Task force proposed to study court unification across Washington

The Law and Justice Committee heard from lawmakers and legal-aid proponents on second substitute House Bill 1909, which would create a task force to study whether Washington should move toward a more unified court system.

Tim Ford said the task force would assess inefficiencies and inequities caused by widely varying local court rules, technology adoption and funding and would include legislative and judicial co-chairs, city and county representatives, and other stakeholders. The task force’s first meeting would be required on Oct. 1, 2026, and its final report would be due to the Legislature by Dec. 31, 2029.

Representative Jamila Taylor (30th LD), an attorney and the bill’s prime sponsor, said the current system’s procedural differences create barriers to access to justice, particularly for people without lawyers. She said the Washington State Bar Association has agreed to convene the effort and that much of the early work could be virtual to limit fiscal impacts.

Sugam Soni, a senior attorney with legal-aid organization Civil Survival, said his experience in Colorado’s unified system and Washington’s decentralized courts convinced him that a unified approach would dramatically improve access for pro se litigants and reduce burdens on court staff.

The public hearing concluded with the committee recording sign-in counts; members asked for additional detail about staffing and logistics.