Dear Friends and Neighbors,
We’ve officially completed our short legislative session. As we move into the interim period, keep an eye out for me in the district.
Please join me for two in-person town halls on Saturday, April 18. Myself, Rep. Greg Nance, and Sen. Drew Hansen will all come together to share more about the legislative session and answer your questions about what to expect next.
Date: Saturday, April 18
Town Hall #1
Time: 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Location: Poulsbo First Lutheran Church
Moderators:
Britt Livdahl, City Council
Chad Enright, Kitsap County Prosecutor
Shannon Turner, Bremerton School Board
Town Hall #2
Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: Bainbridge Island City Hall
Moderators:
Lara Lant, City Council
Brenda Fantroy-Johnson, City Council
A Brief Legislative Session Review
On top of being just 60-days long, we had some significant policy challenges we needed to address this session including an ongoing budget deficit, improving affordability for Washingtonians, and facing continued chaos from the federal government. It was hard. And there was a lot that we weren’t able to do. But there is so much that we were able to accomplish in a short period of time. Here’s where we landed.
Passing the Millionaire’s Tax
This session we took a huge step toward balancing our upside-down tax code by passing the Millionaire’s Tax. This is something that working families across Washington need, and advocates have fought tirelessly for over the years.
The numbers don’t lie. The overwhelming majority of Washingtonians – 99.75%! – will not have to pay this tax. However, every single Washingtonian will benefit from the essential services this tax will help provide.
This tax bill puts more money in your pocket AND helps our local small businesses with provisions like:
- Expanding the Working Families Tax Credit – 460,000 more families will be eligible
- A sales tax exemption on diapers, hygiene products, and over the counter medications – combined with existing exemptions on food, almost your entire grocery cart will be tax exempt
- Free school meals for all Washington students
- Investments in Fair Start for Kids, child care, and early learning in Washington
- Small Business tax relief – The Business & Occupation tax credit means small business won’t pay any tax on their first $300,000 in gross receipts, the number expanding to $600,000 starting in 2028, meaning 70 percent of all businesses will pay zero B & O tax.
I fought to make sure the tax did not include a significant corporate tax break. This ensures the money we raise through this income tax will go back to working families, not corporations. I’m happy to see the tax break for small businesses, providing significant relief for our local business owners.
In the House, we debated for nearly 25 hours to get this done. We debated to make sure we could support education and childcare for our kids, to give Washington families a tax break on basic necessities they purchase every day, and to ensure the wealthiest among us who have benefitted the most from living and working in this great state have a structural way to give back. Change is always hard, but this change is a concrete measure that will make the lives of families across Washington easier in the future and keep Washington affordable for everyone for generations to come.
District Projects
In this year’s supplemental Capital Budget, we were able to bring almost $5 million in investments back to the 23rd. These include:
- $1.5 million for the Silverdale Community Center
- $927,000 for Crossroads Village affordable housing
- $258,000 for the Liberty Bay Waterfront Boardwalk
In such a challenging budget year, I’m proud to continue securing funding that supports local projects and continues to build on the investments we’ve made in our district.
Bills Update
In previous newsletter updates I talked about the bills that I was able to pass this year, and the ones that I will continue to work on. Here are a couple bills I was elated to get over the finish line.
Honoring Natalie Phelps: This session I had the honor of introducing a House Resolution 4693 recognizing Natalie Naomi Phelps, a Bainbridge Island educator, mother, and extraordinary advocate for colorectal cancer awareness.
Natalie was just 43 when she passed away last November after living with stage IV colorectal cancer. After her diagnosis, she turned her fight into a mission to raise awareness about early detection and to advocate for cancer research so other families would not have to face the same journey. Her courage and advocacy reached people across our state and around the world.
It meant a lot to have Natalie’s husband, Dr. Jeff Word, with us at the Capitol as we honored her life and legacy and kicked off Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Natalie’s story is a powerful reminder that early screening saves lives and that one person’s voice can inspire change for so many others. 
