Today is the last day for most bills, except budget and revenue measures, to pass in their house of origin. If they fail to make this cutoff deadline, they are likely dead for the 2017-18 legislative cycle.

Beginning with the first regular session in January 2017, lawmakers have introduced more than 3,600 measures to date, of which 369 were enacted into law last year. The bills that did not make it through the process last year were automatically re-introduced this year, along with about 1,350 new measures.

Along with control of the House and the governor’s office, Democrats now hold a single-seat majority in the state Senate as a result of last November’s special election.  Democrats are now passing many of the bills that were stalled in the Republican-led Senate last year.

Lawmakers have been debating and voting on bills in marathon floor sessions lasting late into the night and into the early morning hours, including a rare Saturday session in the Senate. So far this session, more than 500 bills have passed their originating chamber, with dozens more expected to pass by today’s deadline.

Among the measures passed this week are:

•  SB 6199, to restructure home health care workers’ employment status, which would force them to pay union dues or fees to employee unions. The bill passed Saturday by a vote of 26-21

•    SB 6079, to exempt state employees’ birthdate from public disclosure, which would make it more difficult to identify and contact specific employees. The bill passed the Senate on Saturday by a vote 25-22.

•    SB 6353, to provide for automatic voter registration of applicants for enhanced driver’s licenses or identicards. This bill would also eliminate day and month of birth from Washington’s public voter rolls. An amendment to the bill would still disclose a voter’s birth year. The bill passed the Senate on Saturday by a vote of 34-13.

•    HB 2751, to eliminate requirements for written authorization by workers for employers to deduct union dues and fees. The bill passed the House on Monday by a vote of 50-48.Later this month, lawmakers will consider a supplemental budget to add to the $44.3 billion two-year spending plan approved last year.

Budget writers in both chambers are not expected to include Gov. Inslee’s proposed carbon tax in the supplemental budget measure, but the Senate has scheduled a hearing on SB 6203, the latest version of the tax for later this week. This bill proposed by Governor Inslee would impose a $10 per metric ton of carbon emissions tax, which would gradually increase to $30 per ton.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Olympia on Tuesday for a visit hosted by Gov. Inslee to urge support for legislative efforts in Washington state to pass a carbon pollution tax. He told reporters that while the U.S. has pulled out of the Paris Agreement — the global pact on climate change that he helped negotiate in 2015 — the American people have not. Individual states such as Washington can lead on the issue, he said, by passing a carbon tax of their own.

Keep pace with the action in Olympia this session by visiting washingtonvotes.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter #waleg.