Summary of the Washington Lawmaking Process

"I'm just a bill, yeah I'm only a bill, and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill..."

In odd-numbered years, the Washington Legislature meets for 105 days, and in even-numbered years it meets for 60 days. There can be special sessions tacked on to the end for up to 30 days but they have to focus on specific issues, usually the budget.

An idea goes through several stages in Olympia on the way from concept to state law.
This is a summary: the detailed process is available on the Access Washington site.

1. Bill is submitted (pre-filed) by a member of the House or Senate and it gets written up in "official" format.
    
2. Bill is introduced (Introduction) to the chamber and referred to the appropriate committee (First Reading). The committee depends on the bill's subject: bills about money go to a fiscal review committee, etc.
    
3. The committee looks at the bill in detail. Public hearings, if any, are held now. The bill can be amended or even rewritten and the new version substituted for the original. If it is finished before the cut-off date, the committee's report is read, and then the bill is sent to the Rules Committee.
   If a bill doesn't make it out of this committee by the cut-off date, it dies here.
    
4. The Rules Committee can put the bill on the calendar for Second Reading or .. not.
   This is where the most individual political influence happens. This Committee is made up of members from both parties, and each member gets to select only two or three bills that will move on to the next step in the process. Any bill not selected dies here.
    
5. During the Second Reading, the bill is debated. Amendments, if any, occur here.
   The bill is then placed on the calendar again for the Third Reading when the final vote will be taken.
   If the nays outweigh the ayes, the bill is not approved and dies here.
    
6. The bill is then submitted to the other side (House -> Senate or Senate -> House) and goes through the same process again. If one side made amendments, both sides must agree to them.
   The bill can go through the process as many times as necessary for both chambers to agree.
   If the chambers cannot agree by the cut-off date, the bill dies.
    
7. If the bill is approved by both sides, both the House and Senate leaders sign it and it goes to the Governor for signature.
    
8. The Governor may sign, ignore, or veto the bill.
   If he vetoes all or part of it, it returns to the legislature for a potential override.
   If he signs it, it's law and takes effect on the date mentioned in the bill.
   If he fails to act after a certain number of days, it becomes law anyway.
    

Bills that die partway through the process in an odd-numbered year become a "carryover" bill to the next session. Carryover bills are reintroduced and retained in their present position at the beginning of the next session.
However, if it doesn't make it through within the two-year cycle, it's "dead" and must be reintroduced from step one.

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