Expanding support for nursing assistants: I am also proud to have HB 2340 signed into law this year. It expands the CARES program so nursing assistants in recovery from substance use disorder can keep their licenses and continue working while completing a rigorous recovery and monitoring program.
As someone who believes deeply in second chances, I know that recovery is hard work. This bill supports health care workers who are doing the work to rebuild their lives while also helping our health care system retain skilled professionals who care for our communities.
Here are some other bills that the legislature passed this year that will increase affordability for Washington families, improve public safety within our communities, and continue to support our health care system.
Protecting Our Immigrant Communities
Many of our friends and neighbors continue to live in fear because of the actions of federal law enforcement officers. As lawmakers, we worked to think of ways to respond to the needs of our constituents and support our community members. We considered many proposals and here are some that made it through the legislative process.
SB 5855, Unmasking ICE – Prohibits law enforcement from wearing masks when interacting with the public, ensuring all law enforcement must be reasonably identifiable.
SB 5974, Holding law enforcement leaders accountable – Establishes professional qualifications and accountability measures for law enforcement leaders like sheriffs and police chiefs, regardless of whether they are elected or appointed. It outlines a removal process for law enforcement leaders who are decertified for serious misconduct. It requires sheriffs to follow the state constitution as interpreted by the state supreme court. It ensures law enforcement leaders cannot authorize volunteers to enforce criminal laws or civil immigration laws, engage in pursuits, detain or arrest, use force, firearms, or other weapons, use surveillance technologies, share information from law enforcement databases, or use dogs to track people or animals, other than for search and rescue.
HB 2165, Preventing law enforcement impersonation – Prevents individuals from impersonating law enforcement officers or federal agents by creating the crime of false identification as a peace officer.
HB 2015, the Immigrant Worker Protection Act – requires employers to provide notice when federal employment eligibility (I-9) audits occur, limits the voluntary sharing of worker records without proper legal process, and prohibits retaliation against workers who assert their rights.
Increasing Affordability
From housing to energy costs, food security, health care and child care, we looked at any and every way we could bring Washington families some relief.
HB 1903 – Creates a statewide low-income energy assistance program.
HB 2242 – Ensures patients have access to preventive health care service without out-of-pocket costs.
HB 2294 – Allows a new grocer to come in to a local community if the current grocery closes, ensuring convenient access to affordable food and medicine.
HB 1155 – Bans noncompete agreements so workers have more flexibility and control over their careers and earning potential.
HB 2266 – Establishes statewide standards for developing emergency shelters, transitional, emergency, and permanent supportive (STEP) housing.
HB 2479 – Strengthens Washington’s response to wage theft and enforcement to ensure workers can recover unpaid wages more quickly and fairly.
Protecting Health Care
We made critical investments to preserve health care access in Washington, and keep it affordable.
SB 5981 – Preserves the 340B drug pricing program in Washington state, preserving the healthcare safety net, and maintaining patients’ access to discounted prescription medication.
SB 5917 – Increases access to abortion medications by clearing obstacles to distributing the state’s abortion medication stockpile.
HB 2155 – Prohibits AI tools from using nursing titles or credentials, ensuring human beings seeking medical care will know when they are, and are not, interacting with human beings who are medical professionals.
HB 2152 – Also known as Ryan’s Law, this bill ensures that terminally ill patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice facilities can access medically authorized cannabis as part of their end-of-life care.
These are just some of the policies we were able to move forward that will improve and protect the lives of every Washingtonian, and especially our community here in the 23rd.
Finally, I’d like to highlight the last page to serve in my office this session. 
Victoria Hutchison from Silverdale is a student at Ridgetop Middle School who enjoys playing video games, listening to music, and staying active with sports. My oldest son went to Ridgetop so the Raiders will always have a special place in my heart!
It was great having her here helping keep things running on the House floor and learning how our state government works. Thanks for your hard work, Victoria, and I’m excited to see all the great things ahead of you! Pages are always such a lovely reminder throughout the session of who I’m working for.
It is an honor to serve the 23rd LD and I look forward to connecting with you back home in district.
Sincerely,
Rep. Tarra Simmons