---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revising economic assistance programs by updating standards of need, revising outcome measures and data collected, and reducing barriers to participation."
description: "Revising economic assistance programs by updating standards of need, revising outcome measures and data collected, and reducing barriers to participation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 1603"
citation: "Washington HB 1603 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["PUBLIC ASSISTANCE"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Senn"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 57
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-01-25"
last_action: "2019-05-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/016fb8fa-9f4b-468d-acac-73c39cd6b059"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1603&year=2019"
source_hash: "a21893fa4dfd295212161b81d46ead2eb287720b7d062d3d8bcd06f2e314cc7e"
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 HB 1603 (2019-2020) — Revising economic assistance programs by updating standards of need, revising outcome measures and data collected, and reducing barriers to participation.

## 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/2019-20/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1603.htm)
2. **Second Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1603-S2.htm)
3. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1603-S.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage as Amended by the Senate (#37) — **35–13** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage as Amended by the Senate (#29) — **55–39** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage (#40) — **69–28** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Senn — primary (person)
- Appleton — cosponsor (person)
- Bergquist — cosponsor (person)
- Chapman — cosponsor (person)
- Davis — cosponsor (person)
- Doglio — cosponsor (person)
- Entenman — cosponsor (person)
- Fey — cosponsor (person)
- Frame — cosponsor (person)
- Goodman — cosponsor (person)
- Gregerson — cosponsor (person)
- Hudgins — cosponsor (person)
- Jinkins — cosponsor (person)
- Kilduff — cosponsor (person)
- Leavitt — cosponsor (person)
- Lovick — cosponsor (person)
- Macri — cosponsor (person)
- Morgan — cosponsor (person)
- Ortiz-Self — cosponsor (person)
- Peterson — cosponsor (person)
- Pettigrew — cosponsor (person)
- Pollet — cosponsor (person)
- Robinson — cosponsor (person)
- Slatter — cosponsor (person)
- Stanford — cosponsor (person)
- Tarleton — cosponsor (person)
- Tharinger — cosponsor (person)
- Valdez — cosponsor (person)
- Wylie — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-25** First reading, referred to Human Services & Early Learning. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-05** HSEL - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-05** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-05** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-02-08** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2019-02-28** APP - Executive action taken by committee.
- **2019-02-28** APP - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-28** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-03-01** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2019-03-05** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2019-03-07** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-02-05** HSEL - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-05** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-05** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-02-08** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2019-02-28** APP - Executive action taken by committee.
- **2019-02-28** APP - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-28** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-03-01** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2019-03-05** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2019-03-07** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-02-28** APP - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-28** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-03-01** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2019-03-05** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2019-03-07** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-03-07** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-03-07** Third reading, passed; yeas, 69; nays, 28; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2019-03-09** First reading, referred to Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-21** HSRR - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
- **2019-03-21** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-21** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-03-22** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2019-04-09** WM - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
- **2019-04-09** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-04-09** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-04-09** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-04-11** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-04-15** Committee amendment(s) adopted with no other amendments.
- **2019-04-15** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-04-15** Third reading, passed; yeas, 35; nays, 13; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2019-04-18** House concurred in Senate amendments.
- **2019-04-18** Passed final passage; yeas, 55; nays, 39; absent, 0; excused, 4. `passage`
- **2019-04-23** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-25** President signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-26** Delivered to Governor.
- **2019-05-09** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-09** Chapter 343, 2019 Laws. `became-law`
- **2019-05-09** Effective date 7/28/2019. `became-law`
- **2019-01-30T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Human Services & Early Learning at 01:30 PM
- **2019-02-05T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Human Services & Early Learning at 01:30 PM
- **2019-02-28T15:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 10:00 AM
- **2019-02-28T15:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 10:00 AM
- **2019-03-19T17:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation at 01:30 PM
- **2019-03-21T17:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation at 01:30 PM
- **2019-04-08T17:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 01:30 PM
- **2019-04-09T14:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 10:00 AM

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/016fb8fa-9f4b-468d-acac-73c39cd6b059`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).