ESSB 5096 — Capital gains tax
ESSB 5096 was introduced in the 2021-22 Washington legislative session by WMRobinson. It became law.
- 2021-22 session
- Senate
- Became law
- 2 public hearings
- Sponsor: WM(Robinson
Source Washington State Legislature web services: legislation, hearings and roll calls · as of 2026-08-12 · introduced 2021-02-16
01
Where it stopped
Became law
- Last recorded action
- Effective date 7/25/2021.
- Session law
- C 196 L 21 — chapter and year in the session laws
- Last committee
- House Finance — the last committee with this bill on an agenda
- Public hearing
- Yes — 2 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.
Enacting an excise tax on gains from the sale or exchange of certain capital assets. (REVISED FOR ENGROSSED: Investing in Washington families and creating a more progressive tax system in Washington by enacting an excise tax on the sale or exchange of certain capital assets. )
Legal title AN ACT Relating to enacting an excise tax on gains from the sale or exchange of certain capital assets;
Source WA Legislature legislation service · as of 2026-08-12
03
The votes
Recorded floor votes. Committee votes are in the hearing record below.
SENATE · 2021-03-06
3rd Reading & Final Passage
25
yea
24
nay
SENATE · 2021-03-06
426 Wilson, L. Pg 6 Ln 23
23
yea
26
nay
SENATE · 2021-03-06
402 Rivers Pg 7 Ln 37
24
yea
25
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
726 Chase Pg 1 Ln 23
42
yea
54
nay
2
absent or excused
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
745 Stokesbary Pg 3 Ln 5
45
yea
53
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
739 Young Pg 4 Ln 2
45
yea
53
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
734 Orcutt Pg 4 Ln 10
48
yea
50
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
740 Orcutt Pg 4 Ln 10
47
yea
51
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
744 Vick Pg 7 Ln 30
44
yea
54
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
742 Vick Pg 9 Ln 11
44
yea
54
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-20
743 Vick Pg 9 Ln 11
44
yea
54
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-21
Final Passage as Amended by the House
53
yea
45
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-21
Final Passage As Amended by the House on Reconsideration
52
yea
46
nay
HOUSE · 2021-04-24
Final Passage as recommended by the Conference Committee
52
yea
44
nay
2
absent or excused
SENATE · 2021-04-25
Final Passage as Recommended by Conference Committee
25
yea
24
nay
Source WA Legislature roll call service · as of 2026-08-12 · 15 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
WM(Robinson
as printed the sponsor line on the bill status record · introduced in the Senate. 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.
| Date | Type | Committee | Chamber |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-14 | Public | Senate Ways & Means | Senate |
| 2021-02-16 | Executive | Senate Ways & Means | Senate |
| 2021-03-15 | Public | House Finance | House |
| 2021-04-16 | Executive | House Finance | House |
Source WA Legislature committee hearing records · as of 2026-08-12 · 2 public, 2 executive
06
What changed between versions
| Version | Substitute | Engrossed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB 5096 | — | — | 1st substitute bill substituted. |
| ESSB 5096 | 1 | 1 | Effective date 7/25/2021. |
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
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 ESSB 5096?
- ESSB 5096 became law. The Legislature’s status record places it at “C 196 L 21” — its chapter and year in the session laws.
- Who sponsored ESSB 5096?
- The prime sponsor of record is WM(Robinson, 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 ESSB 5096 do?
- In the Legislature’s own description: “Enacting an excise tax on gains from the sale or exchange of certain capital assets. (REVISED FOR ENGROSSED: Investing in Washington families and creating a more progressive tax system in Washington by enacting an excise tax on the sale or exchange of certain capital assets. )” We quote the official language rather than summarising, because a paraphrase of legislation is an interpretation.
- Was there a recorded vote on ESSB 5096?
- Yes. 15 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 ESSB 5096 get a public hearing?
- Yes — 2 public hearings are 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.
“ESSB 5096 — Capital gains tax,” WashingtonIndependents.org, data as of 2026-08-12, accessed 2026-09-02. https://washingtonindependents.org/bill/2021-22-sb-5096/
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.