Legislative Updates

The 2025 Legislative Session begins on January 13, 2025.  Below are lists of bills that may impact Veterans, Families or Military Members.  (This list is not an endorsement of any proposal by WDVA.)

Visit https://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/ for more detailed bill information.  To watch committee hearings, visit Home - TVW.

Veteran/Military Related Bills as of January 20, 2025 - 10:38pm

Bill Number Title Sponsor (Combined) Status Bill Summary Hearing Dates
HB 1016 Veterans/employer incentives (Abbarno) H Finance

Providing employer tax incentives for the support of veterans and military families.

HB 1021 Military families/education (Shavers) H Education

Promoting educational stability for children of military families.

SHB 1022 Homes for heroes program HOUS(Connors) H Cap Budget

SHB: Creates a down payment and closing cost assistance program for people who work in targeted professions and meet certain income requirements

Jan 14, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Housing at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 16, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the House Housing at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1023 Cosmetology compact (Ryu) H Postsec Ed & W

HB: Enacts the cosmetology licensure compact.

Jan 15, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1050 Naval Academy license plates (Shavers) H Transportation
HB 1073 National guard retention (Leavitt) H Tech, Econ Dev

HB: Creates a Washington National Guard retention program.  Directs the Adjutant General to study retention needs, determine eligibility criteria, and determine the amount and schedule of retention bonuses. Requires the Military Department to report on retention needs and recommendations every three years.

Jan 15, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the House Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans at 10:30 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1102 Veteran support and services (Shavers) H Tech, Econ Dev

HB: Requires the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) to provide information to recently discharged veterans about veterans benefits, services, and available resources. Expands county eligibility for the WDVA's Veterans Service Officer Program (Program) to counties where the percentage of veterans receiving benefits is below the national average. Prioritizes counties with the lowest percentage of veterans receiving benefits for the Program. Requires the WDVA to provide reports every two years including county-specific information about the number of resident veterans and services available.

Jan 15, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the House Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans at 10:30 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1106 Disabled veterans/prop. tax (Barnard) H Finance

Recognizing the tremendous sacrifices made by our military veterans by phasing down the disability rating requirements to ensure more disabled veterans are eligible for property tax relief.

HB 1114 Respiratory care compact (Leavitt) H Postsec Ed & W

HB: Enacts the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact.

Jan 15, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1161 Veteran employability (Ryu) H Postsec Ed & W

HB: Creates the Veteran Employability Training and Career Advancement for Reentry Program to assist justice-involved veterans with civilian life.

Jan 14, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1165 Property tax exemptions (Shavers) H Finance

Expanding access to property tax exemptions by increasing each median income category by 5% beginning in 2027.

HB 1179 Property tax value freeze (Volz) H Finance

Proving a property tax valuation freeze for seniors and disabled veterans.

HB 1245 Business development (Couture) H Tech, Econ Dev

HB: Establishes the office of entrepreneurship within the Dept of Commerce and allows cooperation with the Dept of Veterans Affairs and others to improve access for statistically underrepresented demographic segments and geographic areas of the state (including VOBs) and others to state contracts.

Jan 22, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1335 Military spouse employment (Richards) H Labor & Workpl

Amends existing law regarding discrimination to include military spouses.

HB 1366 Military surplus vehicles (Orcutt) H Transportation

Allowing vehicles that have been an active part of military operations to operate on the public highways to be involved in parades, veterans' events, car club activities, community events, exhibitions, and other limited circumstances.

HB 1371 Veteran parking privileges (Orcutt) H Transportation

(companion SB 5410) Providing eligibility to 70% or greater disabled veterans to disabled parking privileges.

Jan 23, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Transportation at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1397 Local property tax levies (Orcutt) H Finance
HB 1433 Psychedelic substances (Macri) H HC/Wellness

(companion SB 5201)

SB 5017 Uniformed & overseas voting (Nobles) S SGTEDPS

By request of Secretary of State: SB: Adopting national standards for uniformed and overseas civilian voting, including confirming amendments to existing statute.

Jan 14, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 17, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 10:30 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5200 Veteran medical foster homes (Wagoner) S Health & Long-

Providing exemptions to allow for Veterans Medical Foster Homes as authorized by the Federal VA.

SB 5201 Psychedelic substances (Salomon) S Health & Long-

(companion HB 1433)

SB 5338 Veterans affairs adv. comm. (Nobles) S State Gov/Trib

Allows one appointment to the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee (VAAC) to a Veteran who is a member of a Native American Tribe recognized in WA State and one appointment to a National Guard Representative who can be either a current National Guard Member or a Veteran of the NG  

Retains the requirement for a VAAC Liaison to be appointed to represent individual State Veterans Homes and removes language referring to appointing a Resident of the Soldiers Home and Veterans Home.  Codifies the two Homes positions as At Large positions. 

