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2023 Session Victories: Post-Secondary Education, Apprenticeships, and Workforce Development; plus Community Conversations

Dear friends and neighbors,

I’m back with another update on what we were able to accomplish this session! As many students are wrapping up the school year or preparing to graduate, I thought it would be fitting to talk about the work we’ve done to help people take their next step in life, whether that be post-secondary education, apprenticeships or some other form of workforce development. This is especially meaningful for me this year as I’ll be heading up to Bellingham in the next few days to celebrate our son’s graduation.

Educating our students is one of our state’s highest priorities. It’s an investment in our future, from growing individual economic stability to creating a workforce that meets Washington’s needs. These topics were a big focus for us this year, and I’m excited to share more about our work.

I also wanted to let you know that I’ll be hosting community conversations across the district over the next couple months. These are intended to be small group discussions so please stop by to ask questions or talk about issues that are important to you! My first stop is Thursday, July 13th, 2:00-3:00pm at the Fife Pierce County Library, and I’ll be joined by Rep. Fey. I’ll keep you posted about other dates, times, and locations!

 

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This session we looked at ways we could make post-secondary education more accessible for all students in our state. From expanding access to increasing financial aid, we want to make sure every student’s post-secondary education goals are within reach.

That starts in K-12, where we expanded access to the running start program, which allows high school students to attend classes at our community college and four-year institutions, and eliminated fees for College in High School courses. These dual credit opportunities help prepare students for post-secondary education and allow them to get college credit for coursework before they leave high school. We also passed legislation establishing regional apprenticeship programs which gives high school students the opportunity to learn valuable skills that lead to good, family-wage jobs.

We expanded the Working Connections Child Care program to first-year apprentices, helping make childcare more affordable for families with lower incomes and making it easier for more people to enter the trades. We also passed legislation that will boost the use of apprentices in public work contracts, which will help us attract and retain the next generation of skilled workers.

Additionally, we expanded access to the College Bound Scholarship, helping more students access a degree or credential. Half of all students in Washington state experience food or housing insecurity, this year we set up a program to help connect students with the resources they need, including access to meal vouchers. These support services help students focus on their coursework instead of where their next meal is coming from or where they’ll sleep that night.

In addition to these investments we also expanded the Washington College Grant by $13 million, ensuring more students can get the degree, credential, or apprenticeship they want without taking on debt.

Our post-secondary education investments go hand-in-hand with our investments in workforce development. Every sector in Washington has been impacted by workforce challenges, from behavioral health to childcare, long-term care to K-12 education, public safety, and more. This session we invested $382 million in the future of our state though post-secondary education and workforce development.

We also know that we need to act now to help address our current workforce shortages. That’s why we passed legislation to enter interstate compacts or remove licensing barriers for dental hygienists, audiologists, and mental health counselors. These interstate compacts will make it easier for people who move to Washington to get working right away, and are particularly important for our military families (we also passed another bill specifically helping military spouses obtain professional licenses when they move to Washington state).

We also passed legislation to help us track supply and demand in the healthcare workforce, giving us the data we need to better serve communities across the state and plan for the future. We also acted to address our homecare worker shortage, grow our behavioral health workforce, and remove barriers in hiring paraeducators. Additionally, we dedicated $48 million to health care workforce development and training in our operating budget.

These changes work with other investments we made to increase wages for health care workers like behavioral health providers, primary care providers, pediatricians, and more.

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2023 Session Victories: Let’s talk housing, behavioral health, and community safety

Dear friends and neighbors,

In my last full e-newsletter I said it would take more than one email to cover all the work we did this session. Over the next couple months, I’ll be going issue-by-issue to provide updates on what we accomplished. We’re starting today with housing, behavioral health, and community safety.

I’ve heard from many of you on these topics, whether it’s concerns about housing affordability, questions about law enforcement recruitment, retention, and oversight, or how we can do more to help people in need.

I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish in all three of these areas, and excited to share these wins with you. Please let me know if there are other topics you would like me to cover.

Right now our statewide housing supply is short between 150,000 to 250,000 units. On top of that, we need to build one million homes in the next 20 years to meet our projected needs. This year we focused on building our housing supply, increasing housing stability, and ensuring there is support to help get and keep people housed.

