---
type: "Bill"
title: "Concerning vacancies on boards of county commissioners."
description: "Concerning vacancies on boards of county commissioners."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2025-2026"
identifier: "SB 5288"
citation: "Washington SB 5288 (2025-2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Schoesler"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 22
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-15"
last_action: "2025-04-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/920ffcea-2ba7-4a8c-abe2-6597d8ebb03b"
source_url: "https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=5288&Year=2025&Initiative=false"
source_hash: "9adce0e686ad2023cfd6cc9658b405c7e1f21350477f8fa1320f09001b2ead4a"
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 5288 (2025-2026) — Concerning vacancies on boards of county commissioners.

## 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/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5288.htm)
2. **Passed Legislature** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5288.PL.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#11) — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#7) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Schoesler — primary (person)
- Boehnke — cosponsor (person)
- Dozier — cosponsor (person)
- Holy — cosponsor (person)
- J. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- Salomon — cosponsor (person)
- Wagoner — cosponsor (person)
- Warnick — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-15** First reading, referred to Local Government. `reading-1`
- **2025-01-27** Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Local Government at 1:30 PM.
- **2025-01-30** Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Local Government at 1:30 PM.
- **2025-01-30** LGV - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-01-31** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2025-02-05** Placed on second reading consent calendar. `reading-2`
- **2025-02-12** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2025-02-12** Third reading, passed; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2025-02-17** First reading, referred to Local Government. `reading-1`
- **2025-03-25** Public hearing in the House Committee on Local Government at 10:30 AM.
- **2025-04-01** Executive action taken in the House Committee on Local Government at 11:00 AM.
- **2025-04-01** LG - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-02** Referred to Rules 2 Review. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-08** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading. `reading-2`
- **2025-04-09** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2025-04-09** Third reading, passed; yeas, 98; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2025-04-14** President signed. `passage`
- **2025-04-15** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2025-04-17** Delivered to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-22** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-22** Chapter 133, 2025 Laws. `became-law`
- **2025-04-22** Effective date 7/27/2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/920ffcea-2ba7-4a8c-abe2-6597d8ebb03b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).