A guide to Washington s 2021 legislative session
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The capitol building in Olympia, Washington. @ Didier Marti/Getty Images
Amid a background of civil unrest that led Gov. Jay Inslee to activate the National Guard for safety, the Washington state legislature commenced last week for their 2021 session.
Despite the in-person first gathering in Olympia, lawmakers agreed to rules to hold a mostly remote 2021 session due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 98-member House of Representatives will move to mostly virtual meetings, while the Senate will take a hybrid approach will some members appearing at the Capitol.
The state s response to the pandemic will likely dominate the early months of this session as lawmakers chart an economic recovery, but other high-profile issues also at hand.
n Monday, word slowly began trickling
out of Olympia that restaurants and bars, which have been closed for indoor dining since mid-November, can now adopt new COVID-19 safety guidelines defining open-air dining. As early as Tuesday, several establishments across the Spokane area announced they d begin seating customers inside at 25 percent capacity while keeping open all bay-style doors, usually reserved for warm weather, to increase outside airflow. The new open-air rules came just days before many restaurants across the region saw recent investments in temporary outdoor structures, mostly thin-walled event tents, badly damaged in the historic Jan. 13 windstorm. Under the new guidelines from the governor s office, open air seating is defined as a structure with one or more permeable exterior walls, allowing outside air to easily exchange within occupied seating areas and maintain carbon dioxide levels below 450ppm.