The 2025 legislative session is already a third of the way through, with day 37 in progress. The session is scheduled to last 105-days and end on April 27.
This Friday, Feb. 21, marks the first major deadline of the session: the house-of-origin policy committee cutoff. Bills are first introduced in the appropriate policy committee (e.g., Higher Education & Workforce Development) in either the House of Representatives or Senate, their house of origin. If a bill does not pass out of its policy committee by the end of the day on Friday, it is considered dead unless necessary to implement the budget.
This first cutoff will narrow down the number of bills under consideration. The next deadline is the house-of-origin fiscal committee cutoff on Feb. 28, where bills will a fiscal impact on the budget must make it out of the appropriate fiscal committee (e.g., Appropriations) by that date or they will be considered dead.
To learn more about how a bill becomes law in Washington state, click here.
Keondra Rustan testifies before Senate committee as part of UW Regent appointment process
Keondra Rustan testified in the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee last week as part of her confirmation process as a UW Regent. In her testimony, she shared that she is a first-generation student who will soon earn her Doctorate in Nursing Practice. With over 20 years of experience as a registered nurse, she is a passionate advocate for advancing healthcare for all, particularly within marginalized communities. She also has a great love and commitment for community service having worked with mobile clinics, food banks, and street medicine.
Rustan views her role as Student Regent as crucial to ensuring that the voices of students are heard and represented at the highest level of the University’s governance. She aims to serve as a bridge between administration, the student body, and the broader community. She advocates for policies and initiatives that enhance the student experience and foster a safe, holistic environment that supports wellbeing.
She is honored to serve on the UW Board of Regents and is committed to promoting cohesion and inclusion within the Husky community. The committee voted to approve her appointment to the Board of Regents, and her appointment will now move to the Senate floor for consideration by the full Senate.
UW College of Engineering lobbies for funding to advance statewide climate action and resilience
Stephanie Harrington, Guillaume Mauger, and Jason Vogel from the College of the Environment met with lawmakers to advocate for the University of Washington’s request to increase capacity for statewide climate action and solutions. With additional state support, the Climate Impacts Group and the Office of the Washington State Climatologist aim to advance climate action programs, engage frontline communities, collaborate with policymakers, provide technical expertise, and strategically communicate about climate change.
The Climate Impacts Group partners with planners, natural resource managers, engineers, policymakers, and community members across Washington to better understand how climate change impacts lives and livelihoods. The Office of the Washington State Climatologist, which is housed at the UW, is the go-to-source for climate information and data and their work on drought response, heat waves, and flooding has provided critical information to lawmakers and Washington sectors, including utilities, agriculture, and forestry.
Climate change affects many aspects of life in Washington, making it necessary to facilitate more on-the-ground climate adaption through sustained engagement with communities and decision makers.