Gov. Ferguson signs bill changing WA legal language away from 'alien'
OLYMPIA, Wash. - State and local offices across Washington are now under direction to remove "alien" from statutes. Instead, instances of that phrasing will be replaced with "noncitizen."
The bill, among others signed by Governor Bob Ferguson last week, aims to modernize legal language in the state. HB 2632 was signed by the speaker of the Washington House of Representatives and the Senate president on Mar. 4.
With California and Oregon being the only two states in the nation with laws to make the same change across all statutes and documents, the move by the Washington legislature puts the entire West Coast in line with the modernization guidelines.
What does the Washington language modernization bill do?
The Washington State Senate summarized the bill with the following three points at the time of its passing:
- "Replaces certain references to the term alien with the term noncitizen."
- "Requires all state and local statutes and other official documents enacted after July 1, 2026, to use the term noncitizen or other context-appropriate term, instead of the term alien, when referring to an individual who is not a citizen or national of the United States, unless use of the term alien is required to comply with federal law or funding requirements."
- "Allows state agencies to use the expedited rulemaking process if the proposed rule only substitutes the term alien with the term noncitizen or other context-appropriate term but does not change the effect of the rule."
The capitol of Washington located in Olympia, Wash. (FOX 13 Seattle)
HB 2632 prime sponsor, Rep. My-Linh Thai, speaks about the bill
What they're saying:
"As a refugee to this country, I know what it feels like to be labeled as ‘other’. The term 'alien' is outdated, dehumanizing, and does not reflect how we speak about people today," said Rep. Thai.
"Our laws should reflect who we are as a state. Washington stands for fairness, dignity and equal protection under the law and this bill is part of that ongoing work," Thai added.
The backstory:
The law in the Evergreen State was previously set in motion a quarter-century ago, when "alien" was instituted to replace the word or phrasing of "oriental" in official documents across Washington in 2001.
The language required by federal law will remain unchanged, while those instances under the jurisdiction of Washington State will be changed, according to the Undocumented Communities Committee.
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