The proverbial dust is still settling from the Legislature’s first seven weeks of intense committee work. The deadline for clearing all committees in the house of origin was last Friday. The activity has shifted to the House and Senate floors this week and next. By March 8, most bills will need to be approved by at least the House or the Senate to receive further consideration in this 105-day session that ends April 23. Read more

The first major legislative hurdle – the policy committee cutoff – was cleared last Friday. Unless a bill is related to the budget, it must be approved by a policy committee to receive any further consideration this session. The next cutoff for non-budget related bills is this Friday when they have to clear fiscal committees. Read on. Read more

According to a recent Crosscut article, Seattle may have the highest rents statewide, but the most drastic percentage increases in rent over the past four to five years are in smaller cities and rural areas. It’s no wonder that housing costs and homelessness are seen as the most important issues confronting our state, according to a Department of Commerce and Puget Sound Regional Council survey. Read on to learn about some of the related bills moving through the Legislature. Read more

Legislative activities heat up this week as we urge legislators to support initiatives that promote affordable housing, 211 funding and access to early learning and child care programs.  Read more

As we enter the fourth week of the 2023 session, advocates are preparing special lobby days, both, in-person and virtual. Read on. Read more

In the third week of a 15-week session, bills of interest to the United Ways of Washington are already scheduled for committee vote with another hearing planned on housing stability proposals and some special attention by our senior U.S. Senator on child care. Read on to hear about all this. Read more

This week, the Legislature hits full stride with committee activities on issues of interest to our United Way community. Here's a few of them with links to help you follow testimony and/or provide your own. Also, the last item includes information and a TVW link regarding last week’s hearing that included a focus on United Way of Pierce County’s pilot basic income program, GRIT. Read more

Happy 2023! This year’s state legislative session kicked off on Monday with the swearing in of Legislators and the election of the Speaker of the House, Laurie Jinkins (D- Tacoma). This will be the first post-pandemic session where all legislators will be on-site in Olympia. Roughly one-third of the Senators and Representatives are new since the pandemic. So lots of people are getting acquainted. Here’s a few things that are happening this week. Read more

Now that the mid-term election is over, its time to focus on the upcoming two-year budget session. The United Ways of Washington have released their state policy goals for the 2023 and 2024 legislative term. Once again, children, homelessness and poverty are targets for attention along with creating a statewide disaster fund account and increasing capacity of the 2-1-1 calling system. Read more

The 2022 Washington State Legislative Session is over.  There are lots of reasons to be delighted with the results of this year’s session – which saw new investments unprecedented for an “off” budget year.  And some good reasons, after everyone catches their breath, to plan how we will reach out and continue to forge meaningful relationships with legislators. Let’s start with some highlights of this session as it relates to the United Ways of Washington’s 2022 Legislative Agenda.  Please forward to your Boards, staff and key volunteers. Read more