This included big budget investments in our operating budget and capital construction budget. Our operating budget invests $519 million in housing, including:

• $141 million in continued funding for emergency housing and rental assistance
• $60 million in additional funds for encampment response and outreach
• $30 million to expand funding for children and youth homelessness
• $27 million in increased funding for Housing and Essential Needs

Our capital construction budget investments include:

• $400 million for the Housing Trust Fund, a competitive grant program to build affordable housing
• $170 million for affordable housing and shelters, including $14.5 million for youth shelter and housing projects and $50 million for transit-oriented development
• $124 million for home upgrades, including $35 million for weatherization in low-income households and $83 million for home energy efficiency rebates

We passed legislation to expand middle housing options in cities across our state, with a focus on expansion in areas near major transit stops. We need more of all kinds of housing, and this legislation helps make that possible. We also ensured that property owners who want to build an ADU will face less regulatory barriers.

We know that our real estate industry has a well-documented history of racism. This year we’re beginning to right that wrong with the Covenant Homeownership Act, which will provide down payment and closing cost assistance for people that have historically faced housing discrimination.

We’re also protecting renters from unfair deposit practices. A rental deposit should be just that, not a fee. When you’ve taken good care of a rental and leave only normal wear and tear, you should be able to get most of your deposit back.

I’ve heard from many of you with different concerns about community safety. Concerns about gun violence prevention, about giving our law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe, about what oversight there is for law enforcement officers that go too far, and what we’re doing to protect and support victims throughout our justice system.

Gun violence is preventable. During the 10-year period when the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur. We heard on the House floor about some of the devastating losses people across the state have experienced in shootings where an assault weapon was used. That’s why this session we passed a ban on assault weapons.

We also passed legislation to require safety training and waiting periods to purchase firearms. Ensuring people know how to safely use, handle, and store firearms will save lives, as will a waiting period that gives people experiencing a crisis critical time to access help. Part of ending gun violence is also holding manufacturers and retailers accountable. We passed legislation requiring them to take reasonable steps to enforce existing laws, track their inventory, and prevent straw sales.

We also passed bills to support survivors of sexual assault by promoting victim-centered, trauma-informed responses in our legal system. Additionally, we improved protections for people experiencing domestic violence, ensuring the system works to keep them safe and that law enforcement and judicial officers have the training they need.

Private detention facilities in Washington should have to meet the same health and safety standards as public facilities, which is why we passed legislation to protect basic human rights for people in detention. We also know that family support and reentry services are critical to help people reentering society after detention, which is why we passed legislation to ensure that people who are incarcerated don’t have to pay to see their family. We also passed legislation to ensure that everyone reentering society has a plan and access to resources.

We also made adjustments to our vehicular pursuit law to ensure that police are able to pursue dangerous subjects, and to allow each community to set pursuit policies that work for them.

This legislation goes hand-in-hand with the investments we made in our operating budget. We allocated $253 million for public safety, legal aid, and corrections, including:

• $62 million to expand domestic violence services
• $52 million for the Office of Public Defense and the Office of Civil Legal Aid
• $27 million to expand criminal justice training and certification
• $12 million to expand firearm violence prevention grant funding
• $7 million to increase wages and gratuities for people who are incarcerated, currently people who are incarcerated only make up to $2.70 an hour

In my Sine Die newsletter at the end of April I mentioned that we were still working on a fix for the Blake decision in Washington state. I’m proud to say that in a quick, one-day special session last week we passed an agreement with strong bipartisan support.

Some background:  In 2021, the Washington State Supreme Court found our law on drug possession unconstitutional. In response to that decision, we passed legislation building a new system focused on access to treatment and recovery but gave it a sunset so we could fine-tune the details as we saw the system in action. This compromise is a big deal, setting up systems for outreach, treatment, diversion, and recovery while still ensuring accountability. You can learn more about the bill here.

While Blake was one of our biggest priorities this year, we did lots of other work on behavioral health. We implemented a 988 behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system to ensure that people in crisis can connect with the resources they need. We also expanded access to certified peer specialists, people with lived experience that can help those in crisis.

We also acted on the youth mental health crisis, creating a new care coordinator to provide support for children living in hospitals for extended periods and their families. This coordinator will help provide individualized support and pull resources from multiple state agencies to help get kids into appropriate care as soon as possible.

