HB 2092 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Establishing a passenger rail advisory committee.

HB 2092 establishes a passenger rail advisory committee for Washington State's Amtrak Cascades route. Counties with rail stations will appoint committee members (three from counties with over 750,000 residents, two from other counties) to provide community input on rail service challenges to the state transportation department. The committee must include rail users, commerce representatives, and local government staff, meeting three times yearly to advise on passenger rail concerns. This procedural bill creates a formal channel for community feedback but does not change rail service, funding, or operations.

Issues: ✓ Transportation

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Dec 2, 2025 Last action Feb 19, 2026

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What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reorganized from a county-based appointment system to a centralized committee with a fixed roster of specific stakeholders. This shift moves authority from individual counties to the state department, which now directly appoints members representing diverse groups like transit agencies, advocacy organizations, and rail operators. The new structure mandates quarterly meetings and requires an annual report to the governor and legislature, replacing the previous ad-hoc review process.

Scope change

The committee's scope expanded from a general review of community input to a comprehensive mandate covering performance improvements, station locations, on-time performance, multimodal connectivity, and environmental policy. Applicability shifted from being driven by county population thresholds to a fixed set of required participants regardless of county size.

REQUIREMENT

Appointment authority changed from county legislative authorities to the state department, which now directly selects specific representatives for various organizations and rider groups.

A new requirement was added for the department to submit an annual report detailing committee activities and member viewpoints to the governor and legislative committees.

Term lengths were standardized to three years with staggered initial terms, replacing the previous four-year terms with specific expiration dates for different county delegation sizes.

ELIGIBILITY

Membership criteria were replaced with a fixed list of required representatives, including specific numbers of advocacy group members, riders, and officials from state agencies and rail companies.

TIMELINE

Meeting frequency increased from three times per year to at least quarterly, with a new requirement to begin initial meetings by January 2027.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 9, 2026

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 9, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Feb 9, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

lower

Feb 9, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Transportation at 1:30 PM.

lower

Jan 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Transportation at 4:00 PM.

lower

1 primary · 18 co-sponsors