WSBA members may have seen that HB 1788 was pulled from the Rules Committee and placed on third reading, which means that it will receive a floor vote in the House in the next several days. Here’s what we know based on conversations with legislators and our contract lobbyist:
- The bill was pulled from Rules Committee by a member of the House who is not a member of the Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee where this bill was heard last year.
- The bill that will receive a floor vote is the “last, best bill” that left the House last year. This means that the bill does not contain the amendments made on the Senate side. Here is a link to the bill that left the House last year. Because the bill was not reconciled last year, the bill would go back to the Senate for their consideration if it passes the House.
- There are strong signals that this bill does not have the votes to pass the House.
- We will continue to monitor this entire situation very closely.
I’ll provide further updates via the blog shortly.