Week four of the nine-week 2026 Washington legislative session ends today.
As you may recall, the deadline for bills to make it out of their initial policy committee was this Wednesday, Feb. 4th. Five bills we are supporting made it past that first calendar cutoff and six bills we were supporting did not.
The five bills that are moving forward are listed below in the Highlights section. The six bills that did not are:
- HB 2258 - Excise tax funding option for animal control and shelter systems (will be reworked and reintroduced next year)
- HB 2542 - Requiring the use of alternatives to animal testing in drug development (will be reintroduced next year)
- HB 2516 - Ban on certain rodenticides (will be reintroduced next year)
- HB 1716 - Improving dog breeding regulations (will be expanded and reintroduced next year)
- HB 1617 - Transparency in primate research at UW (UW is attempting voluntary compliance with similar standards, will likely not be reintroduced next year)
- SB 5878 - Plant-based food option in schools upon request (will be reworked and reintroduced next year)
The next calendar cutoff deadline is February 17th-any bills that have not passed out of their chamber of origin in a floor vote will drop dead on that date.
Week 4 Highlights and New Action Alerts:
- HB 1735 - prohibiting force-feeding of birds and sale of force-fed foie gras:
- Week 4 recap: This bill was passed out of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee on Feb 4th. It is now in the Rules Committee waiting to be scheduled for a House floor vote.
- NEW ACTION: Complete our new Action Alert posted on Thursday to ask your representatives to vote for this bill on the House floor.
- HB 1078 - restricting pet insurance cancellations and nonrenewals.
- Week 4 recap: No change. This bill is now in the Rules Committee waiting to be scheduled for a House floor vote.
- NEW ACTION: Complete our new Action Alert posted on Thursday to ask your representatives to vote for this bill on the House floor.
- HB 1904 - banning cat declawing:
- Week 4 recap: No change. This bill is still the Rules Committee waiting to be scheduled for a House floor vote. If you haven't already done so, please complete our Action Alert from last week to ask your representatives to vote for this bill on the House floor.
- HB 2247/SB 6072 - expanding vet telehealth access:
- HB 2247 Week 4 recap: No change. This bill is still in the Rules Committee waiting to be pulled for a House floor vote. If you haven't already done so, please complete our Action Alert from last week to ask your representatives to vote for this bill on the House floor.
- HB 1608 - farmed octopus sales ban:
- Week 4 recap: No change. This bill is in the Rules Committee also. If you haven't already done so, please complete our Action Alert from last week to ask your representatives to vote for this bill on the House floor.
As always, the best way to keep up to date during the week is with our 2026 Bill Tracker, which is updated several times a day and contains links directly to our active Action Alerts. You can also check our Action Alerts webpage to see which bills currently need support - it is update throughout the week.
If you are interested in taking action on wildlife bills, please visit Washington Wildlife First's campaign page and consider signing up for their action alerts.
