Washington State lawmakers have taken an important step toward addressing a growing legal threat to ecommerce businesses and brands.

House Bill 2274 (HB 2274) is legislation aimed at stabilizing Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA) passed the Washington State Senate on March 6th with strong bipartisan support in a 43–5 vote. The vote came just before the legislative deadline for non-fiscal bills to move out of the opposite chamber, marking a critical milestone in this year’s legislative session. The bill now heads to Governor Bob Ferguson for signature.

For ecommerce businesses, this development represents meaningful progress in a long-running effort to address abusive email litigation in Washington State—an issue the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance (EIA) has been actively advocating for throughout the legislative process.

Why CEMA Reform Was Needed

As EIA previously explained in our coverage of the issue, the interpretation of Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act dramatically expanded legal exposure for businesses sending routine marketing emails.

Under the court’s ruling, an email subject line alone could trigger statutory damages of $500 per violation, even when the email itself was accurate and consumers were not misled. Plaintiffs do not need to prove deception, reliance, or even that the email was opened.

This interpretation has fueled a wave of high-volume litigation targeting common promotional language used by retailers, ecommerce brands, nonprofits, and membership organizations.

In many cases, lawsuits focus on technical interpretations of subject lines rather than actual consumer harm.

CEMA was written in 1998 to combat the “Wild West” of early internet spam in which consumers had to pay to dial in and download email messages. The law was originally understood to impact only subject lines that appeared to be personal in nature, masking that the email was actually a commerce advertisement (e.g., “We found your phone!” or “Look what I found”).  It was never intended to be used as a “gotcha” tool against legitimate businesses that use subject lines to preview a discount or offer, but where the details of the sale are contained in the body of the message.

What HB 2274 Does

HB 2274 was developed as a targeted stabilization measure designed to reduce some of the immediate legal pressure businesses are facing.

The final bill includes two key reforms:

1. Lower statutory damages. The legislation reduces CEMA statutory damages from $500 per violation to $100 per violation, lowering the extreme financial exposure tied to routine marketing emails.

2. Adds a knowledge standard. The bill introduces a “knew or reasonably should have known” standard, meaning liability is tied more clearly to whether a sender intentionally or negligently used misleading information.

Together, these changes help bring some increased  proportionality even if it does not fully address the abuses that have been seen in recent months.

What the Final Bill Did Not Include

While HB 2274 represents progress, it does not fully resolve the broader structural issues created by the court’s interpretation of CEMA.

Due to the realities of Washington’s short 60-day legislative session and the need to build consensus among stakeholders, lawmakers ultimately adopted a narrower reform than many businesses had hoped for.

For example, the bill:

• Does not eliminate subject-line litigation entirely
• Does not require proof of consumer harm
• Does not fully overhaul the statute’s private litigation framework

In other words, HB 2274 is not comprehensive reform. Instead, it is best understood as an interim step that stabilizes the current situation while allowing lawmakers and stakeholders to continue working toward a longer-term solution.

A Coalition Effort

The passage of HB 2274 reflects significant collaboration between industry groups, lawmakers, and policy advocates.

EIA worked alongside the Washington Retail Association and a broad coalition of employers, trade associations, chambers of commerce, and business organizations to raise awareness about the growing litigation risks tied to CEMA.

Coalition engagement with lawmakers emphasized that the current legal environment exposes businesses to large statutory claims over routine promotional language, even when no consumer harm occurs. Without legislative action, these lawsuits were expected to continue accelerating.

Why This Matters for Ecommerce Businesses

Email remains one of the most important communication tools for ecommerce brands. It is how companies announce sales, promote new products, share discounts, and build customer relationships. But when routine marketing emails carry outsized statutory liability, businesses are forced to divert resources away from growth and innovation and toward legal risk management.

For small and mid-sized ecommerce businesses in particular, even a handful of lawsuits tied to marketing emails could result in significant legal costs or settlement pressure. HB 2274 helps reduce that immediate risk, but the underlying policy challenge is not fully resolved.

What Comes Next

If signed by the Governor, HB 2274 will provide near-term stabilization to Washington’s CEMA framework. However, lawmakers and stakeholders—including the coalition working on this issue—are expected to continue discussions during the legislative interim about more comprehensive reforms that could be considered in the 2027 session.

Those future discussions may focus on:

• Clarifying liability standards under CEMA
• Addressing high-volume litigation tied to technical violations filed on behalf of consumers who have never even read the email, much less relied upon it
• Ensuring consumer protections remain strong while discouraging abusive lawsuits

The passage of HB 2274 represents an important step forward, but the effort to create a more balanced and predictable regulatory framework is not finished.

EIA will continue working with policymakers and industry partners to advocate for reforms that protect consumers while preventing opportunistic litigation that harms legitimate ecommerce businesses.

Join the EIA today to help strengthen and shape policies that affect all ecommerce businesses. Together, we can continue to create the future of ecommerce. Subscribe to EIA email updates to stay informed on key developments and their impact on your business. 

Ecommerce Innovation Alliance provides members with analysis of litigation and regulatory developments affecting online commerce and digital marketing. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.