Rebuffed for years, Washington lawmakers regain Capitol dome access

Few, if any, members of the Washington state Legislature have been allowed to climb to the top of the state Capitol dome this century.

That will soon change.

A provision in the new capital budget requires 10 legislators be given a guided tour of the upper reaches of the historic building during the fiscal year that starts July 1. Another 10 must get the same opportunity in the following year.

“It’s a happy day for the institution,” said state Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, who’s been on a mission to ease restrictions that have boxed lawmakers out of the dome. It’s not right, he said, that lawmakers “cannot visit all the places they oversee.”

Schoesler recalled when he arrived in the Legislature in 1992, there were public tours to the loop walkway at the base of the dome and to the cupola. He was up there, along with former colleagues, and the late secretary of state, Ralph Munro, was the guide.

Some access restrictions took effect in 1996. After the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, there were repairs and seismic upgrades that took until 2004 to complete. The Department of Enterprise Services, which manages the Capitol grounds, would have likely restricted access further in that period, an agency spokesman said.

Rules imposed in 2007 effectively barred anyone except top agency officials and the Washington State Patrol from ascending anywhere near the top.

For several years, Schoesler has succeeded in getting language into the capital budget to provide elected leaders some degree of access. Each time, then Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed the provision, citing safety concerns.

It’s not an easy trek. To reach the dome, one must climb three types of metal stairs, with 266 steps in total, according to the Department of Enterprise Services’ policy restricting access. The majority of the path is up a steep, narrow, spiral staircase.

“The Olympia Fire Department has assessed this space in the past, and, among other issues, reported that it could not use a firefighter’s rescue technique in this space or use a gurney to assist an injured person,” Inslee wrote in his 2023 veto message.

Schoesler didn’t encounter opposition this year as the new governor, Bob Ferguson, left in his budget provision and the Department of Enterprise Services did not flag the fire department’s previous concerns.

This year’s wording is different from 2024.

The language vetoed last year would have allowed the director of the Department of Enterprise Services to shepherd any lawmaker and their guest to the peak of the century-old building. It did not cap the number of lawmakers who could make such a request.

This year’s version sets limits. The agency director “must provide an annual guided tour” to no more than 10 legislative members in each fiscal year. They may need to sign a release of liability form as a condition of participating.

The Department of Enterprise Services “is looking forward to working with both the Legislature and the executive branch in implementing dome access,” agency spokesman Adam Holdorf said in an email. And the agency “is working to update the policy on dome access accordingly.”