More bills die in Olympia as end of legislative session nears

OLYMPIA — Tuesday, Feb. 17, marked the third major deadline of the 2026 legislative session, cutting off numerous bills that did not pass their house of origin, including farmworker collective bargaining rights, improvements to the state’s electrical transmission line infrastructure and artificial intelligence regulations.  

Pressure is ramping up as lawmakers prepare to hear legislation from opposition chambers ahead of the next policy committee cutoff next week while grappling with another $2.3 billion budget deficit and a rapidly approaching final day of session set on March 12.  

Below is a list of bills that died at the recent deadline.  

Senate Bill 6045, spearheaded by Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, aimed to strengthen labor protections for farmworkers by establishing collective bargaining and dispute procedures and preserving workers' right to strike for up to three months before being required to enter arbitration with employers.   

The legislation would have extended union rights to farmworkers, who have long been excluded by the National Labor Relations Act. Farm unions and proponents of the bill argued it was necessary for workers to bargain in good faith for fair wages and safe working conditions. Farmers and critics, including Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, contended it would increase the regulatory burden on the already struggling agricultural industry.  

According to Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, the bill simply did not have enough votes.  

“I guess what I would say is Sen. Saldaña did some significant work to bring together the two farm worker unions in the state,” he said. “There was, I think, more work that will need to be done before that idea can advance to make sure that the agricultural community, more generally, has had a chance to weigh in and figure out how best to make that happen.”  

Additionally, Senate Bill 5466, which aims to improve the construction of electrical transmission lines across the state, aiming to push Washington closer to its clean energy goals, met with an unexpected end, according to Democrats. 

The legislation was introduced last session, with clean energy advocates arguing it was necessary to bring more solar and wind energy onto the power grid, especially amid the data center boom. Yet, critics and Republicans said the fiscal cost would outweigh its benefits, saying it does not make meaningful improvements to the transmission capacity.  

This year, Republican floor leader Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, requested the legislation to be read in its full 39 pages Tuesday, less than two hours before the 5 p.m cut off.  

The request was granted by Lt. Gov. Denny Heck but was cut off after 13 minutes of reading. The chamber then moved to pass another bill that addressed environmental crimes, after an hour of debate, effectively killing SB 5466 and Senate Bill 5609, a bill that would protect Native American cultural resources from construction damage, at the deadline.  

Pedersen said in a press conference Wednesday that Democrats intended to pass all three bills but were only able to advance one due to limited time.  

“It caught us a little off guard that Sen. Short did that, but she was completely within her right to do it,” he said. “They were frustrated and I think it turned out afterwards as we talked that they thought something else was going on that was not going on.”  

Pedersen did not elaborate further but said that they will continue to work on the legislation next year. 

House Bill 2157, which would regulate the use of artificial intelligence in high-stakes decisions, also did not meet the cutoff. The bill would require deployers and developers of AI technology to test systems for bias and notify consumers when AI is being used. The bill intended to protect consumers from discriminatory algorithms that can occur in hiring decisions and housing processes but did not receive a floor vote.  

However, other AI regulations have passed through the House, including House Bill 1170, which requires AI companies to create detection tools and to notify consumers when content is AI-generated.  

Various other bills did not pass the latest hurdle. Legislation that would require gun owners to lock up their firearms in cars and vehicles, a measure to reinstate parole back in the state, and a bill backed by Attorney General Nick Brown that would protect minors from addictive social media feeds all failed to receive a floor vote.  

Lawmakers are expected to release their supplemental budget proposal in the coming weeks with less than a month remaining of the session.