25 February 2018 :
The House Judiciary Committee has passed a bill (SB 6052) to abolish the death penalty in Washington, and the measure now awaits a potential vote by the full House. The bill passed on a 7-6 party line vote. The Senate passed the bill on a 26-22 bipartisan vote last week. The measure would remove capital punishment as a sentencing option for aggravated murder and mandate instead a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. There has been a moratorium on the death penalty since 2014, put in place by Gov. Jay Inslee. The most recent execution in the state came in 2010.