Dear Friends and Neighbors:
The Opening Day ceremonies of the 2026 legislative session set a clear tone for our state: Washington will continue to stand for dignity, belonging, and the common good. Our leaders, from the Governor to the Speaker, reaffirmed that fear, exclusion, and the targeting of immigrant communities have no place here. This is not simple rhetoric; it is a commitment to community-building rooted in our shared values.
Still, words alone cannot calm the fear with which too many of our neighbors are living. Families are afraid to send their children to school, to go to work, to shop for groceries, and, even, to seek vital medical help. Community safety means more than enforcement. Real security means trust, stability, and the ability to live daily life without fear. This recognition is why immigrant protections are the focus of many bills this session and my core priority this session.
The Immigrant Worker Protection Act, shared leave for immigration proceedings, and banning police face coverings all reflect a simple truth: workers and families should not be forced to choose between their safety or their livelihoods. Moreover, companies should not be able to capitalize on xenophobic policies that separate families and incarcerate children. This is why I introduced House Bill 2713 to impose a surtax on private for-profit companies that operate facilities like the Northwest Detention Center. Together, these efforts reinforce Washington’s commitment to protecting immigrants as essential members of our communities.
Non-Erasure as Policy: Protecting What Makes Us Whole
As the legislature seeks to reaffirm the integral role of immigrant communities, we must also directly confront the legacy of redlining and discriminatory lending that continues to shape who can afford to live where. Community preservation is inseparable from housing justice.
That connection is especially clear in House Bill 1859, which expands opportunities for affordable housing on properties owned by religious organizations. In the 37th District alone, the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Temple de Hirsch Sinai, and the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple represent centuries of service to communities that were redlined, excluded, and displaced throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, many of these places of worship are property-rich but congregant-poor, as rising housing costs have pushed their worshipers out of the neighborhoods near the institutions they helped build.
Housing policies must not only be about affordability, but these policies must also be about non-erasure. HB 1859 provides a tool that ensures, when churches choose to develop or to sell their land, those decisions help promote community preservation rather than displacement. We do not want our sacred grounds to be used to accelerate gentrification and erase our history.
This legislation aligns with longstanding efforts such as HB 1408 to protect our unique histories, cultures, and communities in Central and South Seattle, and to ensure that urban growth does not come at the cost of our diverse, multicultural, and intergenerational identities.
Community is not an abstract concept. Our pioneers built, protected, and sustained community through the challenges of every era, including legally sanctioned discrimination, racism, and xenophobia. They persevered. So, too, we must persevere in protecting and sustaining community and pass our precious legacy to the next generation. Which is why, throughout this session, my colleagues and I will continue to show up for everyone who calls Washington their home.
Sincerely,
