HB 1556 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Expanding tuition waivers for high school completers at community and technical colleges.

HB 1556 expands tuition waivers at Washington community and technical colleges for students who need to complete high school while attending college. It directly affects high school completers (including nonresidents), children and surviving spouses of fallen or disabled law enforcement officers, firefighters, or state patrol officers, and up to 40% of students in deaf education programs. Key provisions require colleges to waive all tuition and fees for eligible high school completers and first responder families (with a 10-year enrollment window), and allow partial waivers for nonresidents in high school completion programs. The law, effective July 2025, also mandates annual reporting on waiver costs to the legislature.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Jan 23, 2025 Signed Apr 11, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill Passed Legislature · 2 edits
MINOR
The document has been converted from a draft bill text to an official certification of enrollment, confirming that House Bill 1556 was passed by both the House and Senate in the 2025 Regular Session. This change adds formal signatures, vote counts, and a certification statement from the Chief Clerk, which is required to make the bill an official law.
TECHNICAL

Added official certification text, vote tallies, and signatures from legislative leaders to confirm the bill's passage.

Removed the draft bill text and placeholder numbering (Z-0123.1) as it is no longer needed for the final enrolled version.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 2, 2025 · House Mar 5, 2025

How they voted

510
Passed
Total votes 51
Apr 2, 2025
D Democratic31
31 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican20
20 Yea
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
23
Key actions
10
Committee
6
Apr 11, 2025
Signed into law
Governor signed.
executive
Apr 7, 2025
Upper · Passed
President signed.
upper
Apr 4, 2025
Lower · Passed
Speaker signed.
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (51-0)
senate
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
HEWD - Majority; do pass.
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Higher Education & Workforce Development at 1:30 PM.
upper
Mar 5, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (99-0-1)
house
Feb 13, 2025
Committee
Referred to Rules 2 Review.
lower
Feb 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
PEW - Majority; do pass.
lower
Feb 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Executive action taken in the House Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM.
lower
Feb 4, 2025
Lower · Passed
Public hearing in the House Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM.
lower
1 primary · 8 co-sponsors

Sponsors