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Legislative Update: Housing and Community Safety Session Recap
Dear friends and neighbors,
Continuing with my updates from the 2025 session, I want to share more about the work we did in housing and community safety. These are consistently two of the top issues at town halls and constituent coffee chats. We all want to feel safe in our homes and in our neighborhoods, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we did this year to make that possible for more people.
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There’s no single answer to making housing more affordable, but we’re approaching this with a framework of supply, stabilization, and support. That means making it easier to build housing, making housing costs more predictable for everyone, and providing support to keep people housed or get people into housing.
Over the last few years we have made a lot of progress, cutting red tape to make it easier to build and investing significantly in affordable housing, but there was still work to be done. This year we hit the ground running (literally, with a hearing for the rent stabilization bill on the first day of session) and were able to get a lot done. Including:
- Rent stabilization gives renters the same level of predictability that homeowners have, knowing what their rent will be into the future and protecting against drastic increases in rent that we know directly contribute to homelessness. Now that HB 1217 has been signed into law, rent increases are limited to 7% plus inflation, but no more than 10% annually. There is an exemption for new construction (12 years or newer) to help ensure we’re building the new housing we need to meet current and future demand in our state.
- Transit oriented development (HB 1491) creates development targets around rail and rapid transit stops, making it easier to build housing in areas with direct access to services. Removing parking minimums makes it significantly cheaper to build new housing with parking options that meet the needs of the community. Constructing parking spots can cost $5,000-$20,000 each for surface lots, and as much as $60,000 per spot in a garage, in places that need less parking that means more money and space can go towards housing instead.
I mentioned in my last e-newsletter that we were able to make some new investments in housing in our operating budget, including $118 million to help local governments keep shelter beds online, $6 million in youth homelessness diversion, and $3 million in tenant right-to-counsel programs.
Our Capital Budget, the state’s construction budget, didn’t have the same shortfalls that our Operating and Transportation budgets faced, and we were able to make a historic $782 million investment in housing and homelessness programs. That includes a record $605 million for the Housing Trust Fund, which builds affordable housing across our state. In fact, just this month I was able to attend the opening of Patsy Surh Place in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, a project funded by the Housing Trust Fund that is now providing 78 affordable apartments to seniors in our community.
There’s not enough space to cover everything we did for housing this session, but there are a few more pieces I want to mention:
- We expanded the Covenant Homeownership Program, recognizing that racist covenants and other discriminatory housing policy prevented people from buying a home and growing generational wealth, the impacts of which are still felt directly.
- We made it easier to finance affordable housing developments.
- We made it easier to convert commercial buildings into housing.
- We made it easier to split up lots so that more housing can be built in existing areas.
- We also strengthened enforcement to ensure that our cities are counties are following the laws that will help us site, build, or convert the housing we need.
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Community safety was also a high priority for us this year. Ensuring that cities and counties have the resources they need to keep people safe is critical.
At the local level, we invested $100 million in one-time grants for law enforcement and $110 million for the Community Reinvestment Program to support economic development, reentry services, legal assistance, and violence prevention. I mentioned in my last newsletter that we also funded crime victim supports and public defense grants for local government.
We also passed a Permit to Purchase bill, HB 1163, which will require a permit to possess, transfer, or purchase firearms. Gun violence is preventable, and this legislation supports responsible gun ownership with training, background checks, and more.
HB 1052 helps make our hate crime laws more accurate and enforceable. The previous language caused confusion about when something becomes a hate crime, and this new language will help strengthen accountability and ensure justice for victims of these crimes.
Safer roads are also part of safer communities. This year we passed legislation to improve driver safety through increased driver education, and approved the use of speed limiting devices in vehicles for people with a history of excessive speeding or reckless driving.
Similar to the section on housing, there’s a lot more than I can fit into one newsletter. If you have any questions or ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office.
Legislative Update: The Operating Budget and a Telephone Town Hall
Dear friends and neighbors,
Now that session has ended, I’ll be going into more detail in each of my e-newsletters about some of the work we did in different areas. We’ll cover housing, jobs and the economy, public safety, K-12 education, environmental wins, and more. If there’s an issue I didn’t mention that you would like covered please, let me know!
