For those here for my bill tracking spreadsheet, click here please. Below is my written report on affairs - all thoughts mine - so please come with us….
With that, ever hear of the Olympia Fillibuster? Recently the Washington State Senate had that play out in a big way thanks to Republican Floor Leader Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy demanding a bill be read aloud. Senator Short used the Olympia Fillibuster of hard bill cut-offs arguably to stall out a bill that as the Washington State Standard reported, “If we have to call a time-out once in a while to prevent a major policy change from being rushed, we are doing our job.” Basically, we saw this “time-out” hit again and again, but as Senator Short explained she just “hit the brakes”.
Photo: Legislative Support Services Photo Department
So what legislation got frozen? Let’s take a look at what big legislation got frozen, is likely to be and what legislation is moving forward for now. Remember the cut-off calendar for 2026 below:
Table of Contents
Tracking Big Legislation
Sunshine Committee Bill Against the Clock
First, HB 2244 is up against the clock and it’s not looking good. Yes, this is the legislation for the Sunshine Committee’s recommendations that is about to hit the deep freeze of the Washington State Senate. Here’s why:
No hearing yet
No executive session yet
Hard and fast deadline is February 25 to get out of cut-off.
Yeah, not good. Sure HB 2244 is imperfect but to stall out means having to start fresh in 2027 for the 2027-2028 biennium to reduce the over 300 exemptions to the public records act.
Bills Pressing Forward
Personally not terribly happy that HB 2235 is getting an executive session. HB 2235, “Exempts from public disclosure records related to permits to purchase firearms, firearm transfers, and additional records concerning concealed pistol licenses” according to the Senate’s bill report. Sadly this bill has bipartisan support and shocking silent assent from the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
Bills Happily Frozen
Most of all, HB 2661 got frozen by the House floor clock last week. That was the problematic bill proposing a task force to address supposedly frivolous requests under the Public Records Act (PRA). As the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) reported:
AWC believes in transparency and accountability in government, as promoted by the PRA. We also understand the strain frivolous PRA requests can put on staff time and budgets for all government entities. We appreciate being included in this timely conversation and will continue to engage on this issue.
One can read my coverage of the hearing here. But HB 2661 was not the only bill frozen.
Also another significant opaque governance bill frozen was HB 2520. That legislation as written would have made it easier for public agencies to abuse the emergency powers in RCW 42.30, the Open Public Meetings Act.
More on the tracker… with the big blue Y for “Yes, Frozen”.
Acute Update on House of Reps Press Pass Fiasco
First, the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) gave coverage of the latest fiasco. They shared that the Sierra Club at one point applied for a press pass but was denied due to their long and continued history of lobbying the state legislature. The CJR also noted the long activist history of the litigants involved, while giving ample airtime to their side of the story. It’s worth a read.
Second, the OPB had a report that got to the meat of the matter. In their report, they shared;
Oregon Capital Chronicle editor Julia Shumway, president of the Oregon Legislative Correspondents Association, wrote in an X post last year that their own capitol credentialing processes were crucial so “activists with cell phones and no ethics or standards don’t get to masquerade as reporters.”
In Idaho, a conservative think tank called the Idaho Freedom Foundation launched its own media outlet in 2010, naming it the Idaho Reporter, as a way to get press passes in the Legislature. It was Idaho’s Capitol Correspondents Association that rejected that ploy.
But as the media landscape has changed, these standards have become trickier to enforce.
Until 2009, Washington state’s Capitol Correspondents Association only offered credentials to reporters who worked for newspapers and licensed TV or radio stations. But with the growth of new media outlets, legislative newsletters and reporting nonprofits, the definition had to change.
“It is important that a line be established between professional journalism and political or policy work,” the state’s Capitol Correspondents Association’s updated guidelines said. “Blurring that line would raise questions about the motives of everyone in the press corps, and risk having the Legislature revoke or restrict the access we have maintained in the public interest for many years.”
That standard required journalists seeking press passes to be working for an entity that is “doing news for the sake of news alone,” specifically excluding someone who works for a “think tank’s blog.”
Third, House Representative Jim Walsh - the current chair of the Republican Party - put together this YouTube sharing his moral outrage on the matter:
Figure this is the most through and fair way to report on the ongoing litigation currently in Washington State Courts. I have documented before my difficulties in accessing our courts. I hold faint hope but hope nonetheless that we will get to see our judicial branch carry out its solemn duties in this instance. Perhaps televise via TVW, Washington State’s public access channel?
A Google Gemini Created Image