After the November 2026 election
The 2027 session is decided before it starts
The election is over. The Legislature convenes on 11 January 2027 for a 105-day session with a biennial budget to write. Almost everything that determines how that session goes for you happens in the next two months.
Passing a bill in Olympia is an education effort, and education takes time. Most bills do not pass in their first year, and significant policy change routinely takes several sessions. That is the normal path, not a warning sign. Relationships compress the timeline. They do not remove the work.
A new biennium resets the board
Bills do not carry over. Anything that did not pass has to be redrafted for the new biennium, given a new number and possibly a new title, and have its effective dates reset. Sponsors have to be recruited again and educated again before they will put their names on it. All of that happens before a single hearing is scheduled, and all of it happens in the interim.
The committee that decides your issue is changing now
Every House seat and about half the Senate were on the November ballot, and committee rosters will look different in January. Members whose positions decided your bill last time may be gone. The members who replace them arrive with no history on your issue and a queue of people waiting to give them one. The firm that reaches them first, with a clear and accurate case, sets the terms of that history.
What actually has to happen between now and January
- Member education, before positions harden.
- An accurate vote count in the committee of jurisdiction, not a guess.
- Identifying which members are realistically gettable, and what it would take.
- Early engagement with the agency that will administer the change, so the bill arrives with agency input rather than agency objection.
- A decision on whether the 2027 measure follows the old bill closely or is rewritten to win.
The calendar
Where the leverage is
November → December
New members, new rosters
Results are certified, caucuses elect their leadership, and committee assignments are made. The members we hosted at more than 45 candidate lunches during the campaign already know our clients by name. For everyone else, this is the window to make the introduction before the calendar fills.
December → January
Drafting and sponsors
Pre-filing opens in December. Redraft the measure, work the language through bill drafting, reset effective dates, recruit and educate bipartisan sponsors in both chambers, and open the agency conversation. Build the written vote count.
January → April
105 days
Introduction, hearings, executive session, fiscal committees, floor, the opposite chamber, and the Governor's desk, against a biennial budget competing for every minute of committee time.
Start now
You arrive in January with a vote count, a sponsor, agreed bill language, and an agency already consulted, and you have already met the members who will sit on your committee, including the new ones.
Start in January
You arrive to a full calendar, positions already set, sponsors already committed to other people's bills, and a 105-day clock.
Let's talk about your legislative priorities.
Whether you are heading into session with a bill to pass, a rule to change, or a threat to head off, we will tell you plainly what is achievable and what it will take.
Start a conversation