In 2019, before anyone had heard the word “COVID,” the Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5260. It wasn’t controversial. In fact, it was nearly unanimous: 44–2 in the Senate and 98–0 in the House. Governor Jay Inslee signed it into law on May 21, 2019.
At the time, lawmakers described SB 5260 as a simple “fix.” They said it was about helping governors respond more quickly to things like floods, fires, or earthquakes. They gave the impression that it was rarely going to be needed, and if it ever was, it would be for something minor and temporary.
Citizens barely noticed. Why would they? It wasn’t a time of crisis, and most people tune out when they think a bill doesn’t affect their daily life.
But SB 5260 was not harmless, in fact, it changed things forever for many Washington citizens.
What SB 5260 Really Did
The bill gave the governor sweeping new powers during a proclaimed emergency, including the ability to:
- Waive or suspend almost any state law or regulation if it “hindered” emergency response.
- Expand beyond the short, specific list of laws that could previously be waived.
- Extend those waivers for 30 days at a time with little legislative input.
In other words, SB 5260 laid the legal groundwork for a governor to override state law during an emergency.
The COVID Connection
What citizens should have learned during COVID is how quickly these frameworks can be activated once a crisis hits. In Washington, laws like SB 5260, passed in 2019 almost unanimously, were framed as minor “just in case” measures — something we’d probably never need.
Yet on February 29, 2020, Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency in response to COVID-19, just three days after the first U.S. death was confirmed in Kirkland. That emergency declaration triggered broad executive powers that were already quietly waiting in place, powers that allowed sweeping restrictions on gatherings, business operations, and public life.
The lesson is clear: frameworks passed during calm times, dismissed as “unlikely to be needed,” can become the legal foundation for significant government control overnight. Citizens who ignored these laws because “it doesn’t matter right now” found themselves reacting too late.
This is why vigilance is essential. We must pay attention not just during emergencies, but in the quiet periods when these frameworks are quietly put into law.
The Pattern We Need to See
Here’s what we should have learned from COVID:
- Emergency frameworks are built quietly during “normal” times.
- Lawmakers downplay them, saying they’re just technical changes.
- The public doesn’t pay attention, because it doesn’t feel urgent.
- Then the next crisis comes, and suddenly those “technical” bills are the tools for sweeping government control.
This is not a one-time fluke. It’s a strategy. Olympia sets the table years in advance, banking on the fact that people aren’t watching.
The “Reform” Bills Aren’t Real Reforms
Fast forward to today, and Olympia is talking about “reforms” to emergency powers. Bills like SB 5434 have been introduced with bipartisan sponsorship and are being marketed as a “balanced” way to provide legislative oversight.
But here’s the truth: these reforms don’t actually rein in emergency powers, they entrench them.
Under the current proposals, the governor can still declare and maintain emergencies, and the only real check is a legislative termination process. That sounds good on paper, but in practice it means the majority party in Olympia holds the keys. If they want to keep the governor’s emergency orders in place, they simply won’t act and the orders continue indefinitely.
Republicans who raised alarms were right: these reforms give the appearance of oversight but still leave the governor and majority party firmly in control. It’s a shell game; a way to say “we fixed it” without actually shifting power back to the people.
Final Thought
SB 5260 is a perfect example of how emergency powers are expanded when no one is looking. Nearly every legislator in Olympia voted for it, and citizens didn’t raise alarms — because it wasn’t an emergency yet.
The lesson is clear: if we don’t scrutinize these bills before the crisis hits, we’ll find ourselves living under laws we never agreed to, with freedoms restricted by powers we didn’t even know existed.
The next emergency is always coming. The real question is: will citizens be awake enough to see how the groundwork is being laid today?
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