Washington State Legislature

{{short description|Bicameral legislature of Washington State}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox legislature | name = Washington State Legislature | coa_pic = Seal_of_Washington.svg | coa-pic = | session_room = WACapitolLegislativeBldg.jpg | house_type = Bicameral | houses = Senate House of Representatives | leader1_type = Senate President | leader1 = Denny Heck | party1 = (D) | election1 = January 13, 2021 | leader2_type = Senate President pro tempore | leader2 = Steve Conway | party2 = (D) | election2 = January 13, 2025 | leader3_type = House Speaker | leader3 = Laurie Jinkins | party3 = (D) | election3 = January 13, 2020 | members = '''147''' 49 senators 98 representatives | house1 = Senate | structure1 = WashingtonStateSenate69.svg | structure1_res = 250px | political_groups1 = '''Majority''' *{{nowrap|{{Color box|#0000FF|border=darkgray}} Democratic (30)}} '''Minority''' *{{nowrap|{{Color box|#FF0000|border=darkgray}} Republican (19)}} | house2 = House of Representatives | structure2 = Washington State House 2025.svg | structure2_res = 278px | political_groups2 = '''Majority''' *{{nowrap|{{Color box|#0000FF|border=darkgray}} Democratic (59)}} '''Minority''' *{{nowrap|{{Color box|#FF0000|border=darkgray}} Republican (39)}} | last_election1 = November 5, 2024 (24 seats) | last_election2 = November 5, 2024 (98 seats) | next_election1 = November 3, 2026 (25 seats) | next_election2 = November 3, 2026 (98 seats) | meeting_place = Washington State Capitol Olympia | website = {{Official URL}} }} The '''Washington State Legislature''' is the state legislature of the State of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 senators plus the lieutenant governor acting as president.<ref name="Haider-Markel">{{cite journal |last1=Haider-Markel |first1=Donald |title=Washington |journal=Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions |date=2009 |volume=2 |doi=10.4135/9781452240152 |isbn=9780872893771 |access-date=December 16, 2022 |url=https://sk.sagepub.com/cqpress/political-encyclopedia-of-us-states-and-regions/n42.xml|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The state is divided into 49 legislative districts, each of which elect one senator and two representatives. Senators and the lieutenant governor are elected to four-year terms while representatives are elected to two-year terms.

The state legislature meets in the Legislative Building at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia.

As of January 2025, Democrats control both houses of the Washington State Legislature. Democrats hold a 59–39 majority in the House of Representatives<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-11 |title=Democrats on their way to grow their majority in Washington's Legislature if current election results hold |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/nov/11/democrats-on-their-way-to-grow-their-majority-in-w/ |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=Spokesman.com |language=en}}</ref> and a 30–19 majority in the Senate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Democrats flip southwest Washington state Senate seat following recount • Washington State Standard |url=https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/democrats-flip-southwest-washington-state-senate-seat-following-recount/ |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=Washington State Standard |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History== The Washington State Legislature traces its ancestry to the creation of the Washington Territory in 1853, following successful arguments from settlers north of the Columbia River to the U.S. federal government to legally separate from the Oregon Territory. The Washington Territorial Assembly, as the newly created area's bicameral legislature, convened the following year. The legislature represented settlers from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to modern Montana.

===Women's suffrage=== {{cleanup-rewrite|section|date=February 2026}}

From nearly the start of the territory, arguments over giving women the right to vote dogged legislative proceedings. While some legislators carried genuine concerns over women deserving the right to vote, most legislators pragmatically believed that giving women suffrage would entice more Eastern women to immigrate to the remote and sparsely populated territory. In 1854, only six years after the Seneca Falls Convention, the issue was brought to a vote by the legislature. Women's suffrage was defeated in a tied vote of 9 to 9 (an absolute majority, or 10 votes, was needed to pass laws). This was due to one legislator voting against this bill because he had an American Indian wife and only white women would have been able to vote.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://leg.wa.gov/History/Legislative/Documents/HistoryOfTheLeg.pdf | access-date=2023-12-01 | title=HISTORY of the WASHINGTON LEGISLATURE 1854 - 1963}}</ref>

A decade later, the Wyoming Legislature would become the first body in the United States to grant women's suffrage in 1869.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Woman Suffrage |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/woman-suffrage |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}}</ref>

The issue over female suffrage did not diminish. In 1871 Susan B. Anthony and Thurston County Representative Daniel Bigelow addressed the legislature on the issue. In 1883, the issue returned to the floor, this time with the Territorial Assembly successfully passing universal suffrage for women.<ref name="LWVWA">{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.lwvwa.org/our-history |website=www.lwvwa.org |publisher=League of Women Voters of Washington |access-date=December 16, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> It quickly became one of the most liberal voting laws in the nation, giving female African-American voters the voting franchise for the first time in the United States. However, in 1887, the territorial Washington Supreme Court ruled the 1883 universal suffrage act as unconstitutional in ''Harland v. Washington''. Another attempt by the legislature to regrant universal female suffrage was again overturned in 1888.

