Help with state laws
Having trouble looking up or understanding Washington state laws? View tips for finding laws and learn how we organize them.
How to find state laws
- Browse all state laws by title (table of contents)
- Search our website
For more information about searching, visit our page about how to search our website.
Parts of a state law
There are 3 main parts to state laws: titles, chapters, and sections.
Parts of a title
- Title number
- Title name
- List of chapters in that title
Parts of a chapter
- Chapter number
- Chapter name
- List of sections in that chapter
Parts of a section
- Citation (number)
- Caption
- Text of the law
- History
- Notes (not all sections have notes)
See how bills affect state laws
On the bill to law cross-reference page, you can find tables that show how bills have changed state laws. Those tables have abbreviations for how a bill affects a specific section of a state law:
- ADD: Add section or chapter
- AMD: Amend section
- DECD: Decodify section
- RECD: Recodify section
- REEN: Reenact section
- REMD: Reenact and amend section
- REP: Repeal section
Most sections are added, amended, or repealed.
How we publish state laws
Our Code Reviser's Office and Statute Law Committee publish the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), the official version of our state laws. It includes session laws that:
- We passed and the Governor signed, or
- Citizens passed through the initiative process
We organize laws by topic, add amendments, and remove repealed laws.
Updates to state laws
We update state laws once a year, usually by October 1. The new version includes changes from that year's legislative session.