We’re kicking off with an overview of the operating budget. Before we get into that, though, I want to thank everyone who participated in last week’s telephone town hall! We had nearly 4,500 people join us on the call to ask questions, and we covered a lot of our work this session. If you missed it, you can listen to a recording of the event here.
Thanks so much to everyone who attended and asked questions.
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I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few months talking about the operating budget, in these e-newsletters, in my podcast, at the in-person town hall and telephone town hall, and in meetings with constituents. The operating budget is one of the most important things we do every year in the Legislature. This year’s work was made harder because we started the year with a significant budget deficit caused by slowing revenue growth, increased demand for services, inflation, and unpredictability at the federal level. With that in mind, our budget team spent months combing through the budget to find efficiencies and places we could cut without hurting people’s access to food, health, and shelter. However, we couldn’t fill the deficit with cuts alone. I talked about how devastating that would be in one of my February e-newsletters.
The final budget that passed the legislature relied on a balance of cuts and new revenue, including efforts to modernize and re-balance our tax code. Thanks to this we were able to protect programs that families rely on right now to put food on the table or keep a roof over their head. I’ve got more details about the budget by issue area below:
In K-12 education we made some of the only new investments in this year’s budget, expanding funding for Special Education by $775 million and Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs (sometimes called MSOC) by $215 million. We’ve heard from schools across the state about funding challenges, and we’re hopeful that these new investments will help. We also maintained our school meals and summer EBT funding at current levels to help make sure that hungry kids can get the food they need.
In higher education we were able to avoid any tuition increases at our public two- and four-year colleges, and continue to fully fund the Washington College Grant – one of the best financial aid programs in the country.
In early learning we fully funded our bargaining agreements with childcare providers and were able to fund a rate increase for Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program providers. Ensuring that wages remain competitive for providers helps keep childcare open and accessible for more families.
Housing and homelessness is one of the only other areas we were able to increase new funding thanks to HB 1858, which closes a loophole in the document recording fee that benefitted big banks. We provide $118 million to help local governments keep shelter beds online, and invest $6 million in youth homelessness diversion and $3 million in tenant right-to-counsel programs.
In health care and public health we continued funding for the Apple Health for Immigrants program, ensuring everyone has access to health care and reducing the demand on emergency care systems. We also protected funding for Cascade Care to help make health care more affordable for Washingtonians across the state. In long term care we funded rate increases for nursing homes, community residential rates, and assisted living bridge rates to help maintain our workforce providing these incredibly necessary services.
For human services and poverty reduction we felt it was critical to maintain pandemic level food assistance. We saw how critical these programs were for keeping kids and families fed over the last few years and maintaining them was one of our highest priorities. In light of federal government attacks on immigrants and refugees we also maintained out Immigrant, Refugee, and New Arrival Supports programs.
In climate and natural resources, we were able to maintain investments in wildfire response and invasive species prevention, and thanks to the Climate Commitment Act we’re able to continue investments in clean energy, clean air, and clean water.
Thanks to HB 2015 we were able to make some new investments in public safety as well, including $110 million over the next four years in ongoing funding for the Community Reinvestment Program, and $100 million this year in grants for law enforcement. We also funded crime victim supports and public defense grants for local government.
In state government we fully funded the collective bargaining agreements for state and higher education employees, with no furloughs and no health care premium changes.
These are a lot of the budget highlights, but I want to be clear that in order to keep these programs funded and make the limited new investments we made, we had to make some pretty painful cuts. That includes delaying valuable new programs that would have helped people across the state, including the Fair Start for Kids Act, which would have expanded childcare programs and a number of other important priorities. These delays are hard, but at the end of the day we decided to prioritize the programs families are already relying on over cutting those programs to fund new ones. I’m grateful that these are just delays and I’m hopeful that these good policies will still go into effect, just a little later than we hoped.
