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.

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.

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.

A healthy state revenue forecast has created the opportunity to make historic headway in the pursuit of housing affordability and combatting homelessness. Check out what the last week of the Legislative session may hold.

Both the House and Senate budget committees are pondering how to adjust the current two-year state spending plan in light of new revenue and spending information. This year offers opportunity to increase investments in affordable housing, education and health care. Read on.

Tomorrow, February 15, is the deadline for bills to clear their legislative body of origin – making for a busy period of full Senate and House voting. Some bills have cleared this hurdle and others have not yet. Read on and consider adding your voice in support of these measures.

The next important legislative deadline is February 15 when all bills must at least have been approved by the body it originated from. Therefore, only Senate bills approved by the Senate and House bills approved by the House after that date will be considered active for the remainder of 2022 session. Here’s a few bills to watch and possibly take action on this week. 

This is the last week in the 2022 session for House committees to consider House bills and Senate committees to consider Senate bills (except for budget related legislation). As a result, we have a few action items to address – please sign in PRO below using the provided links.

Legislative committees are starting to take action on bills considered during the first weeks of session. While many of our issues will be dealt with in the supplemental budget, bills and hearings help build legislative support for funding United Way priorities.

As usual for a short 60-day session, this year’s state Legislature is experiencing a flurry of activity as it approaches the end of its second week. Including new bills that build off of the work of our United Ways. Check it out!