Senate rules

1. The p​r​esi​dent shall take the chair and call the senate to order precisely at the hour appointed for meeting, and, if a quorum be present, shall cause the journal of the preceding day to be read. (See also Art. 3, Sec. 16, State Constitution.)

2. The president shall preserve order and decorum, and in case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct within the chamber, legislative area, legislative offices or buildings, and legislative hearing and meeting rooms, shall order the sergeant at arms to suppress the same, and may order the arrest of any person creating any disturbance within the senate chamber. Cellular phone use within the senate chamber during floor session and within a hearing room during a committee hearing must be respectful to the members and the public and the phone must be kept in silent mode within the senate chamber during floor session and within a hearing room during a committee hearing.

3. The president shall have charge of and see that all officers and employees perform their respective duties, and shall have general control of the senate chamber and wings. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 10, State Constitution.)

4. The president may speak to points of order in preference to members, arising from the president's seat for that purpose, and shall decide all questions of order subject to an appeal to the senate by any member, on which appeal no member shall speak more than once without leave of the senate.

5. The president shall, in open session, sign all acts, addresses and joint resolutions. The president shall sign all writs, warrants and subpoenas issued by order of the senate, all of which shall be attested by the secretary. ​If the senate is operating in a remote format under the authority of Senate Rule 70, an electronic or scanned signature is authorized in place of a physical signature.​ (See also Art. 2, Sec. 32, State Constitution.)​​

6. The president shall appoint all conference, special, joint and hereinafter named standing committees on the part of the senate. The appointment of the conference, special, joint and standing committees shall be confirmed by the senate. In the event the senate refuses to confirm any conference, special, joint or standing committee or committees, such committee or committees shall be elected by the senate.

7. The president shall, on each day, announce to the senate the business in order, and no business shall be taken up or considered until the order to which it belongs shall be declared.

8. The president shall decide and announce the result of any vote taken.

9. When a vote of the senate is equally divided, the lieutenant governor, when presiding, shall have the deciding vote as provided for in the state Constitution. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 10 and 22, State Constitution.)

1. ​Upon the organization of the senate the members shall elect one of their number as president pro tempore who shall have all the powers and authority and who shall discharge all the duties of lieutenant governor acting as president when the secretary of the senate receives notice that the lieutenant governor is unable to preside or is unable to confirm the lieutenant governor's availability within a reasonable time. The president pro tempore shall serve as the vice chair of the committee on rules. The senate shall also elect at least one vice president pro tempore who will serve in the absence of the lieutenant governor and the president pro tempore. (See Art. 2, Sec. 10, State Constitution.)

2. In the absence of the president pro tempore, and vice president pro tempore, or with their consent, the president shall have the right to name any senator to perform the duties of the chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond an adjournment, nor authorize the senator so substituted to sign any documents requiring the signature of the president.​​

1. The senate shall elect a secretary, who shall appoint a deputy secretary, both of whom shall be officers of the senate and shall perform the usual duties pertaining to their offices, and they shall hold office until their successors have been elected or appointed.

2. The secretary is the Personnel Officer of the senate and shall appoint, subject to the approval of the senate, all other senate employees and the hours of duty and assignments of all senate employees shall be under the secretary's directions and instructions and they may be dismissed at the secretary's discretion.

3. The secretary of the senate, prior to the convening of the next regular session, shall prepare the office to receive bills which the holdover members and members-elect may desire to prefile commencing with the first Monday in December preceding any regular session or twenty days prior to any special session of the legislature.

1. The director of senate security shall perform the functions of the sergeant at arms for the senate.

2. The sergeant at arms shall not admit to the floor of the senate during the time the senate is not convened any person other than specifically requested in writing by a senator, the president, or the secretary of the senate, or when personally accompanied by a senator.  ​

1. No senate employee shall lobby in favor of or against any matter under consideration.

2. Senate employees are governed by joint rules and chapters 42.17 (the Public Disclosure Act) and 42.52 RCW (the Ethics in Public Service Act).

1. Indecorous conduct, boisterous or unbecoming language will not be permitted in the senate at any time. Food is prohibited within the senate chamber during floor session. Cellular phone use within the senate chamber during floor session and within a hearing room during a committee hearing must be respectful to the members and the public and the phone must be kept in silent mode within the senate chamber during floor session and within a hearing room during a committee hearing.

2. In cases of breach of decorum or propriety, any senator, officer or other person shall be liable to such censure or punishment as the senate may deem proper, and if any senator be called to order for offensive or indecorous language or conduct, the person calling the senator to order shall report the language excepted to which shall be taken down or noted at the secretary's desk. No member shall be held to answer for any language used upon the floor of the senate if business has intervened before exception to the language was thus taken and noted.

3. If any senator in speaking, or otherwise, transgresses the rules of the senate, the president shall, or any senator may, call that senator to order, and a senator so called to order shall resume the senator's seat and not proceed without leave of the senate, which leave, if granted, shall be upon motion "that the senator be allowed to proceed in order," when, if carried, the senator shall speak to the question under consideration.

4. No senator shall be absent from the senate without leave, except in case of accident or sickness, and if any senator or officer shall be absent the senator's per diem shall not be allowed or paid, and no senator or officer shall obtain leave of absence or be excused from attendance without the consent of a majority of the members present.

5. Members of the senate are subject to the senate's policy on appropriate workplace conduct. Conduct in violation of the policy may result in disciplinary action.

6. In the event of a motion or resolution to censure or punish, or any procedural motion thereto involving a senator, that senator shall not vote thereon. The senator shall be allowed to answer to such motion or resolution. An election or vote by the senate on a motion to censure or punish a senator shall require the vote of a majority of all senators elected or appointed to the senate. A vote to expel a member shall require a two-thirds concurrence of all members elected or appointed to the senate. All votes shall be taken by yeas and nays and the votes shall be entered upon the journal. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 9, State Constitution.)