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The Year(+) Ahead in Evergreen Politics (Part III/III)

Democracy in high-octane action!!

NOTE: This is the third in a three-part series, ahead of the new year, that will shine a light—or several—on some of the more contentious political and policy fights ahead. This Part discusses some of the specific legislation that is beginning to take shape, ahead of the new year’s session.

Last week, Part II/III discussed some of AG Ferguson’s most prominent—and controversial—public fights, and what it might portend for his approach as governor. This week, we turn to the Capitol, where on January 13 the next legislative session will gavel in (lasting 105 days in 2025, instead of this past year’s mere 60). Outgoing AG Bob Ferguson, who is slated to take office as Washington’s 24th governor two days later, played down his left-win bona fides during the campaign, but with Democrats, having gained in both houses last month (granted, just slightly), odds are Ferguson & Co. will pursue a more progressive legislative agenda.  

Indeed, Washington was by some estimates the only state in the country that skewed bluer than in 2024, with once and future President Trump seeing a decrease in his vote share, from 38.77% in 2020 to 38.71% last month. This blue “trickle” redounded to state legislative elections,  with the Democrats adding one seat in each house, for total majorities of 30-19 in the upper, and 59-39 in the lower. But this slight shift is likely not enough to push through leftist legislation which has fizzled in past recent sessions, as the Democrats just fell short of securing supermajorities that would have all but guaranteed their bill package succeeds. Still, we should not sugarcoat the stakes. What is, essentially, a fourth Inslee term does not bode well for conservative and centrist Washingtonians—nor, frankly, for our progressive friends who would also have to live, work, and consume under Ferguson’s slate of needless new rules.

Not all of the proposed legislation is troubling. Some of it, in fact, is long overdue. I like to think I am a man of fairly reasonable intelligence, yet despite how many times I’ve read the Wikipedia article on daylight savings time, I have not even come close to understanding its contemporary purpose beyond making us all miserable an hour early in winter just to have sunset pushed from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm in summer. Enter Senate Bill 5001, the latest in a string of recent attempts to implement permanent standard time. The sponsors, Jeff Wilson (R-Longview) and Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond) seem confident in its prospects. We shall see. Another innocuous bill is nonetheless quite near and dear to our hearts here at Courts & Committees—to make the “Evergreen State” Washington’s official nickname. I know its not as important as a “state dance” or “state dinosaur”—the square dance and Suciasaurus rex, both official—but it’s a solid symbolic step.  

Few of the bills thus far named and assigned numbers are at the level of progressive-vs.-conservative controversy that in recent years have taken center stage both nationally and in pretty much every other state in the union, too. Bills on transgender policies, public safety, and abortion are lightning rods for partisan haranguing. Especially with Ferguson & Co. keen on championing the anti-Project 2025 drive (the Heritage Foundation’s 1,000 page wishlist for a conservative overhaul of the federal government), it is quite likely that Washington Democrats—confident (though I believe overconfident) in the permanence of their power—will introduce a host of what is, in essence, red meat for the blue hairs. None such truly looney lefty bills—at least in our estimation—have been prefiled, or slotted for committee hearings, so we will check back in in coming weeks as these begin to emerge. A full list of the prefiled bills can be found at this link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/prefiled.aspx?year=2025

Alki,

Sam Spiegelman