The 2022 session of the Washington State Legislature began much like last year’s session—virtually and with a long to-do list!
Legislators will consider a variety of issues this year. However, the general focus of the 60-day “short” session is to refine bills passed during the first half of the 2021-2022 biennium. The first day of session was Jan. 10, and it will continue through March 10. Between now and then, the Senate and House have the following important dates ahead of them:
- Feb. 3: House of origin policy committee cutoff;
- Feb. 15: House of origin passage cutoff;
- Feb. 24: Opposite house policy committee cutoff;
- March 4: Opposite house passage cutoff (except fiscal and budgetary matters among others).
As has been the case in most sessions, the Bar supports legislative proposals initiated by WSBA sections and approved by the Board of Governors. We are currently tracking 116 bills for sections. The Bar has one request bill this year from the Business Law Section:
- SB 5489 was brought forward by the Business Law Section’s Corporate Act Revisions Committee and Partnerships and LLC Law Committee. An act relating to business entities, this bill aims to modernize and clarify portions of Washington’s Business Corporations Act, Uniform Limited Partnership Act, and Limited Liability Companies Act.
SB 5489 was heard in the Senate Law & Justice Committee on Jan. 11 and was in the Senate Rules Committee as of this writing.
We will provide regular updates throughout the session on NWSidebar and other WSBA communication channels.
Sanjay Walvekar. Sanjay is the WSBA outreach and legislative affairs manager. He joined the WSBA staff in 2017, after several years working in local and statewide politics. He earned his BA and JD from the University of Washington. He can be reached at sanjayw@wsba.org.
