Washington Session Week Two: Race to the first deadline

Posted by Joe Adamack on January 22, 2026

Today marks the 11^th day of Washington’s 2026 legislative session and the pace in Olympia is already in a full sprint. With the first major cutoff deadline approaching on February 4, lawmakers advance priority legislation to enable it to continue on in the process. Most bills must be endorsed by a policy committee, making these next two weeks some of the busiest of the entire session.

This year, legislators have already introduced more than 1,000 new bills, but that doesn’t even cover the full scope of items that remain active and under consideration. Because Washington operates on a two-year cycle, another 1,000+ bills from last year are still active.

Given these numbers, it may not surprise you to learn that the vast majority of bills introduced never make it to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.

Washington’s legislative process includes multiple steps — introduction, public hearings, committee votes, fiscal reviews, floor votes in both chambers, reconciliation of differences, and finally, the Governor’s signature. At any point along that path, a bill can stall or fail. These checks ensure that changing state law requires thorough vetting.

For our part, we are actively engaging on a number of bills of note for credit unions and continue work to perfect, amend, or explain why they should advance – or not – to sponsors, committee chairs and other legislators.

We look forward to having 250+ credit union advocates join us in Olympia for next week’s Credit Union Day at the Capitol!

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Washington Advocacy.