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House rejects motion to suspend rules to prioritize two citizen initiatives

Washington State House of Representatives · January 28, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Lawmakers debated whether two certified citizen initiatives should be given expedited public hearings; the House rejected a motion to suspend rules (38–57) after constitutional arguments over whether the legislature must act or may take no action.

The Washington State House of Representatives voted down a motion to suspend the rules and direct the Education Committee to promptly schedule public hearings on two certified citizen initiatives (referred to in debate as I-126-638 and I-126-001).

Representative Couture moved the suspension, arguing that “Article 2, section 1 of our state's constitution states the people reserved to themselves the power to propose bills, laws, and to... reject the same at the polls,” and that the legislature therefore has a duty to…

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