WashingtonIndependents.org

SHB 2496 — EFSEC tribal consultation

SHB 2496 was introduced in the 2025-26 Washington legislative session by Representative Stearns. It became law.

  • 2025-26 session
  • House
  • Became law
  • 1 public hearing
  • Sponsor: ENVI(Stearns

Source Washington State Legislature web services: legislation, hearings and roll calls · as of 2026-08-12 · introduced 2026-02-02

01

Where it stopped

Became law

Last recorded action
Effective date 6/11/2026.
Session law
C 244 L 26 — chapter and year in the session laws
Last committee
Senate Environment, Energy & Technology — the last committee with this bill on an agenda
Public hearing
Yes — 1 on record — a public hearing is where testimony is taken; an executive session is where a committee votes

Source WA Legislature legislation service · as of 2026-08-12

02

What it would do

The Legislature’s own description. We do not paraphrase legislation.

Concerning tribal consultation conducted by the energy facility site evaluation council.

Legal title AN ACT Relating to tribal consultation conducted by the energy facility site evaluation council;

Source WA Legislature legislation service · as of 2026-08-12

03

The votes

Recorded floor votes. Committee votes are in the hearing record below.

HOUSE · 2026-02-13

3rd Reading & Final Passage

70

yea

24

nay

4

absent or excused

SENATE · 2026-02-28

3rd Reading & Final Passage as Amended by the Senate

30

yea

19

nay

HOUSE · 2026-03-09

Final Passage as Amended by the Senate

71

yea

24

nay

3

absent or excused

Source WA Legislature roll call service · as of 2026-08-12 · 3 recorded votes

04

Sponsors

Who put their name to the bill. The Legislature records a prime sponsor on the bill status; the full co-sponsor roster appears only in the introduced bill text, which we have not ingested.

Prime sponsor

ENVI(Stearns

as printed the sponsor line on the bill status record · introduced in the House. A committee substitute prints the committee here, with the originating member in parentheses.

The co-sponsor roster is not on this page. We hold the prime sponsor the Legislature prints on the bill status, not the list of co-sponsors, which is published only in the introduced bill text we have not ingested. A co-sponsor count here would be a number no record we hold contains.

Source WA Legislature legislation service · as of 2026-08-12

05

The hearing record

Every committee meeting where this bill appeared on the agenda. Public is where testimony is taken; Executive is where the committee votes.

Committee hearing record
Date Type Committee Chamber
2026-01-26 Public House Environment & Energy House
2026-02-02 Executive House Environment & Energy House
2026-02-20 Executive Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Senate

Source WA Legislature committee hearing records · as of 2026-08-12 · 1 public, 2 executive

06

What changed between versions

Versions of this bill
Version Substitute Engrossed Status
HB 2496 — — 1st substitute bill substituted.
SHB 2496 1 — Effective date 6/11/2026.

We do not hold the bill text, so we cannot say what changed. The version list shows that the bill was rewritten and how many times. Comparing the substance of two versions needs the text of each, which we have not ingested. The Legislature publishes both.

Last checked 2026-08-12

Source WA Legislature legislation service · as of 2026-08-12

07

Connected records

Every link in this section is an edge in the entity graph: a row in one table, carrying the document that states it. Grouped by how well the record supports it.

Filed · 1

One document states the relation in its own words.

Source Entity graph, synced from the pipeline · as of 2026-08-12 · Votes are in the graph but render as roll-call tables above, not as rows here. Hearings, referrals and companion bills are not in the graph yet.

08

What this page will not compute

Each of these is a number a reader might reasonably expect. None of them follow from the records we hold, so we do not publish them.

Who killed it
We can say a bill was never scheduled for a public hearing. We cannot say who decided that. Chairs control agendas, but the record does not attribute a non-decision to a person, and we will not infer one from a committee roster.
Why it died
Withdrawn, superseded by its own companion, folded into a budget, or simply never taken up — all four look identical in the data.
Whether lobbying affected it
Washington collects lobbyist compensation and employer registrations, but none of those filings name a bill. There is no documented link between a lobbying report and a bill number, so we publish none.
What changed between versions
We hold the version list, not the text of each version.
How a member would have voted
Only recorded votes appear here. A member absent from a roll call is recorded as absent, not as opposed.

09

Common questions

What happened to SHB 2496?
SHB 2496 became law. The Legislature’s status record places it at “C 244 L 26” — its chapter and year in the session laws.
Who sponsored SHB 2496?
The prime sponsor of record is ENVI(Stearns, as printed on the bill status. This page does not list co-sponsors — that roster is published only in the introduced bill text, which we have not ingested.
What would SHB 2496 do?
In the Legislature’s own description: “Concerning tribal consultation conducted by the energy facility site evaluation council.” We quote the official language rather than summarising, because a paraphrase of legislation is an interpretation.
Was there a recorded vote on SHB 2496?
Yes. 3 recorded floor votes appear on this page, member counts and all. Committee votes are held separately as scanned sign-off sheets and are not counted here.
Did SHB 2496 get a public hearing?
Yes — 1 public hearing is on record. A public hearing is where testimony is taken; it is not the committee vote, which happens in an executive session.

Cite this page

This is public-records reporting. Use it, and say where it came from.

“SHB 2496 — EFSEC tribal consultation,” WashingtonIndependents.org, data as of 2026-08-12, accessed 2026-08-21. https://washingtonindependents.org/bill/2025-26-hb-2496/

10

How this page is built

Every figure above is read from a primary source and rebuilt on a schedule. Nothing here is modelled or inferred; where a source is silent the page says so rather than filling the gap.

WA Legislature legislation service
Bill id, titles, sponsor, introduced date, and the history line and location code we render as its status.
WA Legislature committee hearing records
Every committee agenda this bill appeared on, and whether each was a public hearing or an executive session.
WA Legislature roll call service
Recorded floor votes, member by member.
Outcome
Derived, not published by the Legislature. Enacted means a chapter number or effective date is on record; died is only ever assigned once a session has ended; a sitting session yields pending and no death is asserted.
Not loaded
Bill text, amendments, committee votes as individual member records, testimony, and fiscal notes.