---
type: "Bill"
title: "Expanding powers granted to state historical societies."
description: "Expanding powers granted to state historical societies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 2837"
citation: "Washington HB 2837 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HISTORICAL SOCIETIES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Boehnke"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 23
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-24"
last_action: "2020-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d60e6195-57d2-4665-80cc-cc72fef90fa9"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2837&year=2019"
source_hash: "3734c3166aae6a9c28a8c43eaa2dc36290287a54a9315ae03501dbe0743290e9"
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 2837 (2019-2020) — Expanding powers granted to state historical societies.

## 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/2837.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#48) — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#16) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Boehnke — primary (person)
- Hudgins — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-24** First reading, referred to State Government & Tribal Relations. `reading-1`
- **2020-02-07** SGOV - Majority; do pass.
- **2020-02-07** Minority; do not pass.
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2020-02-19** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2020-02-19** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2020-02-19** Third reading, passed; yeas, 98; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** First reading, referred to State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections. `reading-1`
- **2020-02-28** SGTE - Majority; do pass.
- **2020-02-28** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2020-03-02** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2020-03-03** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2020-03-03** Third reading, passed; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2020-03-06** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2020-03-07** President signed. `passage`
- **2020-03-09** Delivered to Governor.
- **2020-03-18** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-18** Chapter 48, 2020 Laws. `became-law`
- **2020-03-18** Effective date 6/11/2020. `became-law`
- **2020-02-05T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 01:30 PM
- **2020-02-07T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 08:00 AM
- **2020-02-26T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections at 08:00 AM
- **2020-02-28T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections at 01:30 PM

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d60e6195-57d2-4665-80cc-cc72fef90fa9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).