SB 5434 Washington Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Establishing balanced legislative oversight of gubernatorial powers during a declared emergency.

SB 5434 requires governors to formally file emergency declarations with the secretary of state and provide public notice. It sets clear rules for ending emergencies: governors must terminate them when order is restored, the legislature can end them via concurrent resolution during sessions, or legislative leadership can terminate them after 90 days if the legislature is adjourned. The bill limits emergency orders (like curfews or business restrictions) to 30 days unless extended by the legislature, and mandates governors to notify legislative leaders before issuing such orders. This directly affects governors' emergency authority and the legislature's ability to oversee emergency powers. The law aims to prevent prolonged emergency declarations without legislative input.
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 · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to shift the legislative oversight mechanism from an automatic expiration of emergency orders after 30 days to a system where the legislature must actively vote to terminate orders that exceed that timeframe. This change alters the default legal status of emergency powers, moving from automatic expiration to requiring affirmative legislative action to end them.
Scope change
The scope of legislative oversight changed from automatic termination to requiring active termination by the legislature or its leaders.
TIMELINE

The automatic expiration of emergency orders after 30 days was removed; orders now remain in effect until the legislature actively terminates them via concurrent resolution.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for legislative leaders to extend orders in writing if the legislature is not in session was removed; instead, leaders can now terminate orders in writing if the legislature is not in session.

The definition of 'leadership' was updated to specify 'all four leaders' (majority/minority leaders of both chambers) rather than just 'all four members' of the leadership.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Jan 12, 2026
Committee
Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. On motion, referred to State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections.
upper
Jan 12, 2026
Introduced
By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.
upper
Feb 21, 2025
Upper · Passed
Minority; do not pass.
upper
Feb 21, 2025
Upper · Passed
Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 10:30 AM.
upper
Feb 14, 2025
Upper · Passed
Public hearing in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections at 10:30 AM.
upper
1 primary · 16 co-sponsors

Sponsors