Last year we leveraged federal funds to invest heavily in behavioral health in our operating budget; this year we built on those investments with:

• $271 million to increase rates for behavioral health providers
• $123 million for additional community bed capacity
• $115 million to expand opioid and other substance use disorder prevention and treatment
• $69 million to fund 988 crisis response and IT initiatives
• $55 million for crisis, outreach, and diversion programs
• $29 million to fund youth behavioral health

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This Thursday: Join me for a telephone town hall!

Dear friends and neighbors,

Just a reminder that Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, Rep. Jake Fey and I will be hosting a telephone town hall for 27th District constituents THIS Thursday, May 11th from 6-7 p.m.

Most district households with a landline should automatically receive a call around 6 p.m. inviting you to join. If you don’t have a landline, or you want to make sure you receive a call from us, you can sign up at the following link:

https://vekeo.com/WHDC27/

You can also join the conversation by calling 877-229-8493 and entering PIN # 116282 (note: this number will be active beginning about 5 minutes before the event start time).

We look forward to coming together as a community and taking your questions about the recently-concluded legislative session.

I hope you are able to join us.

Sincerely,

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End of Session Update and a Telephone Town Hall

Dear friends and neighbors,

Earlier this week we wrapped up the 2023 legislative session. I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish in 105 days, and I’ve got a high-level overview below. We did a lot more than I can cover in just one newsletter, so I’ll be reaching out with more information in the coming days and weeks.

If you want a preview on some of that, we’re also hosting a telephone town hall on Thursday, May 11^th at 6:00 PM, there’s more information about that below.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times this year how our work in Olympia is largely bipartisan, and this year was no exception. We passed 474 bills, 286 of those bills received unanimous support in their last vote on the floor. 379 of those 474 bills passed with over 80% of legislators in support. I’ve said it before: at the end of the day, we’re all here to work on behalf of the people of this state.

With that, here are some highlights:

Housing

Our Operating and Capital Construction Budgets together make over $1 billion in housing-related investments to address housing affordability and the homelessness crisis. That includes:

• $141 million for emergency housing and rental assistance
• $60 million for encampment response and outreach
• $30 million in additional funding for children and youth homelessness

These investments are a big deal and will go a long way towards helping keep people housed and get people into housing. But we know that alone isn’t enough, which is why we also passed bills to expand middle housing options (HB 1110), make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, or ADUs (HB 1337), and protect renters from unfair damage deposit claims (HB 1074).

Workforce

At the beginning of session, I talked about how every sector in Washington has been impacted by workforce challenges, from behavioral health to childcare, long-term care to K-12 education, public safety, and more. That’s why we’re investing $382 million in college and workforce development, helping to ensure we’re building the workforce of the future.

We know that it will take time for some of those investments to come to fruition, which is why we also passed a number of bills targeted at growing our workforce now. That includes bills to enter interstate compacts for dental hygienists, audiologists, mental health counselors, making it easier for people like military spouses to get to work in Washington state. We also passed legislation to address our homecare worker shortage (HB 1694), grow our behavioral health workforce (HB 1724), and remove barriers in hiring paraeducators (HB 1015).

Reproductive Rights

This session, we focused on what we can do in Washington to protect access to reproductive health and freedom and the right to make medical decisions without government interference. We invested $24 million in reproductive health services in our operating budget this year, in addition to passing legislation like:

• The My Health, My Data Act (HB 1155), which protects the right to reproductive care by blocking websites and apps from collecting and sharing sensitive health data.
• The Shield Law (HB 1469), which protects patients and providers of reproductive and gender-affirming care in Washington from retribution by other states, ensuring that care remains available to those who require it in Washington state.
• A bill to protect Washington’s health care providers (HB 1340), ensuring they cannot be disciplined for providing reproductive or gender-affirming care in accordance with Washington state law, regardless of where their patients reside.
• A bill ensuring that Washingtonians will have access to a safe abortion pill, Mifepristone, regardless of pending federal lawsuits. (SB 5678)

I know that many of you were also tracking our response to the Blake decision this year, and while we weren’t able to pass a bill this session our work is ongoing, and I’ll keep you updated.

Join us for a Telephone Town Hall!

Now that session is over, we’ll be hosting a telephone town hall to give an update and answer your questions. We’ll be calling households in the district at 6PM on Thursday, May 11.

There are a couple ways you can join:

1. Sign up here by selecting the “Let’s Talk” button on the May 11 event

Or

1. Dial in at 6PM on Thursday, May 11 by calling 877-229-8493, PIN #: 116282

I hope you’ll join us May 11th, and I look forward to answering your questions.

