---
type: "Bill"
title: "Preserving timber tax distributions for school districts with recent school district levy failures."
description: "Preserving timber tax distributions for school districts with recent school district levy failures."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2025-2026"
identifier: "SB 5994"
citation: "Washington SB 5994 (2025-2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cortes"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-06"
last_action: "2026-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1c8860b5-d7e8-40d5-a680-819e570beb90"
source_url: "https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=5994&Year=2025&Initiative=false"
source_hash: "b3282c1cdc20debfc48fb4267cc3ca7ca6c7c3812683b8dcd6eb5ef3fbcb3a15"
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 5994 (2025-2026) — Preserving timber tax distributions for school districts with recent school district levy failures.

## 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/5994.htm)
2. **Passed Legislature** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5994.PL.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#29) — **47–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#13) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cortes — primary (person)
- Frame — cosponsor (person)
- Lovelett — cosponsor (person)
- Shewmake — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-06** Prefiled for introduction. `filing`
- **2026-01-12** First reading, referred to Ways & Means. `reading-1`
- **2026-01-19** Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 4:00 PM.
- **2026-02-03** Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 4:00 PM.
- **2026-02-03** WM - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-03** Minority; without recommendation. `committee-passage-unfavorable`
- **2026-02-04** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2026-02-10** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee. `reading-2`
- **2026-02-11** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2026-02-11** Third reading, passed; yeas, 47; nays, 2; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2026-02-14** First reading, referred to Finance. `reading-1`
- **2026-02-19** Public hearing in the House Committee on Finance at 1:30 PM.
- **2026-03-02** Executive action taken in the House Committee on Finance at 8:00 AM.
- **2026-03-02** FIN - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-02** Referred to Rules 2 Review. `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading. `reading-2`
- **2026-03-04** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2026-03-04** Third reading, passed; yeas, 96; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2026-03-05** President signed. `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2026-03-09** Delivered to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-16** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-16** Chapter 74, 2026 Laws. `became-law`
- **2026-03-16** Effective date 3/16/2026. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1c8860b5-d7e8-40d5-a680-819e570beb90`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).