OLYMPIA, WA—A new analysis of nonpartisan data shows that 95.8% of bills passed during the 2024 legislative session had bipartisan support. Overall, 365 of the 381 bills that cleared both chambers and arrived on Gov. Inslee’s desk had the ‘yes’ vote of at least one Republican senator or representative.
Digging deeper into the numbers shows that only one ‘yes’ vote was the exception rather than the rule.
Of all the bills that passed the Legislature in 2024:
- 91.34% (348 of 381) garnered six or more Republican votes — 10% of GOP legislators.
- 89.24% (340 of 381) received 10 or more Republican votes.
- 80.84% (308 of 381) earned 31 or more Republican votes — a majority of GOP legislators.
“Washingtonians expect us to work together and we do. They are understandably surprised to learn how closely we collaborate because so often the rhetoric doesn’t match reality. But the numbers don’t lie,” Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig says. “This is further proof that we are in fact nothing like the other Washington.”
Of the 233 bills that passed during the 2024 session, 233 had zero ‘no’ votes from Republicans (61.15%) and 199 were unanimous (52.23%). However, not everything was bipartisan, as 16 bills passed the Legislature without any Republican votes.
“While we vote together on many bills, there are a few crucial issues where the stark differences between the parties are clear,” Billig said. “Our Democratic majorities vote our values – whether our Republican colleagues join us or not – on issues important to Washingtonians such as gun safety, reproductive freedom and climate change.
“But our Legislature has shown that we can disagree without being disagreeable, that we can find areas of agreement, and that government can work as intended even when there are differences of opinion.”
The 2024 session builds on bipartisan efforts from previous years:
- In 2023, 467 of 487 bills passed with at least one Republican ‘yes’ vote (95.89%)
- In 2022, 291 of 308 bills passed with at least one Republican ‘yes’ vote. (94.48%)
- In 2021, 310 of 334 bills passed with at least one Republican ‘yes’ vote (92.81%)
- In the 2019-20 biennium, 812 of 854 bills passed with at least one Republican ‘yes’ vote
(95.08%)
