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2025 Washington legislative session

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2025 Washington legislative session
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General information
Scheduled session start:    January 13, 2025

Scheduled session end:    April 27, 2025

Leadership
Senate President
Denny Heck (D)

House Speaker
Laurie Jinkins (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: Jamie Pedersen (D)
House: Joe Fitzgibbon (D)
Minority Leader
Senate: John Braun (R)
House: Drew Stokesbary (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026

Last Election:    November 5, 2024

Previous legislative sessions
2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2025 legislative sessions


In 2025, the Washington State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 13 and adjourn on April 27.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Democrats won a 30-19 majority in the Senate and a 59-39 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, Washington was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Washington state House and state Senate.
  • Washington was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Washington's governor was Democrat Bob Ferguson.

    • Leadership in 2025

    See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

    Washington State Senate

    Washington House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2025

    See also: State government trifectas

    Washington was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Washington was also one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Washington State Legislature in the 2025 legislative session.

    Washington State Senate

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 30
         Republican Party 19
    Total 49

    Washington House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 59
         Republican Party 39
    Total 98

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Legislation trackers

    See also: Legislation Trackers

    Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Washington state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 51 standing committees in Washington's state government, including 14 joint legislative committees, 14 state Senate committees, and 23 state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees

    Senate committees

    House committees

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Washington Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XXIII of the Washington State Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Washington

    The Washington Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution— a legislative process, and a state constitutional convention. Washington requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    According to Article XXIII, the state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot for voters to decide. In Washington, a referred constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in each chamber of the Washington State Legislature during one legislative session. That amounts to a minimum of 66 votes in the Washington House of Representatives and 33 votes in the Washington State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    According to Article XXIII of the Washington State Constitution, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Washington State Legislature to place a constitutional convention question on the ballot. If a simple majority of voters approve the question, then the legislature needs to call for a convention during its next session.


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Washington.

    Washington Party Control: 1992-2024
    Eighteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
    Governor D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    Senate R D D D D R R D D D D R R D D D D D D D D R R R R R[1] D D D D D D D
    House D D D R R R R S S S D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

    Historical Senate control

    Democrats won control of the Washington State Senate in 2018. In 2024, they won a 30-19 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Washington Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Washington State Senate election results: 1992-2024

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
    Democrats 28 25 23 28 25 24 26 32 31 27 26 24 25 29 29 29 30
    Republicans 21 24 26 21 24 25 23 17 18 22 23 25 24* 20 20 20 19

    *A Democrat caucused with Republicans, giving the Republican Party a one-member majority.


    Historical House control

    Democrats won control of the Washington House of Representatives in 2002. In 2024, they won a 59-39 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Washington House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Washington House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
    Democrats 66 40 45 49 49 52 55 63 64 57 55 51 50 57 57 58 59
    Republicans 32 58 53 49 49 46 43 35 34 41 43 47 48 41 41 40 39

    Analysis

    Adopted legislation, 2011-2024

    See also: The State Legislative Decade - Washington

    In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

    See also

    Elections Washington State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Democrats gained full control of the state Senate after a special election on November 7, 2017.
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