Concise Overview of the Washington Legislative Process: The Washington State Legislature runs on a biennium system that includes a long session and a short session. 2023 is the first year of latest biennium and was 105 days long. Second sessions of a biennium are 60 days long. Bills filed in a long session which weren’t passed (e.g., HB1610) are automatically introduced at the start of the next, shorter session. At the end of a biennium, any bills filed that did not pass are then considered dead and would have to be completely filed in the next biennium.
ICWA actively follows bills that may impact medical freedom, informed consent, and parental rights.
THE ICWA STAKEHOLDER PAGE summarizes the bills we track including the Last Action or status of where bills are in the legislative process.
Bill Summary List
ICWA’s LEGISLATORS SCORECARD Keeps track of which state legislators are working for (and against) health freedom and parental rights. It includes a Legislation tab, which lists our bills of focus (both pending and enacted). We provide several ratings (+5 to -5) to reward or penalize legislators’ action. The first rating, “Votes,” generally reflects how a legislator voted in the most recent vote in the chamber. The next column, “Vote Rating,” indicates the weight given to each vote. The third column, “Sponsor Rating,” assigns a score to each sponsor of the bill. Notice the different tabs included in the scorecard showing various presentations of the scores, including district maps. You can also click on legislator names in the Summary tab to see the individual scorecard for that legislator. “Vote Index” (0%-100%) refers to how often a legislator voted in our best interests; “Total Score” indicates his or her actual impact.
COMMENT ON BILLS AND GIVE TESTIMONY REMOTELY Learn how to give remote testimony on bills.
BILL PAGE AT THE WA STATE LEGISLATURE WEBSITE (send messages to YOUR legislators about a bill)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REMOTE BILL TESTIMONY INSTRUCTIONS (once scheduled for a public hearing, get your position and comments to the committee hearing it and recorded on the bill’s official record)
SENATE REMOTE BILL TESTIMONY INSTRUCTIONS (once scheduled for a public hearing, get your position and comments to the committee hearing it and recorded on the bill’s official record)
TVW provides live and recorded coverage of committee hearings and floor sessions and more.
LEGISLATOR ROSTERS for phone, photo, email, mailing; and LEGISLATOR EMAIL LISTS.