Legislative Update: Sine Die, a Telephone Town Hall, and a Real ID Update
 Dear friends and neighbors,
Last Sunday the legislature adjourned Sine Die (pronounced sigh-knee die), which is the formal way of saying that this year’s 105-day session came to an end. It was an incredibly challenging session. We had a significant budget deficit to address, made worse by the chaos coming from President Trump’s federal administration, and amid that challenge we lost friends and colleagues in the legislative world. Just this week I was over in Colville to celebrate the life of a mentor of mine, former Secretary of Health Mary Selecky. Even facing these challenges, we were able to get a lot done. We passed rent stabilization, we passed legislation protecting our most vulnerable students through a safe and supportive school environment, we passed a permit to purchase bill that will help reduce gun violence, and much more. We also sent a balanced budget to the Governor’s desk. It doesn’t include everything we might have wanted, but it protects food, shelter, and health for the people of our state. One of the only areas that saw new investment was K-12 education, where we removed the cap for Special Education funding and provided more funds for the materials, supplies, and operating costs that help keep our schools running. I’m very proud of the work we did this year, and I’m looking forward to talking more about it in coming newsletters. For now, though, I’m grateful to be back in-district, spending time with my wife, and running into friends and constituents at the park or grocery store. |
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Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, Rep. Jake Fey and I will be hosting a telephone town hall next Tuesday, May 6th from 6:00-7:00PM.
If you do not automatically receive a phone call before 6PM inviting you to join the town hall, you can call toll-free at (855)-756-7520; extension: 122733#. This dial-in number will open up a few minutes before the town hall begins.
We’ll be taking questions live, so come with yours ready to go. Hope you can join us!
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On May 7, 2025, the federal REAL ID Act goes into effect nationwide. Beginning on that date, if you don’t have a REAL ID-compliant driver license or ID card, you won’t be able to fly in the U.S. or enter a restricted federal facility. We’ve heard from the Washington state Department of Licensing about significant increases in demand as we approach the deadline – in March they issued over 57,000 first-time enhanced documents, their highest ever month for enhanced documents and a 265% increase from last year, and they expected April to reach 70,000 by the month’s end.
If you’re calling with questions or going in for an enhanced ID, expect that they’ll be busier than normal as people update their documentation.
Click here to learn more and click here to see if you’re ready for this change.
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Legislative Update: Priority Bills, Revenue Options, and the Legislative Youth Advisory Council
| Dear friends and neighbors,
Before we get into each, I want to give a quick process explanation. If the Senate didn’t make any changes to the bill, then it heads directly to the governor’s desk for signature. If there were changes, the bill comes back to the House where we can either agree on the amendments, ask the Senate to back down from the amendments they made, or request a conference where representatives from the House and Senate can negotiate a final proposal. |
We’re on day 95 of this year’s 105-day session, and as you might imagine things are moving quickly. I wanted to pass along an update about some of our priority bills. Yesterday was opposite chamber cutoff, so all House bills needed to pass out of the Senate in order to continue through the process (and the same was true for Senate bills in the House). I’m happy to say that nearly all of our priority bills made it through this cutoff.With that, here are some highlights:
- HB 1217, rent stabilization, was passed out of the Senate last week! They did make some changes to the bill, so it’s coming back to the House for further consideration.
- HB 1163, permit to purchase, passed out of the Senate on Monday. This one also had some changes and will come back to the House.
- HB 1353 helps fast-track the construction of accessory dwelling units by reducing red tape, and it has passed the Senate and been signed into law.
- HB 1971, which will require a 12-month refill option for prescription hormone medications, passed the Senate and is on the way to the Governor’s desk.
- HB 1296, which helps create a safe, supportive school environment and expand parental rights, passed the Senate. It was amended, so it’ll come back to the House for more consideration.
- HB 1314 will make it easier to build early learning facilities, and it’s not only been passed by the Senate, it has already been signed into law.
If there’s another bill you’re curious about, we’ve got a tracker here, and you can always search for more information at leg.wa.gov.
There are also a small number of bills each year that aren’t subject to cutoff, and those are bills “necessary to implement the budget”, or NTIB for short. This is a narrow exclusion that really only applies to bills that either bring in revenue or make changes in the law to reduce spending. The next 10 days will be largely focused on resolving changes made in the Senate, NTIB bills, and the budget.
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I heard loud and clear at last month’s town hall the desire for tax reform. Washington state has one of the most regressive tax codes in the country, which means lower-income Washingtonians pay significantly more, as a percent of annual income, than our wealthiest residents.
