The Washington State Legislature’s 2024 legislative session adjourned on March 7, 2024, concluding a busy sixty-day period that saw lawmakers introduce almost 1,200 bills—on education, public safety, taxes, housing, the Lunar...more
Beginning in 2024, both Washington and California will prohibit employers from basing hiring decisions on an applicant’s legal marijuana use. What Is Prohibited? Effective January 1, 2024, employers are prohibited...more
Washington Governor Jay Inslee will end the statewide COVID-19 emergency declaration on October 31, 2022, and rescind all remaining COVID-19 emergency proclamations. Despite the governor’s action, however, Washington’s Health...more
Governor Inslee’s March 24, 2022 signing of House Bill 1329 marks the introduction of changes to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the focus of which concerns public meetings’ accessibility and participation in the same....more
The Washington Legislature and Governor Inslee moved quickly the last week of January to pass and sign House Bills 1732 and 1733, which revised the controversial Long Term Care Act that would have gone into effect January 1,...more
On January 27, 2022, Governor Jay Inslee signed two bills that delay implementation of the Washington Cares Act to July 1, 2023, including the 0.58% payroll tax, and provide additional exemptions from the program. The Act...more
Port districts in Washington now have broad authority to extend broadband into unserved areas. ESHB 1336 amends RCW 53.08.370 to grant ports broad authority to provide wholesale and retail telecommunication services within...more
On April 16, 2021, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the Washington Wage Recovery Act, allowing employees to place a lien on their employers’ property to secure unpaid wages. The purpose of the law is to provide...more
Governor Jay Inslee recently signed the Health Emergency Labor Standards Act (HELSA or the Act), a sweeping worker protection bill recently passed by the state legislature. The Act amends the state’s worker’s compensation and...more
After years of discussion, the State of Washington has finally adopted a comprehensive tax increment financing law permitting local governments to create “increment areas” and use tax increment financing to fund public...more
The Washington Legislature passed Senate Bill 5096 on April 25, 2021, the last day of the 2021 Washington legislative session. SB 5096 is a state capital gains tax on individual residents of the State of Washington. The state...more
Over the weekend, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill that would enact a tax on gains from the sale or exchange of certain capital assets. The bill, which was signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee on April 27,...more