---
type: "Bill"
title: "Concerning state employee whistleblower protection."
description: "Concerning state employee whistleblower protection."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2017-2018"
identifier: "SB 5374"
citation: "Washington SB 5374 (2017-2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE", "STATE AGENCIES AND DEPARTMENTS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Becker"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 23
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-01-20"
last_action: "2017-04-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d7154146-f949-443c-a53a-8bca8bd833b2"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5374&year=2017"
source_hash: "68b6cc8ae03758f613ef7cd6cd3c878f616fcf7616bf1a1232d1ae93f3afc60c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wa"]
---

# Washington SB 5374 (2017-2018) — Concerning state employee whistleblower protection.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5374.htm)
2. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5374-S.htm)

## Votes

- Final Passage (#28) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#16) — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Becker — primary (person)
- Angel — cosponsor (person)
- Bailey — cosponsor (person)
- Braun — cosponsor (person)
- Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Honeyford — cosponsor (person)
- Miloscia — cosponsor (person)
- O'Ban — cosponsor (person)
- Padden — cosponsor (person)
- Rivers — cosponsor (person)
- Warnick — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-20** First reading, referred to Law & Justice. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-01** LAW - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-02** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-02-07** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-02-23** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-02-01** LAW - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-02** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-02-07** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-02-23** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-02-23** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-02-23** Third reading, passed; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2017-02-24** First reading, referred to State Government, Elections & Information Technology (Not Officially read and referred until adoption of Introduction report). `reading-1`
- **2017-03-21** SEIT - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-03-23** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2017-03-31** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-04-05** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-04-05** Third reading, passed; yeas, 97; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2017-04-06** President signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-10** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-11** Delivered to Governor.
- **2017-04-17** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-17** Chapter 44, 2017 Laws. `became-law`
- **2017-04-17** Effective date 7/23/2017. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d7154146-f949-443c-a53a-8bca8bd833b2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).