Legislative Update: Kicking off the 2026 Legislative Session

This Monday marked the beginning of the 2026 Legislative Session! Representatives and Senators from across the state have gathered in Olympia and for the next 56 days we’ll be hard at work passing laws and writing the budget.

Because it’s a short session, we’re off to a fast start. As Speaker of the House, on Monday I had the privilege of giving remarks during our opening ceremonies. I talked about goals for this session, how we need to be laser-focused on the job the people sent us here to do – protect the good things we have accomplished together, continue to make progress where we can, and reject bad things whether they come from this Washington or the other Washington.

I talked about the impact that HR 1, the Trump Republican bill passed by Congress last July, has had on our state; how nearly 300,000 Washingtonians are seeing an immediate spike in their health insurance premiums, how around 180,000 Washingtonians will lose their Medicaid coverage over the next several months through 2027. I talked about the work we have done at the state level to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for everyone, and how that work is put at risk by these cuts.

I talked about how food assistance is currently threatened for 900,000 Washingtonians.

I talked about the risk that immigrants, refugees, and communities of color are facing. I talked about Renee Nicole Good and former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. I talked about how masked ICE agents or people impersonating law enforcement are rapidly eroding public trust, and legislation that will prohibit law enforcement officers — including federal immigration agents operating in Washington — from wearing face-concealing masks while interacting with the public.

Protecting Washingtonians also means protecting your personal data. Surveillance tools like FLOCK cameras, which are already in use by some cities and counties in our state, should be regulated so that people can be confident the data is not shared with federal agencies that want to use it to target and harass communities.

While our work is made harder this year by a federal government that is asking states to pay more in administration costs to get less federal funding, we’re still doing everything we can to help Washingtonians.

We can protect access to preventive health care services without out-of-pocket expense for patients. We can make it easier to build more housing and make housing more affordable. We can and should rebalance our tax code so that it doesn’t rest on those who can least afford it.

We’ve got 56 more days; I’ll be hard at work every single one of them.