HB 1144 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Adding an additional superior court judge in Skagit county.

HB 1144 increases the number of superior court judges in Skagit County from four to five by amending state law. This change directly affects Skagit County's judicial system, aiming to improve court capacity and reduce case backlogs. The bill includes a key provision requiring specific funding for this increase to be included in the 2025 omnibus appropriations act by June 30, 2025, or the bill becomes void. If funded, it would allow Skagit County to hire an additional judge to handle its caseload.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Jan 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reclassified from a standard House Bill to a Substitute House Bill, indicating it has been amended by a committee. The legislative text was updated to reflect this new status, including a change in the bill number prefix and the addition of the House Appropriations committee as the current sponsor. The act's purpose remains to add a superior court judge in Skagit County, but the description now explicitly includes creating a new section.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include the creation of a new section in addition to amending existing statutes regarding judge counts.

TECHNICAL

The bill number prefix changed from 'Z' to 'H' and the title was updated to 'Substitute House Bill 1144' to reflect committee amendments.

REQUIREMENT

The sponsor attribution was updated to list the House Appropriations committee as the current sponsor, while retaining the original sponsors and the request from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

A new section was added stating that the act becomes null and void if specific funding is not provided by June 30, 2025, in the omnibus appropriations act.

The act description was updated to explicitly mention the creation of a new section alongside the amendment of existing RCW sections.

TIMELINE

The date the bill was read for the first time was updated from January 13, 2025, to February 13, 2025.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to Appropriations.

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

Rules Committee relieved of further consideration.

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Introduced

By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.

lower

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Appropriations at 4:00 PM.

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 4:00 PM.

lower

Jan 24, 2025

Committee

Referred to Appropriations.

lower

Jan 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

CRJ - Majority; do pass.

lower

Jan 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary at 8:00 AM.

lower

Jan 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary at 8:00 AM.

lower

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors