Starting August 1, 2025, Washington State will implement several important new laws affecting various areas including employment, housing, and transportation. Key employment-related changes include expanded wage transparency and anti-discrimination protections, restrictions on coercion based on immigration status, and enhanced employee rights to access personnel files. Housing laws will limit rent increases to 7% plus inflation (capped at 10%) and impose new notice and landlord parity requirements. Additionally, local parking mandates will be capped at one space per two housing units, and the Washington State Department of Transportation will begin adjusting transportation funding caps annually for inflation. Religious leaders will also be required to report child abuse, with certain confessional exceptions.
The article also highlights common laws frequently broken by residents, such as speeding, jaywalking, texting while driving, underage drinking, public marijuana use, and littering. It further shares some of Washington’s more unusual laws, including prohibitions on catching fish by throwing rocks, carrying concealed weapons over six feet long, displaying hypnotized people in store windows, and restrictions on strippers’ proximity to customers. Other quirky laws include limits on the number of toilets in homes on Waldron Island, bans on drinking and dancing in Lynden, and prohibitions on pretending to be wealthy.
