2024 Legislative Session
The legislative session began with a flurry of tax and regulatory proposals. AWB’ s Government Affairs team helped stop several of the most harmful bills from passing, including one that sought to extend unemployment insurance benefits to striking workers for the first time, raising costs for employers and jeopardizing the state’ s unemployment insurance system.
For the second year in a row, AWB and a broad coalition successfully opposed a proposal to raise the real estate excise tax, or REET, and AWB worked to defeat a pair of bills that sought to regulate gift cards.
The session saw the passage of positive bills, too. AWB encouraged lawmakers to address the state’ s workforce shortage by approving bills enacting interstate compacts for teachers, social workers and physician assistants.
Other positive measures include passage of a tax incentive for semiconductor manufacturing, and a bill establishing a task force on artificial intelligence.
“ For years, we have been urging lawmakers to become champions for the economy and yet we saw many bills this year that, if approved, would have made it harder, more complex and more expensive to start or run a business in Washington. We need to make it easier, not harder, to start and grow a business in Washington.”
AWB President Kris Johnson, March 8, 2024 press statement on legislative session outcome