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Session Update: bills so far, presiding over the House, and more

Dear friends and neighbors,

Today is the 96^th day of this year’s 105-day legislative session, and I have some updates!

This week was the opposite chamber cutoff, which means we crossed the deadline for most bills to pass out of the opposite chamber (so the Senate for all our House bills). We’re also closing in on Sine Die, which is legislative jargon for the last day of session. We have until next Sunday, April 23^rd, to wrap up our work.

I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do so far this session. I’ll talk about some of our most important bills later, but we’ve sent 161 bills to the Governor’s desk so far. I’m particularly proud that 115 of those bills had unanimous bipartisan support. We do a lot of important work down here, and most of it is incredibly bipartisan.

This next week is all about concurrences (looking at changes the Senate made to House bills and deciding whether we want to keep them or negotiate a different option) and finalizing our budgets for this biennium.

Legislative Update

We’ve done a lot of good work this session, and I wanted to highlight a couple particularly impactful bills.

This session we knew we needed to do more to protect reproductive rights and gender-affirming care in Washington state. We’ve done that in a couple ways – ensuring that providers can’t be punished for doing their job, protecting patients in Washington state from other states trying to impose their beliefs on us, and protecting your sensitive health care data.

We also took strong action on gun violence prevention, passing bills to ban assault weapons, hold gun manufacturers accountable, and require a 10-day waiting period and safety training to purchase a firearm.

Another important bill that stands out for me is SB 5729, which caps insulin costs at $35 a month. I’ve been diabetic since I was 12 years old, and I understand just how critical it is for insulin to be affordable. It’s the oldest prescription drug still available yet there are no generics, and costs can be extraordinarily high. This bill will help save lives.

What’s it like presiding over the House?

Last week I sat down with Rep. Tina Orwall and Rep. Dan Bronoske to talk about what it’s like to preside over the House. They both serve in leadership positions and help me run debate on the floor. If you’re curious about what that means you can learn more here.

Getting Involved in Government

I also wanted to pass along an opportunity to get more involved in your state government. The governor is in charge of appointing people to over 230 different boards and commissions, from the local community college board of trustees to the lottery commission to Puget sound restoration. These boards and commissions include identity-based groups and cover almost any interest area you can think of. You can learn more about what’s available and how to apply here.

 

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Join me this Saturday for a Town Hall

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

This is just a quick reminder about our town hall this Saturday, March 18^th from 10AM-12PM. Come ask questions and get an update on our work this session. We’ll be on the Tacoma campus of the Evergreen State College (1210 6th Ave Tacoma, WA 98504).

You can submit question in advance online: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/27thLDtownhall2023

Or by email: OfficeofSpeakerJinkins@leg.wa.gov

Hope to see you there!

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Session Update: Floor Action, an Upcoming Town Hall, the Page Program, & more

Dear friends and neighbors,

This week was the House of Origin Cutoff in Olympia, which means we’ve crossed the deadline for most bills to pass out of the House (or Senate, for Senate bills) and move over to the other chamber. It’s been a remarkably productive session so far – we’ve passed 328 bills off the House floor, with nearly 200 receiving unanimous support and over 250 receiving strong bipartisan support.

We’ve had a strong focus on housing, workforce development, and reproductive health. I think that’s reflected in the bills we’ve passed so far. Some highlights include:

• Expanding our state’s middle housing supply by allowing more diverse housing options in residential neighborhoods. (HB 1110)
• Making it easier to build Accessory Dwelling Units (HB 1337)
• Shielding patients who seek reproductive or gender-affirming care in Washington state, and their health care providers, from other state’s archaic laws (HB 1469)
• Ensuring that health care providers in Washington state are protected when providing reproductive or gender-affirming care (HB 1340)
• Protecting your sensitive health data, including data related to reproductive health (HB 1155)
• Addressing our home care workforce shortages by updating certification requirements and reducing licensing fees for home care workers (HB 1694)
• Growing our behavioral health workforce by supporting those studying to enter the field, reducing barriers to entering the workforce, and streamlining licensing requirements (HB 1724)

Now we’re pivoting back to committee hearings to look at the bills sent over from the Senate, and I’ll keep you posted on that work.

Join us for a Town Hall

I’ll be joining my seatmates for a town hall next Saturday, March 18^th at 10AM. Come ask questions and get an update on our work so far. We’ll be on the Tacoma campus of the Evergreen State College (1210 6^th Ave Tacoma, WA 98504).

