---
type: "Bill"
title: "Expanding affordable, resilient broadband service to enable economic development, public safety, health care, and education in Washington's communities."
description: "Expanding affordable, resilient broadband service to enable economic development, public safety, health care, and education in Washington's communities."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "SB 5511"
citation: "Washington SB 5511 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["UTILITIES", "GOVERNOR", "PUBLIC FUNDS AND ACCOUNTS", "PORT DISTRICTS", "COMPUTERS", "TELECOMMUNICATIONS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wellman"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 53
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-01-23"
last_action: "2019-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0cf136c0-0ac4-4b9c-8f89-3da1c3b6d6a0"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5511&year=2019"
source_hash: "1642b670b580c71d7d09b05e5982f56a5a75861f7dc72f714f9855c091ac8b85"
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 5511 (2019-2020) — Expanding affordable, resilient broadband service to enable economic development, public safety, health care, and education in Washington's communities.

## 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/5511.htm)
2. **Second Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5511-S2.htm)
3. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5511-S.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#28) — **47–0** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage as Amended by the House (#6) — **48–0** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage as Amended by the House (#26) — **97–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Wellman — primary (person)
- Carlyle — cosponsor (person)
- Cleveland — cosponsor (person)
- Darneille — cosponsor (person)
- Dhingra — cosponsor (person)
- Frockt — cosponsor (person)
- Liias — cosponsor (person)
- McCoy — cosponsor (person)
- Mullet — cosponsor (person)
- Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- Saldaña — cosponsor (person)
- Sheldon — cosponsor (person)
- Short — cosponsor (person)
- Takko — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-23** First reading, referred to Environment, Energy & Technology. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-14** ENET - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-14** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-18** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2019-02-28** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-03-01** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-03-05** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-03-06** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-02-14** ENET - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-02-14** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-18** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2019-02-28** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-03-01** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-03-05** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-03-06** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-02-28** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2019-03-01** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2019-03-05** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2019-03-06** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2019-03-06** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-03-06** Third reading, passed; yeas, 47; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2019-03-08** First reading, referred to Innovation, Technology & Economic Development. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-28** ITED - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
- **2019-04-02** Referred to Capital Budget.
- **2019-04-05** CB - Majority; do pass with amendment(s) but without amendment(s) by Innovation, Technology & Economic Development.
- **2019-04-05** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2019-04-08** APP - Majority; do pass with amendment(s) by Capital Budget.
- **2019-04-08** Minority; do not pass.
- **2019-04-08** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2019-04-09** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2019-04-16** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2019-04-16** Committee amendment not adopted. `amendment-failure`
- **2019-04-16** Committee recommendations adopted and the bill amended.
- **2019-04-16** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2019-04-16** Third reading, passed; yeas, 97; nays, 1; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2019-04-24** Senate concurred in House amendments.
- **2019-04-24** Passed final passage; yeas, 48; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 1. `passage`
- **2019-04-25** President signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-27** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2019-04-29** Delivered to Governor.
- **2019-05-13** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-13** Chapter 365, 2019 Laws. `became-law`
- **2019-05-13** Effective date 7/28/2019*. `became-law`
- **2019-02-05T15:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology at 10:00 AM
- **2019-02-14T15:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology 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
- **2019-03-19T14:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Innovation, Technology & Economic Development at 10:00 AM
- **2019-03-28T19:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Innovation, Technology & Economic Development at 03:30 PM
- **2019-04-04T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Capital Budget at 09:00 AM
- **2019-04-05T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Capital Budget 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
- **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/0cf136c0-0ac4-4b9c-8f89-3da1c3b6d6a0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).