We’ve recently made progress on this, moving from last in the nation for regressive taxes, to second last. This is good movement in the right direction, but it’s obviously not enough.
This week we’ve rolled out the revenue package that will not only help us avoid devastating cuts as we address this year’s budget deficit, but will hopefully move us further along in making our tax code more fair for everyone.
At a high level, we will be asking corporations, especially the wealthiest corporations, to pitch in a little more to support the things that make our state such a great place to do business, including a highly educated workforce. We’ll be making the Capital Gains Tax and the Estate Tax more progressive, asking the very wealthiest Washingtonians to pay more to help fund K-12 education, early learning, childcare, and higher education. We’re reforming our property tax system, including expanding the “Property Tax Exemption for Senior Citizens and People with Disabilities” program to more people and fully exempting its participants from paying the state property tax. If you want to read more about that package you can here.
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I wanted to share an opportunity for our youth to get involved in the legislative process – the Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) is currently accepting applications! LYAC serves as the official nonpartisan youth advisory body to the state legislature and is open to student ages 14-18. This is an excellent way for young people to learn more about state government and to inform our work in Olympia. You can learn more about the program here, and apply here.
Legislative Update: Remembering Former Speaker Chopp, a Budget Update, and More
 Dear friends and neighbors,
I’m starting off this week’s e-newsletter on a somber note as we continue to mourn the loss of Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp. His commitment to growing opportunity in our state was steadfast through his 30 years in the legislature and it’s hard to count the accomplishments under his leadership. I feel like I understand him more every year I serve as Speaker, and will miss the comfort I had knowing that he was there whenever I wanted to reach out. My heart goes out to his family, and to the many people who knew him. This is truly a huge loss for our state. It’s easy to see his impact in a lot of our current work, but one of the most obvious places is the operating budget. Earlier this week we passed our proposed operating budget off the House floor, and especially facing the significant deficit this year, our budget is focused on helping the people who need it most. |
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I’ve mentioned in previous e-newsletters that we were facing a $12 billion budget deficit this year, and due to the uncertainty that Trump is causing at the federal level, that deficit increased in our most recent forecast. I’ve also mentioned that all-cuts budget would be devastating for Washington’s people and families. We have to take a balanced approach, and that’s what we did.
Our operating budget proposal balances ~$6.5 billion in cuts with new revenue that would ask the wealthiest Washingtonians to pay their fair share. Thanks to the incredibly hard work of our budget team, our proposal maintains the programs that people rely on to put food on the table or keep a roof over their head. It does delay implementation for some programs I care deeply about, like expanding access to free early childhood education for low-income families, but it doesn’t take us backwards.
Under our proposal, if you rely on food assistance, that help will still be there tomorrow. If you rely on cash assistance to help make rent, that help will still be there tomorrow. In addition to protecting these programs, we were able to make some modest new investments in areas we know we need it. Our proposal increases funding for Special Education in our K-12 schools and allocates funding to help local governments keep shelters open. These investments are possible because of our revenue proposal, and Finance Committee Chair Rep. April Berg has a video that goes into more detail about those revenue options.
Now that we’ve passed the budget off the floor, we’ll ramp up work with our colleagues in the Senate to resolve any differences and come up with a final proposal.
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I also wanted to give a lightening round update on some of the bills I’ve mentioned this session.
HB 1217 – Rent Stabilization – has passed out of the Housing Committee in the Senate and is now in Ways and Means.
Other bills that have made it to Ways and Means include HB 1163, the Permit to Purchase bill, HB 1696 to expand the Covenant Homeownership Act, HB 1296 to ensure our schools are safe and supportive for students, and HB 1971 which will allow people to get a 12-month refill on their hormone replacement therapy.
These bills have until the end of Tuesday to pass out of committee in order to keep moving through the process. You can get updates on those and other bills here.
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Lastly, I’m continuing to work through some of the questions we didn’t get to at our town hall last month.
