Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon

Maddy summaryHB 2045 creates a new 1% tax on businesses with over $250 million in annual revenue in Washington starting January 2026, targeting large corporations. It also increases the tax rate for financial institutions from 1.2% to 1.9% after July 2025. The bill exempts manufacturers, farmers, and certain income types from the new tax. These changes aim to fund K-12 education, public safety, health care, and basic needs programs, as stated in the legislative findings.

Maddy summaryWashington State's HJM 4005 formally cancels all previous state applications to Congress for a constitutional convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It directly affects Washington's standing in the national process, removing its historical applications (dating to 1901, 1903, 1909, 1911, and 1963) from official records. The bill's key mechanism is a direct resolution stating the legislature "rescinds, repeals, cancels, nullifies, and supersedes" all prior applications, regardless of their scope or historical record. This is a procedural measure, not a policy change, aimed at ensuring future Washington legislatures must explicitly reapply if they wish to pursue a constitutional convention.

Maddy summaryHB 1449 legalizes home cultivation of cannabis for Washington residents aged 21 and older. The bill allows individuals to grow up to six cannabis plants per household (with a maximum of 15 plants total per residence) and possess cannabis products within state-set limits, including up to 1/2 ounce of useable cannabis. It prohibits visible cultivation from public view or neighboring properties and restricts non-commercial sharing to no more than 1/2 ounce per 24 hours among adults 21+. The law does not apply to minors, commercial activity, or public consumption.

Maddy summaryHB 1881 requires health care entities to notify Washington’s attorney general and health care authority about major mergers, acquisitions, or contracting affiliations that could impact competition or access to care. It mandates review of these transactions to ensure they maintain or improve access to emergency, primary, reproductive, end-of-life, and gender-affirming care - specifically addressing concerns that past deals reduced access to these services. The bill supplements federal antitrust laws by covering transactions below federal reporting thresholds and giving state agencies tools to investigate potential anticompetitive harm. It directly affects health care providers, insurers, and hospital systems entering significant ownership changes. The law aims to prevent price hikes and limited provider choices, particularly in rural areas, while protecting access to medically necessary care for vulnerable communities.

Maddy summaryHB 1015 requires cities and counties in Washington to mandate home energy performance reports before residential properties (like single-family homes and townhouses) are advertised for sale. The reports, valid for eight years, must include a U.S. Department of Energy home energy score, annual energy costs, greenhouse gas emissions estimates, and efficiency improvement recommendations. Local governments must first assess financial impacts on low-income sellers and implement cost-mitigation programs before enforcing the requirement. The bill also directs the Department of Commerce to create a standardized report format by November 2025.

Maddy summaryHB 1245 requires large electric utilities (with over 25,000 customers) to develop comprehensive 10-year integrated resource plans. These plans must include detailed forecasts of customer demand, assessments of conservation and renewable energy options, transmission capacity needs, and strategies for meeting clean energy goals. The bill specifically mandates evaluating impacts of zero-emission vehicles, incorporating data from transportation electrification plans, and ensuring plans prioritize "lowest reasonable cost" while maintaining grid reliability. It directly affects utilities serving over 25,000 customers, requiring them to update these plans every four years with annual progress reports. The bill amends existing energy planning laws (RCW 19.280.030) but does not create new funding or direct cost obligations.

Maddy summaryHB 1090 requires health benefit plans in Washington State (effective January 1, 2026) to cover a 12-month supply of contraceptive drugs at one time, rather than requiring multiple refills. This directly affects health insurers and enrollees, mandating that plans provide this coverage unless an enrollee or provider requests a smaller supply. Key provisions include allowing on-site dispensing at providers' offices (when available) and requiring plans to follow clinical guidelines for appropriate prescribing. The bill defines "contraceptive drugs" to include all FDA-approved pregnancy prevention medications, such as oral, transdermal, and intravaginal hormonal drugs.

Maddy summaryHB 1448 establishes statewide rules for local governments adopting ranked choice voting (RCV) in elections. It allows counties, cities, school districts, fire districts, and port districts to use RCV for local offices, requiring ballots to let voters rank candidates in order of preference (with at least five rankings per office) and setting clear counting rules for single-winner (instant runoff) and multi-winner (single transferable vote) contests. The bill mandates that single-winner RCV elections must first hold a traditional primary to narrow candidates to five, while multi-winner contests skip primaries. It also requires local governments to implement RCV within two years of adoption and directs the Secretary of State to create rules for ballot design and vote tabulation by May 2026.

Maddy summaryHB 1312 changes how Washington state retirement benefits are handled when a retiree or beneficiary dies mid-month. Currently, if someone dies on the 25th of a 30-day month, their estate must repay five days of benefits already received that month. The bill requires the Department of Retirement Systems to pay benefits through the end of the death month (e.g., until the 30th), with survivor benefits starting the first day of the next month. This applies only to future cases starting January 1, 2026, and does not affect past repayments made before that date.

Maddy summaryHB 1619 amends Washington state law to clarify that representatives for employers of dockworkers (who work interchangeably across multiple employers under collective bargaining agreements) are responsible for collecting paid family leave premiums, rather than individual dockworkers. This change directly affects dockworkers covered by such collective bargaining agreements, ensuring their employer representatives handle premium collection. The bill modifies the definition of "Employer" in RCW 50A.05.010 to specify that these representatives are not required to report dockworkers not covered by the collective bargaining agreement. The policy change streamlines premium collection for this workforce segment without altering eligibility or benefit amounts.