You can even submit question in advance online: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/27thLDtownhall2023

Or by email: OfficeofSpeakerJinkins@leg.wa.gov

House Page Program

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Session Update: Children’s Day, Floor Action, and Meet My Staff

Dear friends and neighbors,

We’re wrapping up week seven of this year’s legislative session, which means we’re in cutoff season (more on that below), and earlier this week we celebrated Children’s Day on the House floor. This job can require you spend a lot of time away from your family and loved ones. Children’s Day is an opportunity for legislators to bring their kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews to campus and show them what we do.

This year I was happy to have Felix and Zachary join me up at the rostrum. They helped me manage a raucous House floor debate on a bill to make the Suciasaurus Rex the Washington State Dinosaur (it passed with wide support).

More on cutoffs – Before they can become law, bills must be heard in committee (and sometimes multiple committees), voted off the House or Senate floor, and then go through the same process in the other chamber.

To organize our time in Olympia, we establish some cutoffs for bills to make it through certain steps in the process. Last Friday was Policy Cutoff, the deadline for bills to make it out of their policy committees. Tomorrow is Fiscal Cutoff, the deadline for bills with a fiscal impact to make it out of budgetary committees.

Next week we’re focused on floor action so that we can pass bills out of the House and send them to the Senate by the House of Origin Cutoff on March 8^th.

We’ve already passed a number of bills off the House floor (we’re up to 65, with 53 passed unanimously), including several bills to help address workforce shortages in sectors throughout our state, such as:

• HB 1009 to streamline licensing for military spouses to help keep workers in critical fields and support military families
• HB 1287 to streamline licensing for dental hygienists already licensed in another state or Canada
• HB 1015 to streamline the assessment and emergency certification of paraeducators

We’ve got much more on the way; my next e-newsletter will provide an update of what passed the House during floor action.

Last week I joined a celebration marking the 11^th anniversary of marriage equality in Washington state. The Secretary of State’s office is commemorating the event with a new exhibit – Love, Equally – which talks about the path to marriage equality.

It is remarkable to think about the progress we’ve made in my lifetime on this. When I first came out in my early 20s I couldn’t imagine that marriage was a possibility for me; to go from that to marriage equality by my early 40s is pretty incredible. You can watch the whole celebration here (or my remarks here) and learn more about the exhibit.

Meet the Team! Each year I like to introduce constituents to the smart, amazing folks who serve our district by supporting me in my legislative work. I could not do this job well without them. I’m supported in the Speaker’s Office this session by: Faith (she/her), who is my Executive Legislative Assistant. Faith graduated with a bachelor’s in Political Science from Eastern Washington University and is pursuing law school in the fall. She lives in Tacoma and enjoys long distance cycling in the summers, artistic endeavors, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stefanie (she/her), our newest legislative assistant in the Speaker’s Office who is a lifelong Tacoman and a graduate of Arizona State University. Stefanie loves walking her dogs at Point Defiance Park and exploring all the art, culture, food, and nature that the 27th District has to offer. She spent over 10 years working at a coffee shop in Tacoma and has probably already served many of you. Sammi (she/her), who is my Session Aide this year. Sammi grew up in Olympia, attended college in Bellingham, and after a brief stint in Seattle is now back in Olympia. She has a background in both mathematics and fashion merchandising, but decided to dip her toes into the legislative world. Kaiden (they/he), who is my legislative intern and attends the University of Washington with a major in political science and a double minor in environmental studies and urban design & planning.

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Celebrating Black History Month and a Legislative Update

Dear friends and neighbors,

February is Black History Month, a time to celebrate our Black and African American communities, and a time to reflect on how we can fight anti-Black racism in our day-to-day lives. I’m proud to support our Legislative Black Caucus, which is larger than ever before, as they bring their voice and experience to many of the issues we’re working on this session.

I’m also thinking about the Black legislators who served throughout our state’s history. Representative Owen Bush was elected in 1889 to our state’s inaugural legislative session, we have him to thank for our state’s first civil rights legislation. Sen. John Ryan served off-and-on in the House and Senate between 1921-1942, he lived in Tacoma, and was a charter member of the Tacoma NAACP.