Lyddie A. asked “What will you do to prevent our state from harming it’s workforce with furloughs?” I’m proud that in the operating budget proposal we passed off the House floor this week, we were able to fully fund our collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for the 60,000 union-represented state employees without requiring any furlough days. This doesn’t mean our state workers are not facing significant reductions. State employees deliver the programs that so many Washingtonians need. When we have to reduce or eliminate programs, state employee jobs are a major part of those reductions.
Legislative Update: Bills so far, budget rollout, and town hall thank-yous
Dear friends and neighbors,
I wanted to kick things off with a thank you to everyone who came to the 27th district town hall last weekend! We had a lot of questions and conversation about the state budget and how we can protect Washingtonians impacted by federal actions. After a long stretch of late nights on the House floor, I was very grateful to be back home and to have a chance to connect with you.
I am privileged to serve you all. I take this work seriously, and while there’s always hard work to be done, that’s been doubly true this year. Hearing from you all last weekend has given me clear direction and helped re-energize me for the work ahead. Thank you.
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As I mentioned, in the days leading to the House of Origin cutoff we spent a lot of time on the House floor passing good legislation. I wanted to highlight a few of the bills that made it through:
- HB 1217, rent stabilization, is one of our biggest priorities. It would cap rent increases at 7% a year, making housing costs more predictable for renters while allowing landlords to keep up with costs. It was heard in the Senate Housing Committee yesterday.
- HB 1163 would establish a permit to purchase for firearms. This will help curb illegal gun trafficking; other states with this policy have seen significant reductions in gun violence.
- HB 1314, which will make it easier to build early learning facilities by providing grants and loans, helping us address our childcare crisis.
- HB 1696 expands our historic Covenant Homeownership program, helping more people whose families were denied opportunity because of racist restrictions buy their first home.
- HB 1321 will block unauthorized militias from entering our state without authorization from the governor or president. While the federal government has preemption over federal activation, this prevents other states from sending their national guard into Washington without permission. Similar laws exist in Idaho, North Dakota, Texas, Maryland, and more.
These are a couple highlights, but there’s a lot more. If you’re interested, you can find a larger list here, and as always please feel free to reach out to my office with any questions, comments, or concerns.
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I heard from many of you at the town hall about different priorities for the budget, I also heard loud and clear the message that an all cuts budget is unacceptable.
We’ve worked hard over the last 3-4 months to identify savings in our budget, but we’ve also been hard at work on proposals that would help balance our tax code, ensuring everyone pays their fair share. Over the next week you’ll start to see much of that work.
House Democrats will be rolling out our Operating and Transportation budgets next Monday, and will be announcing potential revenue options on a similar timeframe, if not before. I’ll have a bigger update about these proposals in my next e-newsletter.
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As you might imagine, with over 400 attendees there were some questions that we didn’t get to during the town hall, but we still have the question cards! I’ll save some space in my next couple e-newsletters to answer some of those questions, starting with two today:
From Sugar S.- “What is your vote for 1483 Right to Repair?” I actually talked about this one in my last e-newsletter, but I’m incredibly supportive and was happy to vote for it on the House floor.
From Maria- “We understand that the Keep Washington Working Act restrict local authorities in enforcing federal immigration law, but how can we assure the Latino community as they have fears?”. Earlier this session I put out a statement about the threats our immigrant, refugee, and undocumented community members are facing, it talks about some of the work we’ve done (like the Keep WA Working Act), and reaffirms my commitment to adding any protections we can at the state level, which includes supporting HB 1321 (details above). The Washington Commission on Hispanic Affairs has also put together a rapid response hub with more information. The fear that our Latino community is facing in this moment is real, and I know they are not the only community impacted by these executive orders. I, and my colleagues, will do everything we can to keep our residents safe, regardless of immigration status.
Legislative Update: House of Origin Cutoff and a Town Hall March 15th
Dear friends and neighbors,
We’ve reached the halfway point of this year’s session and we’re coming up on a big deadline – the House of Origin cutoff – next week. That means that we have until next Wednesday, March 12th, to pass House bills and send them over to the Senate (it also means the Senate has until then to pass their bills and send them our way).
