With a major budget deficit looming, this year's Washington state legislative session was full of drama, and that's before taking a look at a number of policy changes.
Now that the session has closed, lawmakers and Washington residents are waiting to see which bills will receive signatures from Gov. Bob Ferguson and go into law over the next year.
Two weeks after the 2025 legislative session concluded, Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, spoke with The Chronicle Editorial Board to recap the 2025 legislative session from his party’s perspective. He spoke about what he considered the most controversial bills to pass out of the Legislature this session; or, in his words, the “worst” legislation of the session.
Braun named three bills that Republicans opposed, including a bill to cap rent increases in the state that has since been signed into law by Ferguson, a bill to provide unemployment benefits to striking workers, and, lastly, a bill that will require producers of paper and packaging products to fund recycling programs.
Each bill passed with slim margins, with two needing a direct conference between the House and Senate to come to a final compromise.
But what makes them so divisive?
Rent control
Engrossed House Bill 1217 was among the most hotly debated bills this year. It was signed into law by Ferguson last week. Due to emergency clauses included in the legislation, it went into effect immediately. The bill makes changes to two existing laws, the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act and the Manufactured Home Landlord-Tenant Act, that lay out rules and regulations on landlord-tenant relationships.
The core changes outlined in the new law limit how much a landlord can increase rent prices in a 12-month period. Rent under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act will be limited to 10% increases or a 7% plus the Consumer Price Index percentage, whichever is less. Rents under the Manufactured Home Landlord-Tenant Act are limited to a 5% increase. The law also bars landlords from increasing rent in the first 12 months of a new tenancy and requires notice of a rent increase 90 days before that increase takes effect.
Included in the law is a list of exceptions to the rule. For example, government or nonprofit housing that already has rules related to rent increases are not included. It also mandates the creation of new resources such as the Landlord Resource Center, which will be responsible for informing landlords about programs and resources like the low-income weatherization program or others.
The bill is divisive as politicians disagree on how to deliver on the goal of lowering housing costs in the state. Supporters and many Democrats point to the bill as a surefire way to stabilize rents immediately, while the bill's detractors, including state Republicans and some moderate Democrats, argue increasing supply is the only way to combat a scarcity of housing in the state and meaningfully lower housing costs.
Housing in the state is already scarce. In 2023, the Washington state Department of Commerce published findings based on census data estimating that the state of Washington will need 50,000 new units every year for the next 20 years to address population growth.
Democrats in favor of the bill argue that the state has done plenty to foster development in recent years, but those in opposition aren't so sure and say the policy could alienate private investors who will be essential to addressing the state's housing shortfalls.
“The only way you get there is for private development. You have to have private development to get there, to be even remotely close,” Braun said.
Unemployment for striking workers
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5041 was passed by the Washington state Legislature on April 25 and delivered to the governor's desk two days later on the last day of the 2025 legislative session. The bill, if signed into law, will make striking workers in the state of Washington eligible for up to six weeks of unemployment benefits. Currently, striking workers are specifically designated as ineligible for unemployment benefits.
With the new law change, striking workers would be able to start collecting benefits on the second Sunday after the strike begins followed by an additional week-long wait period. Striking workers would also be able to collect benefits if they are locked out by their employer.
Employees participating in strikes declared illegal will not be eligible for unemployment benefits and will be responsible for paying back any benefits they already received. This caveat is significant as public employees in Washington are prohibited from striking by state law.
Supporters of the bill cheered its support of unionized labor and workers rights, but conservatives questioned why the bill was necessary.
Braun argues that labor unions are already leveraging strikes to their advantage and that the cost of extending benefits will fall on many Washingtonians who won’t be able to take advantage of them.
“I still believe that this will cost the entire system money,” Braun said. “And that means for the 15 percent who are unionized who have this new right to unemployment insurance, if they strike, are gonna be subsidized by the other 85 percent who aren't unionized and aren't likely to take advantage of that.”
Producer responsibility recycling
Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5284 is a complete overhaul of Washington's recycling system that will be funded through fees charged to companies that produce certain recyclable materials. The big selling point among supporters is free or reduced recycling services throughout the state.
The new law, if signed by Ferguson, calls for the creation of Producer Responsibility Organizations that will be responsible for recycling certain paper and packaging products. The law would require companies that produce or sell the covered materials to participate in the process by registering as a member of a Producer Responsibility Organization or by creating a plan to recycle the materials themselves.
The bill, like the rest, passed with a razor-thin margin with some middle-of-the-road Democrats joining Republicans in opposing the bill. Those opposed argued the cost is simply too great. Many opponents argued the cost to businesses will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
“If you build it and package it, you are responsible for the recycling of the material used to build it and the packaging,” Braun said. “I’m a big recycling fan. But this is a terribly expensive way to do it.”
The implementation of the bill is estimated to take nearly five years, with a number of deadlines laid out to ensure implementation. Companies and Producer Responsibility Organizations will need to register with the Department of Ecology by March 2026. Companies that don't participate by March 2029 will be barred from selling any of the covered materials in the state.
The Department of Ecology is responsible for creating a list of materials that will be covered by the new law by October 2026 and submit a needs assessment later that year contextualizing the state's recycling capacities and what it will need going forward. A similar assessment analyzing the outcome of the program will be due in 2027 and every five years after that.
It remains to be seen if Ferguson will sign off on the bill or on the striking workers unemployment benefits bill, which could both easily be halted or changed by the governor's veto power. The clock is ticking on the two bills, as the governor's 20-day post-session consideration period comes to an end on Tuesday, May 19.
For more information on these bills or any others in the state of Washington, visit https://leg.wa.gov/.
