At its Nov. 3, 2023 meeting, the WSBA Board of Governors will consider two legislative proposals for Bar sponsorship.
Proposal from the Business Law Section. This proposal amends the Washington Business Corporation Act to replace the current RCW 23B.11 with a new chapter 11 that substantially mirrors the current version of the Model Business Corporations Act. The proposal also changes other sections of RCW 23B dealing with definitions, quorum, and voting requirements; removal of directors by shareholders; entity conversion; and other issues.
Proposal from the Real Property, Probate & Trust Section. This proposal eliminates the requirement that leases for more than one year must have the landlord’s signature acknowledged before a notary.
All feedback is welcome and can be sent to barleaders@wsba.org. Comments are also welcome during the Board meeting.
Requests for the WSBA to sponsor legislative proposals typically come from WSBA Sections. Section members develop and draft proposals for review and approval by the section’s executive committee. After executive committee approval, the proposal goes to the WSBA Legislative Review Committee, which is composed of 13 volunteer WSBA members and represents the interests of the broader bar membership. The committee’s primary task is to determine that a proposal (1) meets the requirements of GR 12.2 and (2) has been appropriately vetted both internally and externally of the WSBA. The proposal is sent to the requesting section’s membership and all 29 sections as part of the vetting process. The Legislative Review Committee then votes on whether to recommend that the Board of Governors sponsor the proposal during the upcoming legislative session.
This year, the Legislative Review Committee voted unanimously to recommend sponsorship of these proposals to the Board of Governors, which will vote on these proposals on Nov. 3. If the Board of Governors votes to approve the committee’s recommendation, these proposals will be introduced as agency-sponsored legislation in the 2024 legislative session.
For questions about the Bar-sponsorship process, please reach out to WSBA Legislative Affairs Manager Sanjay Walvekar, sanjayw@wsba.org.
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.
