---
type: "Bill"
title: "Updating the executive team of the office of the secretary of state by adding signing authority to the chief of staff position."
description: "Updating the executive team of the office of the secretary of state by adding signing authority to the chief of staff position."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2023-2024"
identifier: "HB 1259"
citation: "Washington HB 1259 (2023-2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Abbarno"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 22
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-01-12"
last_action: "2023-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c103021e-8e2c-4690-a092-ddb8cc249055"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1259&year=2023"
source_hash: "6cb553ef93acad70e73d0a53046682389696829d20ae28945125e77fd79c8930"
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 1259 (2023-2024) — Updating the executive team of the office of the secretary of state by adding signing authority to the chief of staff position.

## 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/2023-24/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1259.htm)
2. **Passed Legislature** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2023-24/Htm/Bills/House%20Passed%20Legislature/1259.PL.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#9) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#30) — **48–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Abbarno — primary (person)
- Reeves — cosponsor (person)
- Stearns — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-12** First reading, referred to State Government & Tribal Relations. `reading-1`
- **2023-01-20** Public hearing in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 8:00 AM.
- **2023-01-25** Executive action taken in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations at 1:30 PM.
- **2023-01-25** SGOV - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-01-27** Referred to Rules 2 Review. `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-03** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee. `reading-2`
- **2023-02-08** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2023-02-08** Third reading, passed; yeas, 96; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2023-02-10** First reading, referred to State Government & Elections. `reading-1`
- **2023-03-10** Public hearing in the Senate Committee on State Government & Elections at 8:00 AM.
- **2023-03-17** Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on State Government & Elections at 8:00 AM.
- **2023-03-17** SGE - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-20** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2023-03-30** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee. `reading-2`
- **2023-04-05** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2023-04-05** Third reading, passed; yeas, 48; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2023-04-06** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2023-04-07** President signed. `passage`
- **2023-04-14** Delivered to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2023-04-20** Governor partially vetoed. `executive-veto-line-item`
- **2023-04-20** Chapter 142, 2023 Laws. `became-law`
- **2023-04-20** Effective date 7/23/2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c103021e-8e2c-4690-a092-ddb8cc249055`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).