WA Overview Of The Legislative Process 0001

The Washington State Legislature is made up of two houses (or chambers), the Senate and the House of Representatives. Washington has 49 legislative districts, each of which elects a Senator and two Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms and Representatives serve two-year terms. The Senate and House of Representatives meet in session each year to create new laws, change existing laws, and enact budgets for the State. The legislative cycle is two years long. Within that two-year cycle, there are two kinds of legislative sessions: regular sessions and extraordinary, or special, sessions. Regular sessions are mandated by the State Constitution and begin the second Monday in January each year. In the odd-numbered year, for example, 2005, the regular session is 105 days; in the even-numbered year, for example, 2006, it is 60 days. Extraordinary sessions are called by the Governor to address specific issues, usually the budget. There can be any number of extraordinary sessions within the two-year cycle, and they can last no more than 30 days. The members of the House and Senate offer legislation, or bills, for consideration. The ideas for bills come from a number of places: something has happened in the last year that inspires new legislation (for instance, the change in people’s perception of crime gave rise to the youth violence bills that were offered during the 1 994 Session), a member wishes to address an issue that is specific to his or her district, the Legislature decides to tackle a major issue (such as…

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CALL TO ORDER AGENDA ITEMS Item 1. Approval of Minutes Motion: “I move to approve the minutes from the Airport Advisory Committee meeting held on February 9, 2026.” Item 2. Complaints/Communications Item 3. Sea-Tac Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART) Discussion Item 4. Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Discussion Item 5. Legislative Discussion NEXT MEETING DATE [...]
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Call to order – Roll Call – Quorum Established – Land Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge that our Agency operates in four present-day counties, which are the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people, past and present. This acknowledgement does not take the place of authentic relationships with indigenous communities in our jurisdiction and [...]