proposal called the Spark Act would’ve created a grant program to promote the development of innovative uses of the technology.
It was up for a vote out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday, but the panel didn’t take action on it.
Elections
House Bill 2574 would’ve set up procedures for when an electoral candidate dies while running for office. If the primary is over, the candidate with the third-most votes qualifies for the general election. But if ballots for the general have already been ordered, then votes for the deceased candidate wouldn’t be counted.
Before a primary, the deceased candidate would be removed from the ballot. If they’re the only candidate, then the position is left vacant.
The legislation followed the death of Tom Crowson while running for a Lewis County fire commissioner position. He died too close to the primary election to remove his name from the ballot. He nearly won the campaign posthumously, leading to a recount. The legislation looked to avoid such unnecessary taxpayer-funded recounts in the future.
The House passed the bill. But it didn’t make it through a Senate policy committee.
Pet insurance
Earlier this year, the House unanimously passed legislation prohibiting pet insurance companies from canceling or refusing to renew a policy based on a pet’s age or newly-discovered health condition. But House Bill 1078 faltered in the Senate.
Rules of the road
House Bill 2203 would’ve imposed stricter penalties on drivers who ignore emergency road closures. The issue hit close to home for the sponsor, Rep. Joshua Penner, a Republican who is also the mayor of Orting. He said he saw people driving past barricades during the December flooding. The one confirmed death from the flooding came when a man drove past warning signs and his car got submerged in floodwaters.
The legislation passed the House nearly unanimously. The Senate Transportation Committee was scheduled to vote on it Monday, but didn’t take action.
Child welfare
Senate Bill 5071 looked to provide a potential solution to increasing drug-related deaths and critical injuries in Washington’s child welfare system. It would’ve expanded the crime of child endangerment with a controlled substance to include fentanyl and lowered the standard for filing such a criminal charge.
After passing the Senate with bipartisan support, the bill, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, didn’t get a hearing from the House Community Safety Committee. The legislation has suffered a similar fate the past few years.
House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said that while she hadn’t reviewed Braun’s bill, “one thing we share, bipartisanly and bicamerally, is a very strong interest in child welfare, child safety, especially those children who are in the state’s care.”
“I don’t think that we have a disagreement about child welfare and the importance of that,” she added. “We do have disagreements about what are the best strategies to get us there..”
Democrat-backed legislation aiming to address the rise in deaths stalled earlier this year.
Reporter Aspen Ford contributed to this report.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com.