---
type: "Bill"
title: "Making expenditures from the budget stabilization account for declared catastrophic events."
description: "Making expenditures from the budget stabilization account for declared catastrophic events."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 2159"
citation: "Washington HB 2159 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["EMERGENCY", "STATE OF", "NATURAL RESOURCES", "DEPARTMENT", "FIRE PROTECTION", "PUBLIC FUNDS AND ACCOUNTS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ormsby"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 27
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-03-28"
last_action: "2019-05-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4d4e452d-9038-4d27-b235-dfaf3ff01d45"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2159&year=2019"
source_hash: "f0444c06b1708783562b77e941c98a1d54d9418d27a6f478c8cb75921428cbd5"
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 2159 (2019-2020) — Making expenditures from the budget stabilization account for declared catastrophic events.

## 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/2159.htm)
2. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/2159-S.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#17) — **46–3** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage (#15) — **80–18** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ormsby — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-03-28** First reading, referred to Appropriations. `reading-1`
- **2019-04-22** APP - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-04-22** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-04-24** Placed on second reading.
- **2019-04-25** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-04-22** APP - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-04-22** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-04-24** Placed on second reading.
- **2019-04-25** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-04-25** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-04-25** Third reading, passed; yeas, 80; nays, 18; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2019-04-26** First reading, referred to Ways & Means. `reading-1`
- **2019-04-27** WM - Majority; do pass.
- **2019-04-27** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-04-28** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-04-28** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-04-28** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-04-28** Third reading, passed; yeas, 46; nays, 3; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2019-04-28** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-28** President signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-28** Delivered to Governor.
- **2019-05-21** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-21** Chapter 418, 2019 Laws. `became-law`
- **2019-05-21** Effective date 5/21/2019. `became-law`
- **2019-04-22T17:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 01:30 PM
- **2019-04-22T17:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 01:30 PM
- **2019-04-27T14:00:00+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/4d4e452d-9038-4d27-b235-dfaf3ff01d45`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).