Washington state closed its legislative session with massive, watered-down wins. by Rich Smith • Apr 29, 2021 at 11:25 am Weaknesses can be strengthened next year, though, so long as Democrats maintain their majority then stuff should be fine. YINYANG / GETTY At a press conference over the weekend Democrats hailed the 2021 Legislative session as "historic," declaring an "end to incremental change" in state politics. Meanwhile, at their own press conference, Republicans did what they have become accustomed to doing: they licked their wounds, promised a backlash at the ballot box, and tried to frame the hybrid session as a hyper-partisan nightmare exacerbated by remote work. As we all know, real legislation only happens when people look each other in the eyes. The constituents and politicians file in, they stare each other down, they file out, and suddenly a bill is born. Eyeball lawmaking, as it's known around here. Handshakes. Pull-asides. Creating conditions for a deadly respiratory virus to ride high on the backs of aerosols and delve straight into the airways of unsuspecting staffers. That's how we do it in real Washington...