OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state's 2024 legislative session ended Thursday and both Democrats and Republicans said there's reason to celebrate with the passage of priority legislation.
The session closed with many of the lawmakers' priorities passing including a ban on hog-tying, a ban on open-carrying firearms in certain public places and a ban on child marriage.
Also passed out of the session are three initiatives that will head to voters in November. These initiatives include measures to ban income taxes, parental rights, and a rollback on restrictions for police pursuits.
Here are three high-profile bills that failed to pass this legislative session:
Rent stabilization
House Bill 2114 would have limited rent increases to 7% per 12 months. The bill would have also capped late fees to 1.5% of monthly rent.
Supporters of the bill called it rent stabilization, not rent control because it wouldn't have limited how much landlords could charge renters.
The bill faced an uphill battle with a similar proposal in the Senate also failing to pass.
Property tax increase
Senate Bill 5770 would have allowed local governments to raise property taxes up to 3% annually. Right now, that rate is capped at 1%.
The bill sponsor's, state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said in February that lawmakers would not move forward with the legislation after hearing feedback from constituents.
King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay testified in January that budgets in the state’s largest county cannot keep up with inflation and population growth with 1% property tax increases.
Unemployment insurance
House Bill 1095 and Senate Bill 5109 would have created a separate wage replacement program for certain workers excluded from unemployment insurance, regardless of their immigration status. Currently, Washington state does not provide unemployment insurance for undocumented immigrants.
Immigrants, refugees and supporters of the bills rallied outside the Washington State Capitol building in February. urging lawmakers to pass the legislation.