We’ve been spending a lot of time on the House floor this week considering different bills, and I wanted to highlight a few. One of the priority areas for House Democrats this session is lowering costs for Washingtonians and promoting economic security. These bills fall into that category:
The Right to Repair bill (HB 1483) is a consumer-friendly bill that will make it easier for people to repair their digital electronics instead of having to buy new ones. It requires manufacturers to provide access to the parts and tools needed to repair digital electronics, so local repair shops will have the information they need to fix electronics, saving people money and preventing electronic waste. Passing the Right to Repair off the House floor was a long time coming. Rep. Gregerson (pictured) has worked hard over the last few years to make sure this bill strikes the right balance, I’m especially happy that it received near-unanimous support.- HB 1186 would allow hospitals and other emergency healthcare entities to prescribe a full course of medication instead of the current 48-hour course allowed by law. This means that when you’re discharged from care, you can focus on getting home and recovering instead of having to get to a pharmacy to fill the rest of the script. This bill also reduces costs and helps prevent disruptions of treatment if a patient can’t fill the remainder of the prescription in a timely manner.
- HB 1291 would exempt childbirth delivery services from your medical deductible. This ensures families won’t have to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket before their insurance coverage kicks in and can focus instead on recovering and welcoming a new member of the family. No family should have to choose between quality maternity care and financial struggle.
There’s a host of other legislation that we’re working on this week, and I’ll have more information about what it through cutoff in my next e-newsletter.
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We’ve got a town hall coming up next week in the 27th District! Join us on March 15th from 10AM-12PM at the Stadium High School Auditorium (111 N E St, Tacoma, WA 98403). If you’re taking public transit, it’s accessible from the Sound Transit Light Rail and the 11 and 16 bus route. Come ask questions and get an update on our work this session!
You can also submit your questions in advance here.
I always look forward to coming together as a community at these town halls. Hope to see you there next Saturday.
Legislative Update: Children’s Day, Speaker’s Scoop podcast, & the Book 1 budget
Dear friends and neighbors,
We’re wrapping up week six of this year’s legislative session, and tomorrow marks our first big deadline for this year, policy cutoff. On Monday though we took advantage of the state holiday to celebrate Children’s Day in Olympia. This is a biennial tradition – during long session years (like this one) we invite legislators to bring their kids, nieces, nephews, grandkids or other chosen family to work with them. This job can require you to spend a lot of time away from home, and Children’s Day is a fun opportunity to show them what we do and why it’s important.
Part of Children’s Day is voting a bill off the floor. This year we passed HB 1759, which will officially recognize December 12th as “Day of the 12s,” recognizing Seahawks fans across the state. Sports can build community in really important ways. It bridges cultural divides, and – if the floor debate was any indication – it bridges age divides as well. I was grateful to have some help at the podium for a very spirited discussion and overwhelmingly supportive final vote.
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| I also wanted to let you know about a short, weekly podcast I’ve been doing this session! It’s a behind-the-scenes look at my work as Speaker of the House, recorded from my office in the Legislative Building. I’ve talked about opening ceremonies, my work with Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, the “Book 1” budget (more on this below), and more. The episodes are five minutes or less, and it’s my hope that they’ll help demystify some of our work down in Olympia. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and my website. |  |
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You may have read or heard about former Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed budgets last fall, but there’s only one budget that the Governor is required to create, and that’s the “Book 1” budget, which doesn’t make any changes to current law or assume any new revenue.
If you’re wondering why we’re still referencing the former Governor’s budget, it’s because the budget development process happens largely in fall of the previous year. Governor Ferguson was not sworn in until January, after the governor’s budget is supposed to be released.
But why am I talking about the “Book 1” budget at all? Because it’s what an all-cuts budget looks like, and it’s truly devastating for people across the state. It cuts $12 billion from our state budget, including $3.5 billion in cuts to healthcare, over $1 billion in cuts to higher education, and $1.3 billion in cuts to human services and early learning.
What are some specific cuts behind those dollar amounts?
- The elimination of things like adult dental care, kidney dialysis, and family planning or abortion services for people on Medicaid.
- Catastrophic cuts to our state colleges and universities that hurt our ability to educate the workforce we need to keep Washington’s economy strong.
- Massive reductions to services for seniors and people with developmental disabilities.
