Dear friends & neighbors,
We’ve reached a session milestone – policy cutoff! This means that some bills will be moving on towards final passage, while others return to the drawing board for necessary tweaks and improvements. Bills introduced in the first year of the biennium are automatically reintroduced, so everything that did not make it past this week’s cutoff will still have a chance to pass next session. Here is an update on where my bills currently stand:
Passed the House Floor:
- HB 1616 – Adds Washington State Ferries as a Transportation Authority, which expands protections for transportation workers to include our ferry workers. I was excited to see this bill pass unanimously off of the House Floor yesterday. Now it’s off to the Senate!
Moving on:
The following bills have passed out of their policy committees and are either waiting for a hearing in a fiscal committee or are already in the Rules Committee waiting to be debated on the floor.
- HB 1308 – Grants workers access to their personnel records in a timely manner. Workers in Washington have a right to know why they’ve been disciplined or let go from their job, and this bill provides that.
- HB 1499 – Ends Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs), which are ‘poverty fees’ paid by individuals in the court system. Our state loses money trying to collect them, and the debt burden of fees prevents people from rebuilding their lives – getting rid of this poor tax is the right thing to do.
- HB 1557 – Creates the Washington Guaranteed Admissions Program. This will ease the transition to secondary education for so many qualified students in our state by offering them automatic acceptance into state universities.
- HB 1515 – Gives local authorities the ability to request flexibilities for outdoor alcohol service at breweries, restaurants, and for special events at the Seattle Center. I am working with the City of Seattle on this bill to ensure that our district is well positioned to host events around next year’s World Cup games.
- HB 1500 – Sets standards for content and caps fee amounts on resale certificates provided by HOAs in Condos to increase transparency and lower costs for home buyers and sellers in these communities.
- HB 1501 – Requires that when Condo unit owners submit formal written inquiries to their associations’ governance, the association must respond within 30 days. This makes it easier for homeowners in these communities to have their questions about building governance answered.
- HB 1491 – Increases housing and mixed-use development around transit stops, including both market rate and permanently affordable housing. We need more housing in walkable community hubs around public transportation.
Coming back strong next year:
Please remember it’s not goodbye forever – reworking bills over the interim so they can pass in future sessions is an important part of the legislative process. Here are a few of my bills that didn’t make the cut this year but will be back stronger than ever in 2026:
- HB 1518 – Establishes that drivers involved in a collision with a pedestrian, bicycle, or minor motor vehicle (think e-bikes) is presumed to have fault in the collision. I’ve heard too many stories from constituents about accidents they’ve been in while walking or rolling around the district and had many close calls myself – the aim of this bill is to increase pedestrian safety and safety for cyclists.
- HB 1560 – Imposes an excise tax on highly paid hospital executives’ annual salaries, the revenue from which will go towards funding access to healthcare across the state.
- HB 1689 – Encourages more shore-powered vessels statewide – that means more ships that rely on electric power instead of diesel when docked near our cities and neighborhoods. We should be building on the work that local actors like the Port of Seattle have been doing to invest in solutions that protect our air quality and decarbonize our supply chains.
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Student Page Program
The House Page program is a great opportunity for young people ages 14-16 to spend a week working alongside legislators in Olympia! Pages assume a wide variety of responsibilities, from presenting the flags to distributing amendments on the House floor, while also attending the Page School to learn more about the legislative process. I still have spots open, so please follow this link to learn more and apply if you would like to join us in Olympia this session. I try to make sure to have a special one-on-one lunch with each of my pages during their time in Olympia – I love meeting our future leaders!
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As always, it’s a pleasure serving you in Olympia. Please don’t hesitate to reach out, my office door is always open!
In service,
Julia Reed
State Representative, 36th Legislative District