---
type: "Bill"
title: "Establishing a statewide policy supporting Washington state's economy and immigrants' role in the workplace."
description: "Establishing a statewide policy supporting Washington state's economy and immigrants' role in the workplace."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "SB 5497"
citation: "Washington SB 5497 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["IMMIGRATION", "IMMIGRANTS", "AND IMMIGRATION STATUS", "COMPUTERS", "ATTORNEY GENERAL", "RECORDS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wellman"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 58
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-01-23"
last_action: "2019-05-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a2b1130d-5cb4-4cca-99b6-77782197c871"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5497&year=2019"
source_hash: "19716f2287b5dae2bd062df768ce67ab8a9f713567bf9555c3d1779d1782f4e0"
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 5497 (2019-2020) — Establishing a statewide policy supporting Washington state's economy and immigrants' role in the workplace.

## 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/Senate%20Bills/5497.htm)
2. **Engrossed Second Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5497-S2.E.htm)
3. **Second Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5497-S2.htm)
4. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5497-S.htm)

## Votes

- Final Passage as Amended by the House (#19) — **57–38** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage as Amended by the House (#4) — **27–21** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#31) — **30–16** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wellman — primary (person)
- Cleveland — cosponsor (person)
- Conway — cosponsor (person)
- Darneille — cosponsor (person)
- Das — cosponsor (person)
- Frockt — cosponsor (person)
- Hasegawa — cosponsor (person)
- Hunt — cosponsor (person)
- Keiser — cosponsor (person)
- Kuderer — cosponsor (person)
- Liias — cosponsor (person)
- McCoy — cosponsor (person)
- Mullet — cosponsor (person)
- Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- Randall — cosponsor (person)
- Saldaña — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-23** First reading, referred to Law & Justice. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-21** LAW - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-21** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-21** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-22** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2019-02-28** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-28** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-28** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-03-01** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-03-05** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-03-07** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-02-21** LAW - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-21** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-21** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-22** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2019-02-28** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-28** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-28** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-03-01** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-03-05** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-03-07** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-02-28** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-28** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-02-28** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-03-01** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-03-05** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-03-07** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-03-07** Floor amendment(s) adopted.
- **2019-03-07** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-03-07** Third reading, passed; yeas, 30; nays, 16; absent, 0; excused, 3. `reading-3`
- **2019-03-09** First reading, referred to Civil Rights & Judiciary. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-26** CRJ - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
- **2019-03-26** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-03-28** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2019-04-08** APP - Majority; do pass with amendment(s) but without amendment(s) by Civil Rights & Judiciary.
- **2019-04-08** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-04-09** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2019-04-11** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2019-04-12** Committee amendment not adopted. `amendment-failure`
- **2019-04-12** Committee amendment(s) adopted as amended.
- **2019-04-12** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-04-12** Third reading, passed; yeas, 57; nays, 38; absent, 3; excused, 3. `reading-3`
- **2019-04-24** Senate concurred in House amendments.
- **2019-04-24** Passed final passage; yeas, 27; nays, 21; absent, 0; excused, 1. `passage`
- **2019-04-25** President signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-27** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-29** Delivered to Governor.
- **2019-05-21** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-21** Chapter 440, 2019 Laws. `became-law`
- **2019-05-21** Effective date 5/21/2019. `became-law`
- **2019-02-12T15:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Law & Justice at 10:00 AM
- **2019-02-21T15:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Law & Justice at 10:00 AM
- **2019-02-27T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 01:30 PM
- **2019-02-28T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 01:30 PM
- **2019-03-22T14:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary at 10:00 AM
- **2019-03-26T14:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary at 10:00 AM
- **2019-04-06T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 09:00 AM
- **2019-04-08T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 09:00 AM

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a2b1130d-5cb4-4cca-99b6-77782197c871`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).