Last month, voters in Washington State decided to return expanded Democratic majorities to the House of Representatives and the Senate for the 2023–2024 biennium, ensuring that the Evergreen State will continue to have a blue trifecta until at least 2025. With the election now certified and the only legislative contest recount finished, legislators are hard at work preparing for session.
At the beginning of this month, the House and Senate held what are known as committee days — meetings of committees held during the interim for planning and information gathering purposes. The Senate’s Democratic and Republican caucuses released their committee assignments during that time.
The House of Representatives — which has twice as many members and more pieces to decide how to fit into place — is now following suit, with the House Democratic caucus finalizing its committee names and assignments yesterday.
Several committees have been given new names and scopes, and several have new chairs. The membership of most committees has also changed in the wake of retirements and the election of new members to the House.
Committees with significantly different names or scopes are:
New chairs include:
Two of the new chairs issued statements following their selection.
“I am honored and excited with this opportunity to work on policies that strengthen our democracy, reinforce our relationships with First Nations, and increase accountability and transparency in our elections,” said Bill Ramos in a statement after being named Chair of State Government & Tribal Relations.
“In our current political landscape, ensuring that government at all levels reflects the diversity of our state is a priority,” Ramos added. His statement also noted that four Democratic members in his committee are people of color.
“Our state’s greatest strengths are our diverse workforce and innovative businesses,” said Liz Berry in a statement after being named Chair of Labor & Workplace Standards. “I’m deeply honored to take on this new position and remain committed to giving all Washingtonians a seat at the table as we address the most urgent workplace challenges they face.”
Now, here are the committee assignments for each new member:
And for returning members Beth Doglio and Kristine Reeves, who left the Legislature to run for Congress in 2020 and did not serve in 2021–2022:
You might have noticed that every single new member is a committee vice chair. That’s by design. House Democratic leadership likes to give first termers the opportunity to work with a committee chair to move legislation through the process. Vice chairs are typically called upon to help run hearings and to make motions to adopt amendments and move bills in committee executive session.
It’s also not a coincidence that almost every first termer got assigned to Capital Budget. That’s the committee that works on what is sometimes also informally known as the construction or public works budget. (In the House, the operating budget is the purview of Appropriations and the transportation budget is handled by Transportation; revenue is worked on by Finance.)
The 2023–2024 House Democratic majority will have fifty-eight members, up from fifty-seven. The House Republican minority will consist of forty members.
The House Democratic caucus’ complete committee assignments are available in the PDF embedded below. Our team has not yet reviewed the House Republican caucus’ committee assignments yet, but expects to shortly.
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