Last Monday marked the Opposite House Fiscal Committee Cutoff, meaning bills needed to pass out of fiscal committees in the opposite chamber to remain alive this session. Following Monday’s deadline, legislators returned to the floor to pass bills out of the opposite chamber ahead of the Opposite House Floor Cutoff on Friday, March 6. There were a total of 252 bills that cleared yesterday’s cutoff. You can view the list of bills that passed the 6th cutoff here.

While members were working on the floors, budget writers are continuing negotiations to reach agreement on the final 2026 supplemental budgets. On Saturday, the House Finance Committee met to consider several tax proposals assumed in the House and Senate operating budget proposals, including legislation to increase the tobacco tax, repeal the data center tax exemption, and repeal the tax preference for drug wholesalers. The committee ultimately advanced the bills related to the data center and drug wholesaler tax preferences but did not take action on the tobacco tax proposal.

Governor Bob Ferguson released a statement expressing support for a revised version of the proposed “Millionaire’s Tax” following the adoption of a new striking amendment. The Governor indicated the updated proposal better aligns with his priorities by directing a portion of the revenue toward tax relief and affordability measures for Washington families and small businesses. You can read the Governor’s full statement here.

As session enters its final days, both chambers will shift their primary focus to budget legislation, bills deemed necessary to implement the budget (NTIB), and concurrence votes.

Zoning

SB 6026 requires cities and non-rural counties planning under the Growth Management Act with populations over 30,000 to allow residential development in most commercial and mixed-use zones and generally limit local mandates for mixed-use or ground-floor commercial, with specified exceptions. The final version of SB 6026 allows limited requirements for ground-floor commercial in certain mixed-use and station areas, creates an alternative compliance path based on economic analysis, exempts publicly subsidized affordable housing, provides a one-year compliance window for local jurisdictions, and delays required growth-assumption updates until the next comprehensive plan update after January 1, 2031.

Data Centers

HB 2515,  addressed regulation of large energy-use facilities such as data centers. The bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate Ways & Means Committee, where it failed to receive a vote before the cutoff and effectively died for the 2026 session.

SB 6231, narrows Washington’s data center sales and use tax exemptions by eliminating exemptions for replacement server equipment and phasing out preferences for refurbished data centers beginning July 1, 2026, thereby increasing taxable activity in the sector. The bill was amended on the Senate floor to maintain the broader data center tax exemption program beyond July 1, 2026 while still repealing the exemptions for data center refurbishments and replacement servers, and to restore the bill’s original title and effective date.

Important Session Dates:

  • February 4, 2026: House of Origin Policy Cutoff
  • February 9, 2026: House of Origin Fiscal Cutoff
  • February 17, 2026: House of Origin Floor Cutoff
  • February 25, 2026: Opposite House Policy Cutoff
  • March 2, 2026: Opposite House Fiscal Cutoff
  • March 6, 2026: Opposite House Floor Cutoff

Helpful Links for Session: