Dear friends and neighbors,

The 2025 Legislative Session is underway as of this past Monday and what better way to begin than learning what’s important to you? Democracy is about participation, so we are seeking your input on some of the key challenges, priorities, and policies that we’ll be working on this year. Please click here or on the button below to fill out a short survey on YOUR priorities. This information will help guide our decisions as we consider legislation and vote on bills.

Opening Day

The opening day ceremonies in the House have plenty of pomp and circumstance. This is the moment when we, all the members of this legislative body, take our oath of office. It’s a vow, really, where we make a serious commitment to uphold the constitution and serve our constituents to the best of our abilities.

But what makes the first day special and memorable is the way we honor and celebrate the cultural diversity of our people. This year, we were proud to see tribal members on the rostrum leading us in prayer and song.

We were also excited to elect our colleague, Rep. Chris Stearns, from the 47th district, as our Speaker Pro Tempore. In the history of our state, Rep. Stearns is one of a few Native Americans to ever serve in the Legislature. Click here for his remarks upon being sworn in.

The first day of session is also when the Speaker of the House delivers her opening remarks:

In her speech, Rep. Laurie Jinkins mentioned some of our legislative successes, such as historic investments to build more housing units across the state, increased access to affordable childcare for working parents, and new regional law enforcement training academies to train more officers.

She highlighted recent national rankings naming Washington state as having the best economy in the country, the best public education on the West Coast, and as the most energy-efficient state.

Our Speaker also described the challenges we will be facing, starting with a shortfall in the state budget due to decreased revenue, inflation, and increased needs. In closing, she reminded us that we have a responsibility to invest in what matters most – our people.

We agree and our work will focus on protecting the investments we’ve made to help working families and have a balanced budget.

Send us your teens for a week!

The Washington State Legislature has one of the best page programs in the country and applications are open! Legislative pages are youth aged 14 – 16, who are sponsored by legislators and serve in Olympia for one week during the legislative session. They receive daily civics education, participate in mock committee hearings, and help conduct legislative business. If you know any young people who may be interested, please click here for more information.

Get in touch and participate!

Our government works best when the democratic process runs as intended: with everyone’s participation to ensure all voices are heard. During the pandemic we came up with creative and effective solutions to ensure Washingtonians could still engage actively during session, and we kept them!

Whether you want to come to Olympia or stay home, we have options to watch and participate in committee hearings, contact your legislators, comment on a bill, or just learn more about what’s going on. Click here to review the many ways you can get involved in the lawmaking process.

Important dates to keep in mind

The legislature meets every year, but alternates between a short, 60-day session and a long 105-day session. The long sessions happen on odd-numbered years like this one. Here’s a quick look at some of the important dates over the next few months:

We are here to represent you and hearing from you on the issues you care about helps better inform our work in the Legislature, so please don’t forget to take our survey.

We are honored to serve you and committed to working on your behalf.

Sincerely,