- Deep cuts to human services and early learning programs, including elimination of some programs and significantly reduced services.
- Significant cuts to behavioral health and corrections.
It’s important for everyone to understand what an all-cuts budget looks like. Once we understand how Washingtonians will be affected by cuts, our conversations about cuts vs. new revenue will be more grounded in reality. As for me, I’ll prioritize protecting the most vulnerable. And I expect the House Democrats budget team will be taking a balanced approach when we release our budget proposal next month. It won’t be easy, but we’re working to minimize the harm and ensure we don’t go backwards on the progress we’ve made.
Legislative Update: Cora Whitley Family Center Groundbreaking, Protecting Washingtonians
Dear friends and neighbors,
Hello from Olympia, where we’re nearly a quarter of the way through this year’s legislative session. Right now, our work is focused on committee hearings. These are the first stop for nearly every single bill. Hearings give everyone a chance to ask questions, propose amendments, and hear from constituents before moving a bill to the next step in the process.
We’ll be focused on committees until the policy and fiscal cutoffs later this month. These are the deadlines for bills to pass out of committee on their path to final passage and the governor’s desk (there’s a handy cheat-sheet for these cutoffs and the bill process here).
While we’re focused on committees, we have started to pass bills off the House floor. That includes legislation to help address the housing shortage and prevent backlogs for judicial hearings. I expect that we’ll have more updates in my next newsletter.
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On January 25th I was delighted to join the groundbreaking ceremony for the Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center’s new Cora Whitley Family Center in Hilltop. Once completed, this will double their early learning and daycare spaces and will create over 100 jobs. I have heard from many of you about how hard it is to find accessible and affordable child care. I know that this is a priority for many families in our community and I’m proud that the state was able to chip in over $3 million dollars to help make this expansion happen. Construction is currently expected to finish in January 2026.
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In my last newsletter I noted that while we are focused on our work in the state legislature, we would not hesitate to protect Washingtonians from attacks at the federal level. I think it is important in this moment to be incredibly clear about what that means.
Last week I put out a statement in support of our immigrant, refugee, and undocumented community members. Earlier this week I put out a statement about protecting the LGBTQ+ community, and particularly our transgender youth.
Statements are important; so is the action to back them up.
Over the last 10 years we have passed legislation supporting vulnerable members of our community, protecting our neighbors regardless of immigration status, ensuring that transgender youth can access life-saving health care, and much more. We will continue this work, and whenever we identify gaps in those protections, we will fill them swiftly. I was asked about this at the weekly media availability on Tuesday and want to share my response here as well. I hope that, in the chaos of federal announcements over the last 17 days, you are able to find some reassurance in knowing that at the state level, we have your back.
Majority Leader Pedersen, Speaker Jinkins: Protecting Transgender Youth in Washington State
Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen and Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins made the following statement Monday in response to multiple federal executive orders attacking transgender youth:
“As parents, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the elected leaders of the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives, we will protect transgender youth.
“These attacks from the new federal administration are alarming, but they do not change Washington state law.
“We have established protections at the state level to ensure young people can access life-saving gender-affirming care. We have strong nondiscrimination laws that protect our young people at school, and we are working to clarify and strengthen those laws this session.
“The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has made clear they will not comply with any federal directives that would require us to discriminate against our students, and we strongly support this position.
“We have also passed some of the strongest legal protections in the country, establishing a shield law preventing other states from enforcing cruel or archaic laws across state lines.
“We will keep working hard to make Washington a state where everyone can live a safe, dignified life, because the job of government is to create opportunity, not drive hate and fear.
“To the transgender youth and their families across the state who are scared about what these orders mean for you or your children, you are not alone. We see you, and we will fight hard for you.
“To the broader LGBTQ+ community, who know too well an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us, we will continue to protect your rights to be who you are and love who you love.
“The people of Washington have consistently demonstrated their support for the LGBTQ+ community, including through initiatives going back over 30 years. People here see through the fear mongering and scare tactics because they know us. We are your friends and family, we make your coffee and ring up your groceries, we run local businesses, and we take care of you when you’re sick. We are confident the people of our state will continue to have our back just like we have theirs, because the best way forward is together.”