Sign In ‘Pro’ on the Well Washington Fund.

January 19, 2026

Hey Team:

Have you heard the good news? This Thursday, January 22 @ 1:30PM in the House Finance Committee, my “Well Washington Fund” proposal to fund housing, healthcare, and higher education will have its public hearing.

Ever since I filed H.B. 2100 in December 2025, I’ve heard from countless 43rd Legislative Districts who want to see the state legislature protect our state’s investments in housing, healthcare, and higher education from the Trump Administration’s budget cuts. Thanks to the strong groundswell of support you’ve helped build, the Well Washington Fund is getting a committee hearing on Thursday, January 22nd @ 1:30PM in the House Finance Committee.

This is a golden opportunity to show that austerity in Washington State is not inevitable, even as it is imposed by Washington, D.C.

Here are 3 steps you can take to be part of this effort:

  1. Sign up to testify on H.B. 2100. You can do so in person in Olympia, or remotely via Zoom. As somebody who has spent the last five years in and around Olympia – first as a lobbyist with the Statewide Poverty Action Network, and now as a State Rep – I can tell you that your words have power in Olympia. Lawmakers listen. Sign up to speak up.
  2. Craft your testimony. Let the Finance Committee know the stakes for passing H.B. 2100 – it funds services under attack by the Trump Administration. And unlike other tax proposals presently under consideration by the State Legislature, it does so before the worst of H.R. 1’s budget cuts take effect in 2027 and 2028. I have included a few points that all testifiers should strongly consider adopting as a post-script to this e-mail and have attached a one-pager for reference. Consider using these messaging points to craft both a 120-second and 60-second version of your remarks. Because there may be a high volume of passionate testifiers, you may only have one minute.
  3. Adapt your testimony into an e-mail addressed to Finance Committee leadership. If you can’t make it to the 1/22 hearing, this is also your chance to make your voice heard. Passing the Well Washington Fund out of the Finance committee will be a strong signal to House leadership that this bill has the support it needs to pass out of our chamber in 2026. Address your remarks to the Honorable House Finance Committee Chair April Berg (April.Berg@leg.wa.gov) and to House Finance Committee Vice Chair Chipalo Street (Chipalo.Street@leg.wa.gov).

In the 43rd Legislative District, we know the way forward in the age of Trump is to fund the programs that make Washington a great state to live, work, and learn in.

The coalition we are part of includes: The Washington Federation of State Employees, SEIU 775NW, the Washington Education Association, Washington Schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Balance Our Tax Code, the American Association of University Professors, the United Faculty of Washington State, the Low Income Housing Alliance, the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America, and many, many more.

I’m proud beyond expression to be in the fight with you for the Well Washington Fund. I’ll see you on Thursday, 1/22 at 1:30 in the House Finance Committee.

one pager

POSTSCRIPT: Well Washington Fund vital messaging points for the Tuesday, 1/22 Finance Committee Hearing.

In order to defeat the opposition’s talking points, we must acknowledge and address them.

  1. Opponents of the Well Washington Fund will say “a payroll tax will cause jobs to leave Washington.” However, since Seattle imposed the JumpStart payroll tax in 2020, the number of high earning jobs and big business taxpayers subject to the tax has increased every year. The Well Washington Fund will be as good for working people in need of housing, higher ed, and healthcare as it is for large businesses who depend on a well-educated workforce in a state with an excellent quality of life.
  2. Critics say the Well Washington Fund is about Democrats raising taxes because they can’t cut spending – another partisan cash-grab by a party that can’t tighten its purse strings. The reality is that taxing large corporations to fund social services is as popular in ‘red’ G.O.P. districts as it is in ‘blue’ districts represented by Democrats. As I explained in this recent editorial in The Stranger, rates of Medicaid and food stamp reliance are higher in districts with G.O.P. state representatives than they are elsewhere. The Well Washington Fund is about uniting our state around the services we all depend on: housing, healthcare, and higher education.
  3. Lastly, some may feel that since the State Legislature is considering a Millionaires’ Income Tax this year, there is no need to pass the Well Washington Fund. As big an achievement as this income tax will be, Governor Ferguson recently admitted that it will not begin bringing in revenue until 2029 at the earliest. In the meantime, we need to fund housing, healthcare, and higher education now. The Employment Security Department has confirmed with Representative Scott’s office that HB 2100 could be implemented as early as this year, and certainly by 2027; that’s early enough to factor H.B. 2100’s revenue into this year’s supplemental budget. The Well Washington Fund is the only major revenue proposal currently under consideration in Olympia that can address Trump’s austerity measures in time to keep them from devastating our state.

In Solidarity,

Representative Shaun Scott