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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Bills that would have split state die in committee

The Columbian
Published:

OLYMPIA — Both bills designed to split Eastern and Western Washington into separate states died in committee without receiving a public hearing.

House Bill 1818 would have created a task force to determine the viability of creating two states within Washington state, one west of the Cascade mountain range, and one east. House Bill 1832 also would have created a task force, this one to determine how to split Western Washington and Oregon into one state, and Eastern Washington and Oregon into another state.

The bills were sent to the House State Government Committee, but a public hearing was never scheduled. The cutoff for bills to be sent out of policy committees was Feb. 20.

“Frankly, we didn’t have time and I don’t think there’s any good justification to do it,” said Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, the chair of the House State Government Committee.

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