After two failed voter referendums in 1889 and 1897, activism led by Emma Smith DeVoe and May Arkwright Hutton, among others, led the state legislature to approve the state constitutional amendment granting full female voting rights, which Washington's (male) voters ratified in 1910 by a vote of 52,299 to 29,676.<ref name="LWVWA" /><ref name="Ballot for the Ladies">{{cite web |title=A Ballot for the Ladies: Washington Women's Struggle for the Vote (1850-1910) |url=https://content.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/suffrage/ |website=content.lib.washington.edu |access-date=December 16, 2022}}</ref> left|thumb|Members of Washington's first legislature, November 1889

===Statehood=== With more than two decades of pressure on federal authorities to authorize statehood, on February 22, 1889, the U.S. Congress passed the Enabling Act, signed into law by outgoing President Grover Cleveland, authorizing the territories of Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana to form state governments. The Territorial Assembly set out to convene a constitutional convention to write a state constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Enabling Act |url=https://leg.wa.gov/about-the-legislature/history-of-the-legislature/enabling-act/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260102004734/https://leg.wa.gov/about-the-legislature/history-of-the-legislature/enabling-act/ |archive-date=2026-01-02 |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=leg.wa.gov |language=en}}</ref>

Following its successful passage by the legislature, Washington voters approved the new document on October 1. On November 11, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison authorized Washington to become the 42nd state of United States. It was the last West Coast state of the Continental U.S. to achieve statehood. The modern Washington State Legislature was created.

==Meetings== The bicameral body is composed of legislators, beginning the legislative session annually on the second Monday in January. In odd-numbered years, when the state budget is debated upon, the State Legislature meets for 105 days, and in even-numbered years for 60 days.<ref name="Haider-Markel" /> The Governor of Washington can call legislators in for a special 30-day session at any time. Legislators also can call themselves into special session by a two-thirds vote by both the House of Representatives and the State Senate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RCW 44.04.012: Special legislative session—Legislature may convene. |url=https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=44.04.012 |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=app.leg.wa.gov}}</ref>

===Television coverage=== Debates within both the House and Senate, as well as committee meetings and other special events within or relating to the legislature are broadcast throughout Washington on TVW, the state public affairs network.<ref name="TVW">{{cite web |title=About - TVW |url=https://tvw.org/about/ |website=tvw.org |access-date=December 16, 2022 |date=May 11, 2021}}</ref>

==Redistricting== {{main|Washington State Redistricting Commission}}

The Washington legislature is redistricted once every 10 years following the decennial census. The state uses a bipartisan redistricting commission typically made up of two Democrats and two Republicans with one non-voting chair. The commission must approve a map by November 15 of the year after the census. Once the map is approved by the commission, the legislature has 30 days from the start of the next legislative session to make any adjustments, which must be approved by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 8210 |url=https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2015-16/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/8210.PL.pdf |website=Washington State Legislature}}</ref>

==Vacancies==

In Washington, special elections to fill vacancies for partisan offices may only be held during the November general election. The vacancy must occur before the beginning of the filing period in early May in order to appear on that November's ballot; otherwise, the special election is not held until the following year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RCW 42.12.040: Vacancy in partisan elective office—Successor elected—When. |url=https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=42.12.040 |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=app.leg.wa.gov}}</ref> If there was already a regularly scheduled election for that office in the same year that the vacancy occurred, the special and regular election take place simultaneously appearing once on the ballot with the winner beginning their term as soon as their election is certified by the Secretary of State.

Until the special election can be held, an appointee fills the seat. If the district is entirely within one county, the county central committee of the political party that last held the seat in the county that contains the district calls a meeting of the Precinct Committee Officers who reside in the district to nominate three candidates and the board of county commissioners chooses among them. Where a district spans counties, the state central committee of the party calls and runs the meeting of the Precinct Committee Officers who nominate the three candidates from which the boards of county commissioners of all the counties jointly choose one.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://leg.wa.gov/lawsandagencyrules/documents/12-2010-wastateconstitution.pdf |title=Constitution of the State of Washington, Article II, section 15 |access-date=January 7, 2020 |archive-date=March 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325051502/https://leg.wa.gov/LawsAndAgencyRules/Documents/12-2010-WAStateConstitution.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Compensation== As of July 2025, legislators receive an annual salary of $67,688. The Speaker of the House and Senate majority leader receive salaries of $75,688; the House and Senate minority leaders receive salaries of $71,688.<ref name="salary">{{Cite web|url=https://salaries.wa.gov/salary|title=Salary Information|publisher=Washington Citizens' Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials|access-date=July 4, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=43.03.013|title=Salaries of members of the legislature|publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=July 4, 2025}}</ref>

==Further reading==

* Don Brazier, [http://leg.wa.gov/Help/Documents/HistoryOfTheLeg.pdf ''History of the Washington Legislature, 1854-1963.''] Olympia, WA: Washington State Senate, 2000.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx Washington State Legislature] * {{citation |title= Guide to Law Online: U.S. Washington: Legislative |url= https://guides.loc.gov/law-us-washington/legislative |publisher=Library of Congress |location=Washington DC |work= guides.loc.gov }}

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Category:Washington State Legislature Category:Government of Washington (state) Category:Bicameral legislatures of country subdivisions