SB 5398 Veterans w/ disabilities/tax (Conway)
SB 5410 Veteran parking privileges (Braun)

(companion HB 1371)

WDVA and State Employee Related Bills as of January 20, 2025 - 11:37pm, January 20, 2025 - 10:38pm

Bill Number Title Sponsor (Combined) Status Bill Summary Hearing Dates
HB 1055 Transparency ombuds study (Abbarno) H State Govt & T

HB: Establishes the Joint Legislative Committee on Transparency (JLCT) to coordinate with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC), the Office of the Attorney General, and the Public Records Exemptions Accountability Committee (Sunshine Committee) to conduct a study on the efficacy of establishing an independent state agency to assist individuals with accessing public records. Requires JLARC to submit a report on the findings of the study and recommendations by the JLTC.

Jan 15, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1197 Operating budget, supp. (Ormsby) H Approps

Jan 13, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Appropriations at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1198 Operating budget (Ormsby) H Approps

Jan 13, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Appropriations at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1216 Capital budget (Tharinger) H Cap Budget

Jan 16, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Capital Budget at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1256 Public works/made in US (Hill) H Cap Budget
HB 1308 Access to personnel records (Reed) H Labor & Workpl

Companion to SB 5345: Concerning access to personnel records.

Jan 22, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the House Labor & Workplace Standards at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

HB 1312 Retirement benefits/death (Fitzgibbon) H Approps

(companion SB 5114)

HB 1387 Prevailing wage/public works (Schmidt) H Labor & Workpl

(companion SB 5293)

HB 1413 Opioid reversal purchasing (Reeves) H HC/Wellness
HB 1434 Eid al-Fitr & Eid al-Adha (Salahuddin) H State Govt & T

(companion SB 5106)

SB 5061 Public works wages (Conway) S Labor & Comm

SB: Requires public works contracts to provide for the payment of prevailing wages at the time the work is performed

Jan 24, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Labor & Commerce at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5068 Public employ. eligibility (Lovick) S Law & Justice

SB: Permits law enforcement agencies, civil service agencies including city firefighters, city police, and county sheriff's offices, and prosecuting attorney's offices to consider application from persons legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Law & Justice at 8:00 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 23, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the Senate Law & Justice at 10:30 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5106 Eid al-Fitr & Eid al-Adha (Trudeau) S State Gov/Trib

(companion HB 1434) Establishing Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as state holidays.

SB 5114 Retirement benefits/death (Boehnke) S Ways & Means

(companion HB 1312) SB: Provides a full month of public pension benefits paid in the month that a retiree dies

Jan 23, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5117 Agriculture impacts (Muzzall) S Ag & Natural R

SB: Requires public entities to analyze impacts, consider alternatives, and use interdisciplinary approaches when planning for or deciding issues that impact agriculture or the agricultural economy. Directs the Office of Financial Management to develop a fiscal note process for legislation that impacts regulatory costs incurred by entities engaged in agriculture. Requires state agencies to develop a list of significant agency actions and perform an agricultural economic assessment when considering a listed action.

Jan 16, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5143 Ethics in public service (Gildon) S State Gov/Trib

SB: Revises the Ethics in Public Service Act by adding definitions, removing obsolete provisions, correcting internal references, and updating statutory citations.  Increases the gift threshold from $50 to $100 and excludes from the definition of gift the following: gift cards of $25 or less given to legislative employees and unsolicited gifts from legislators to legislative staff.  Allows the following to be posted on a legislator's official website: generally recognized days or months of note and posts about achievements, honors or awards of extraordinary distinction relating to a constituent as long as the constituent has agreed to the posting. Removes the combined $5,000 cap for penalties and costs, which allows penalties not to exceed $5,000 and a separate order for the recovery of costs of the Legislative Ethics Board. • Grants Legislative and Executive Board members and employees absolute privilege from suit in any civil or criminal action for their official acts, which is the same privilege granted to members and employees of the Commission on Judicial Conduct. 

Jan 21, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 1:30 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

Jan 24, 2025 Scheduled for executive hearing in the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 10:30 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5144 St. agency tortious conduct (Gildon) S Law & Justice
SB 5145 State spending prgs. review (Gildon) S Ways & Means
SB 5146 Government efficiency portal (Gildon) S State Gov/Trib
SB 5166 Operating budget, supp. (Robinson) S Ways & Means

Jan 14, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5167 Operating budget (Robinson) S Ways & Means

Jan 14, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5195 Capital budget (Trudeau) S Ways & Means

Jan 13, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means at 4:00 PM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5217 Pregnancy accommodations (Nobles) S Labor & Comm

SB: Modifies the definition of employer for purposes of pregnancy and pregnancy-related accommodation. Requires an employer to pay an employee for break and travel time to express milk during work at the employee's regular compensation rate. Allows a person who is breastfeeding to request a delay or excusal from jury service if the person is unable to serve due to breastfeeding.

Jan 20, 2025 Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Labor & Commerce at 10:30 AM in anticipation of other legislative action.

SB 5254 Health care information (Orwall) S Health & Long-
SB 5293 Prevailing wage/public works (King) S Labor & Comm

(companion HB 1387)

SB 5345 Access to personnel records (Saldaña) S Labor & Comm

Companion to HB 1308

SB 5406 EV charging/state expense (Schoesler)

State Agency Funding Requests

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Legislative Updates: