As always on January 1, numerous new laws take effect in our state. Here is what the DemocRats in Olympia have done this time. This story is copied in its entirety from the web site of KOMO in Seattle.

SEATTLE — With the arrival of 2025 comes a flurry of new laws taking effect.

These are some of the key laws to know about this year.

Minimum wage increase

The minimum wage in Washington has risen to $16.66, up 2.35% from $16.28 last year. The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) sets the minimum wage.

“Beginning mid-September each year, L&I will make a cost-of-living adjustment to the minimum wage based on the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Worker,” L&I said on its website. “The new minimum wage will be announced on Sept. 30, and take effect Jan. 1.”

Employers may pay 85% of the minimum wage, $14.16 per hour, to workers ages 14 and 15. Some cities and municipalities have set higher minimum wages than Washington state. Seattle’s minimum wage is now $20.29 per hour for 2025.

[RushBabe49 comment: These above-market minimum wages will lead to thousands of lost jobs, as small businesses simply cannot stay in business with the high labor costs, and many small business failures and closures. Restaurants will be especially hard-hit, and will have to drastically increase their prices, thus pricing themselves out of the market and maybe out of business. The Left operates solely on emotion, not considering that they are hurting those they are supposedly helping.]

Overtime exempt workers

Salaried employees made a large jump with the calendar turning to 2025.

For employers with 50 or fewer employees, workers will earn a minimum of $1,332.80 a week ($69,305.60 a year).

For employers with 51 or more employees, workers will now bring in a minimum of $1,499.40 a week ($77,968.80 a year).

This covers employees who are exempt from overtime pay, so workers who are not paid for overtime must be paid their salaries. 

Rideshare drivers’ minimum pay

In 2025, drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft will earn a guaranteed wage based on time and mileage.

For trips within the city limits of Seattle, drivers will earn at least 68 cents for each minute a driver is carrying passengers and $1.59 for each mile during the trip. If that number is below $5.95, the driver will earn a guaranteed minimum of $5.95 per trip.

For trips outside of Seattle, drivers will earn 39 cents per minute of a trip and $1.34 for every mile driven during that time. The minimum trip amount earned will be $3.45. Food delivery drivers are not covered by the law—only drivers transporting passengers.

Seattle also will provide several deactivation-related protections for “app-based workers.” Companies must now clearly explain what leads to deactivation, follow specific procedural steps before most deactivations, establish a process for gig workers to challenge deactivation, and provide notice and records before a deactivation.

Paid sick leave

Washington has mandated employers to provide paid sick leave to employees since 2018.

In 2025, Washington’s paid sick leave policy has now expanded.

Washington workers will now be able to take sick leave to care for anyone who lives at their residence or anyone “who has a relationship with them that creates an expectation that they would take care of them during an illness.”

Under this new law, workers can also choose to take sick leave if an emergency closes their child’s school or daycare. A “child” includes a biological, adopted, foster child, stepchild, a child’s spouse, or any other child for whom there is a legal responsibility.

Gig worker drivers are also entitled to use paid sick leave “when their child’s school or place of care is closed after the declaration of an emergency by a local or state government or agency, or by the federal government.”

Health care mandatory overtime

Health care facilities cannot mandate overtime for some health care workers.

A new law clearly defines who is an “employee.”

Hospital employees “involved in direct patient care” cannot be required to work overtime. To be eligible, the employees must be employees of the hospital and either receive an hourly wage or be covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Employees involved in patient care include nurses, surgeons, social workers, physician assistants, and more. Contracted or travel staff will not be included under the new law.

The law includes exceptions for emergency situations, if an employee is pre-scheduled to be on-call, if mandatory overtime is required to complete a patient care procedure already in progress, and if the hospital makes “reasonable efforts to obtain staffing” but is unable to avoid overtime.

Hospitals are required to document the “reasonable efforts” and will be subject to penalties if they are found to not comply.

Although the law went into effect Wednesday, the law will not expand the definition of a “covered employee” for facilities with fewer than 25 beds until July 1, 2025.

Negligent driving

Washington has increased the penalties for negligent drivers who cause death or serious harm to pedestrians, cyclists, or other vulnerable people.

First-degree negligent driving, which applies when a driver is found to have been negligent in the death of a “vulnerable road user,” now comes with 364 days in jail, a $5,000 fine, and a 90-day suspension on the driver’s license.

Second-degree negligent driving, for drivers who cause “great or substantial bodily harm to a vulnerable road user, but not death, now includes a $5,000 fine, a 90-day driver’s license suspension, up to 100 hours of community service, and traffic school.

License plate obstruction

In Washington, an existing law required license plates and tabs to be unaltered and clearly visible.

Until the beginning of 2025, a violation would have only resulted in a written warning and information about how to fix the issue.

Now, violations will carry a citation and penalty. Although the fine has not been clearly laid out, the violation may be seen as a traffic infraction and result in a $93 penalty.

Seattle parking fines

Seattle parking violations have increased for the first time in 14 years.

Fines have risen from a range of $29-$53 up to $43-78.

The Seattle Municipal Court said the new penalties bring the fines in alignment with the current parking rates and account for inflation.

READ MORE | Seattle parking fines jump over 47% as city updates rates for first time since 2011

Southern Resident orca distance

Washington boaters must now stay at least 1,000 yards away from Southern Resident killer whales at all times.

The new rules were passed into law in 2023 and went into effect Wednesday. The regulations amend a previous bill, bumping the distance from 300 yards to 1,000.

If a Southern Resident orca approaches a vessel within 400 yards, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) said the new law requires boaters to first stop anything that is propelling the vessel—including cutting transmission, lowering sails, or stopping paddling.

Boaters must also attempt to navigate out of the path or away from the whales at a speed of seven knots or fewer. Vessel operators are required to give transient orcas, also known as Bigg’s, 200 yards of space. The WDFW said because it can be challenging to identify whale types from far away, it is recommended to give all orcas 1,000 yards of buffer.

Free college tuition

This new law that provides college tuition for some students does not launch at the beginning of the year.

Starting with the 2025-2026 academic year, 10th-12th grade students who receive Basic Food or Food Assistance Program benefits will automatically qualify to receive financial aid from the Washington College Grant (WCG).

Students covered under this law will have their income eligibility certified by the Washington Student Achievement Council. According to WCG’s website, the grant “gives eligible people more money for more types of education like certificate programs, job training, apprenticeships, or college.”

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My advice to my readers is to read all the comments on the KOMO article, they are very enlightening. Not many commenters are happy at all the ways the state DemocRats will be drastically increasing your cost of living in the next year. And that’s not even including all the new taxes and tax increases they have planned for the new legislative session. The Left, which runs Washington State, has no limiting principle. There are no lengths to which they will not go, to tax and spend you into oblivion. And the non-voters of Seattle keep electing them with huge margins. I said “non-voters”, because our voter turnout is abysmally low, and if all the complainers actually voted against the DemocRats, they might not now have a super-majority.