Once the Governor has signed a bill, it is sent to the Secretary of State who assigns a session law chapter number, such as Chapter 35 of the Laws of 1995. Between the time the chapter number is assigned and the time the bill is incorporated into the Revised Code of Washington, the session law is the law of the state. Often referred to as the Statute Law Committee. Before a bill is considered by the entire body, it is considered by a committee. Committees are usually organized by subject, e.g., Agriculture, Education, Transportation.
Committees make recommendations to the entire body as to what action to take on the bill.
For example, the bill that establishes the cutoff dates is a concurrent resolution. If the first house disputes the amendments from the second house and the houses cannot resolve their differences, either house can request a conference committee. The committee is made of members from both houses. They meet to reach some agreement and, having come to such an agreement, offer a conference committee report to both houses. The report must be adopted by both houses for the bill to pass the Legislature.