Friends and Neighbors,
I want to thank everyone who joined us for our pre-session town hall earlier this month. We had standing room only at North Seattle College’s Auditorium. It is always so important for us to hear about your experiences and learn what you care most about. Your words truly do guide our work. Indeed, I have several bills that come from recent discussions with neighbors.
Join me for a virtual drop-in discussion this Saturday at 9:30
I’m hosting my drop-in discussion “traveling town hall“ online this Saturday, Jan. 31 at 9:30 am. Please join me and other neighbors to discuss what’s happened so far this session, plans for a millionaire‘s tax, funding schools, legislation to respond to closures of supermarkets and pharmacies, and any other issues that you’d like to discuss.
I’ll be available from 9:30-11am and you are welcome to stay for as long or as short as you want. If you have any questions please reach out to my Legislative Assistant, Emily Grupp, at emily.grupp@leg.wa.gov. Click here to register.
It’s been a busy first few weeks of session. We have been hard at work in our committees, introducing and sponsoring legislation, hearing public testimony, and meeting with constituents. The 2026 session is what’s considered a “short” session, which means we have just 60 days to complete our work and pass a supplemental budget – while facing another very large deficit.
In my last newsletter, I talked about some of my priorities this year:
- Fighting for government transparency and accountability
- Addressing grocery store/supermarket and pharmacy closures
- Modernizing how we teach reading
- Protecting the environment from microplastic pollution
- And working to fix our upside-down tax code
I talk about why we need to make our tax system more fair, the benefits of a millionaire’s income tax, and my work as Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, in my most recent video.
Bill highlight: Fighting the impacts of grocery store closures
When Kroger announced it was closing the Lake City Fred Meyer, it wasn’t just another store closure — it threatened our neighborhood’s access to affordable groceries and the last local pharmacy, and it put a huge hole in the heart of a community we’ve been working hard to revitalize.
That’s why I’m sponsoring HB 2573, legislation to protect community access to food, medicine, and health services when big “anchor” stores shut down and leave neighborhoods scrambling.
HB 2573 would give communities practical tools, including:
- Advance notice to cities, workers and the public before a grocery store or pharmacy closes or significantly reduces service — so families and local leaders aren’t blindsided.
- Tools to address long-term vacancies that hurt nearby small businesses, public safety, and the surrounding neighborhood including steep vacancy taxes and nuisance fees.
- More options for smart reuse so these sites can come back in ways that support essential access — like groceries, pharmacies, and health-related or community-serving uses — instead of sitting empty.
Bottom line: A corporate decision shouldn’t create a food or pharmacy desert. This bill is about keeping neighborhoods whole and making sure growth and community planning don’t unravel overnight.
This “short session” will go by fast, and we undoubtedly have a lot of difficult decisions to make. I look forward to hearing from you and keeping you updated along the way. I continue to offer my drop-in discussions / Traveling Town Halls each weekend that we aren’t on the House floor or in committee. You can always send me an email for a link to the location.
Sincerely,
Rep. Gerry Pollet