Some of this history feels far away, but some is pretty recent. In 1993, Sen. Rosa Franklin was the first Black woman elected to the Washington State Senate. She represented Tacoma in the legislature for 20 years and her work helped to reduce inequities across our state in health care, labor, housing, and much more. She also served in Senate leadership, and mentored many, including myself. I’m grateful to be able to call on her continuing wisdom, and it is a joy to see our community recognize her and thank her for her work.

Black History Month is about connecting the past and the present, about recognizing and honoring Black and African American communities, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with them for a more equitable future.

Passing Bills off the Floor

Over the last few weeks we’ve been working hard to pass good legislation off the floor, with a focus on housing and workforce development. That includes legislation to:

• Make it easier for children and families to access speech therapists and audiologists (HB 1001)
• Streamline licensing for counselors already certified in other states, growing our counseling workforce (HB 1069)
• Allow municipalities to waive utility connection fees when developing affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, emergency shelter, or transitional housing (HB 1326)
• Ensure that common interest communities like HOAs can’t prevent you from sharing your home (HB 1054)

We’ve sent 50 bills over to the Senate already this session, and I’m excited that 42 of them passed unanimously. A lot of the work we do down in Olympia is bipartisan, at the end of the day we’re all here to work on your behalf.

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2023 Session Update, Accessing the Working Families Tax Credit, Reproductive Health, and more

Dear friends and neighbors,  

Hello from Olympia, where we’re wrapping up the third week of this year’s legislative session! We’re in the thick of committee hearings right now but have already voted a few bills off the floor and sent them over to the Senate. This includes legislation to:  

• Expand access to low-income housing developed through public-private partnerships (HB 1046) 
• Help make childcare more accessible by ensuring licensed providers can operate in more communities (HB 1199) 
• Allow physical therapists and occupational therapists to share ownership of a practice with other health care professionals. This will increase access to care, reduce administrative barriers, and, in some cases, reduce the number of co-pays for patients. (HB 1082)  

As we keep passing bills out of committee there are a lot of ways to follow along or get involved from home. Want an overview of the legislative process? Check out this video. Want to find detailed information about bills this session? You can search by topic, by sponsor, or by bill number. Want to send me a message or testify on a bill? You can get more info about both here. After all, this is The People’s House and we want to hear from you. 

Sincerely,

Legislation taking effect this year: The Working Families Tax Credit, the Climate Commitment Act, and the Clean Fuel Standard 

During the 2021 Legislative Session we were able to pass some incredible legislation to help support working families and fight climate change here in Washington. Three of our biggest bills from that year are starting to take effect.

The Working Families Tax Credit will put money back in the pockets of low-to-moderate income people across our state. Depending on eligibility, individuals and families may get up to $1,200 back. You can learn more about the program and see if you’re eligible here. 

Washington’s cap-and-invest program, established as part of the Climate Commitment Act, starts off this year. This program will help limit greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pollution in overburdened communities, and invest in clean jobs and climate resilience. With this program we’re on track to meet our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. The Clean Fuel Standard is also taking effect this year. It targets our single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the transportation sector. Over the next 12 years this program will help reduce emissions by 4.3 million metric tons a year – a 20% reduction that’s comparable to taking over 900,000 cars permanently off the road.

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Protecting reproductive freedom and gender-affirming care  

Last Sunday was the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We should have been celebrating half a century of this longstanding legal precedent that protected reproductive rights for millions of people across the country. But that right was taken away last June with US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. 

This session, we’re focused on what we can do in this state to uphold the right to control one’s reproductive health and freedom and make medical decisions without government interference.  

Democrats in both chambers are considering a package of bills to protect and preserve the right to reproductive and gender-affirming care in our state. On Tuesday, the House held public hearings in several committees on bills that help ensure this care is available, accessible, and affordable. These include: 

• The My Health, My Data Act (House Bill 1155), which would protect the right to reproductive care by blocking websites and apps from collecting and sharing health data.
• The Shield Law (House Bill 1469), which would protect patients and providers of reproductive and gender-affirming care in Washington from retribution by other states, ensuring that care remains available to those who require it in Washington state.  
• A bill to protect Washington employers (House Bill 1286) who provide support for reproductive care allowed in Washington state, giving them recourse from actions allowed by anti-choice laws in other states. 
• A bill to protect Washington’s health care providers (House Bill 1340), ensuring they cannot be disciplined for providing reproductive or gender affirming care in accordance with Washington state law, regardless of where their patients reside. 

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