 Dear friends and neighbors,
Today is Sine Die (pronounced sigh-knee die), the last day of the 2024 Legislative Session! It’s called that because when we adjourned for the last time tonight, we did it without setting a day to come back – sine die is Latin for “without a day.” Short sessions go by quickly, and this year was no exception. However, we were still able to get a lot done over the past 60 days: we passed supplemental budgets to address our changing needs and sent 373 bills to the governor’s desk. I’m proud of the fact that 236 of those received unanimous votes, and most had strong bipartisan support. I’ll have more detailed updates about our work in the coming weeks, with newsletters focused on some of our priority areas, like housing, child care, behavioral health, and climate action. For now, I’m very excited to be back home and look forward to connecting with you all in district. |
|
|
As I mentioned, more updates to come, but I did want to touch on some highlights. When I kicked off this session, I talked about how optimistic I was about the work we’d be able to get done, as I reflect on the last 60 days I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.
Our supplemental operating budget increases funding for K-12 education, housing, food assistance, and more. We’re investing a record amount in responding to the fentanyl and opioid crisis, and we’re continuing to fight climate change by supporting the transition to clean energy.
Our supplemental transportation budget makes smart changes to ensure that we’re not leaving any projects behind while we balance the significant increases in cost. The budget also keeps our commitments for infrastructure, fish passageways, and more.
Our capital construction budget is taking advantage of funds from the Climate Commitment Act and the capital gains excise tax (paid by only 3,354 households in all of Washington state during 2023) to invest heavily in child care, housing, clean energy, and salmon recovery.
We passed HB 1998, which creates more flexible housing options by legalizing co-living situations like apartments with shared kitchen spaces. These will help address the housing crisis and better support multi-generational housing.
We passed HB 2195 will fully fund the construction of new early learning facilities and provide a grant program to help get these facilities ready to open.
We passed HB 1368, which will help make zero emission school buses more affordable for districts across the state, especially in communities that have been the most impacted by climate change.
Finally, we passed HB 1929, which will help support our youth exiting behavioral health treatment, ensuring they have a roof over their head and access to the support they need to thrive post-treatment.