Our staff put in some hard work to make IFAD 2023 happen. Your great turnout for IFAD is still energizing our advocacy as the legislative session continues.

Take Action!

Today is the fiscal committee cutoff date. The next significant date is floor cutoff on March 8. This is the last day to pass bills in their houses of origin. Before then, the Senate and House rules committees will consider all bills reported from policy and fiscal committees, and determine whether and in what order to schedule their consideration on the floors of the two chambers.

With bills moving out of committees, it’s time to reach out to your district’s legislators to support the bills on our legislative agenda that will have floor hearings. Look at our Bill Tracker to find the status of all bills on our agenda. For bills that are moving ahead, click on the bill number to go to the official web page for the bill. On the bill’s page, click on “Comment on this bill” and fill out the form that appears. This will send your comments to both of your state representatives and your state senator.

We expect the full House to vote on two bills soon, HB 1238 Free School Meals and HB 1784 Concerning Hunger Relief. Send a letter to your representatives urging them to pass these bills and help keep struggling Washingtonians from chronic hunger.

If you would like to advocate more in person, you are invited to join our partner organization, Washington Coalition for Police Accountability (WCPA), on Wednesday, March 1, for their Lobby Day at the Capitol. WCPA’s priority bills include:

  • HB 1025 Access to Fairness Act, which would authorize victims of police misconduct and their families to sue for violations of state laws, bypassing the federal shield of qualified immunity.
  • HB 1579 Independent Prosecutor, which would create a state office to ensure fair and transparent prosecutions.
  • HB 1513 Traffic Safety for All, which would end stops for non-moving violations to reduce disproportionate impacts on communities of color.
  • HB 1445 AG Investigations & Reform, which would empower the Attorney General’s office to take action on systemic civil rights violations at law enforcement agencies.

Legislative Session Week 7

Today, February 24, is fiscal committee cutoff, which means that bills that require funding must pass out of their fiscal committees by today in order to move forward. In the House, these committees are Appropriations, Capital Budget, Finance, and Transportation. In the Senate, they are Ways & Means and Transportation. This is a very long day for legislators, with 40 bills scheduled for executive session in the House Appropriations Committee and 56 bills scheduled for executive session in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means. The bills on FAN’s legislative agenda that will be heard today include:

  • HB 1238 Free School Meals, which would provide free meals to more students. The bill had to be reduced from Free School Meals for All Students to have a hearing.
  • HB 1559 Hunger Free Campus, which would ensure that all students receiving food stamps have help getting access to food, employment, and training services.
  • HB 1389 Concerning Residential Rent Increases, which would incorporate legislative limits on rent increases to the residential landlord-tenant act and the manufactured/mobile home landlord-tenant act.
  • HB 1579 Independent Prosecutor, which would create a state office to ensure fair and transparent prosecutions of police misconduct.
  • SB 5078 Firearm Industry Responsibility & Gun Violence Victims’ Access to Justice Act, which would require the firearms industry to establish, implement, and enforce reasonable controls.
  • SB 5651 Environmental Justice in the Growth Management Act, which would require that environmental justice is explicitly addressed in local comprehensive planning.
  • SB 5236 Safe Health Care Staffing, which would establish minimum staffing standards to improve worker safety and patient care.

Good news about bills that passed out of their fiscal committees this past week. These bills will be heard on the floor of the House in the next 12 days:

  • HB 1477 Working Families Tax Credit Administrative Fixes, which would extend eligibility to help survivors of domestic violence, increase the time limit to file claims.
  • HB 1447 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Improvements, which would strengthen the ability of TANF to meet foundational needs of children and families.
  • HB 1260 Aged, Blind, & Disabled (ABD) Fix, which would end the requirement that extremely low-income disabled people pay back ABD cash assistance when they qualify for federal assistance (SSI).
  • HB 1025 Access to Fairness Act, which would authorize victims of police misconduct and their families to sue for violations of state laws, bypassing the federal shield of qualified immunity.
  • HB 1513 Traffic Safety for All, which would end stops for non-moving violations.
  • HB 1131 Washington Recycling and Packaging (WRAP) Act, which would create graduated fees for packaging manufacturers.
  • HB 1143 Firearm Requirements, which would require a comprehensive background check, safety training, and a waiting period to purchase a firearm.

Bills not moving forward this session:

  • SB 5241 Biased Incident Hotline, which would have established a reporting hotline, tracked hate crimes and bias incidents, and created an assistance fund, was pulled from executive session due to concerns about a budget shortfall.
  • HB 1075 Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) Age Eligibility Expansion, which would have increased the age range of eligibility to everyone 18 years and over, did not get a hearing.
  • HB 1045 Statewide Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI), which would have established a pilot program to put cash in the pockets of people in communities experiencing economic insecurity, did not get a hearing.
  • HB 1094/SB 5125 Washington Future Fund “Baby Bonds,” which would have created funds that every child born under Medicaid could use as an adult for home ownership, education, or entrepreneurship, did not get a hearing.

Also this week, FAN Board Member Jim CastroLang and Policy Director Kristin Ang took part in the Nonprofit Association of Washington’s advocacy day on Thursday. We met with the governor and other legislators to advocate on behalf of immigrants and refugees, along with other bills on FAN’s legislative agenda. Jim is part of Thrive International, whose center in Spokane currently houses over 100 Ukrainian refugee families.

Connect with FAN Policy Engagement Director Kristin Ang at ang@fanwa.org.

Please see our Bill Tracker for how other bills on our agenda are progressing. We update the Bill Tracker every Friday.

Events

Sunday, February 26, noon-1:00pm, online. Criminal justice reform, racism, and mass incarceration, hosted by Meaningful Movies at First United Methodist Church, Seattle. Discussion about criminal justice reform and dismantling the U.S. system of mass incarceration, featuring a panel of speakers including Tiarra Dearbone, Program Director for Seattle/King County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program. Event will also include a discussion of the film True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality, which highlights Stevenson’s work with the Equal Justice Initiative and efforts to address systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Tuesday, February 28, 9:00am-1:00pm, online. 200 Years since the Origin of Federal Indian Law, presented by Redthought.org & Original Free Nations. February 28 marks 200 years to the day of the 1823 decision in the case Johnson & Graham’s Lessee v. McIntosh. This Supreme Court case is not only noted as the origin of federal Indian Law, but also the beginning of U.S. property law, and significantly, it includes an early defense of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Join us for a presentation providing detailed analysis of this case and its historical and modern-day impacts.

Wednesday, March 1, 3:30pm, Port Plaza, Port of Olympia, Totem Pole Journey to Protect Oak Flat, beginning of the journey to Arizona to protect Apache sacred land. Find out more about the Washington State stops on the journey between March 1 and March 10, and how to get involved.

Wednesday, March 1, 6:30-8pm, online, Working Families Tax Credit Letter to the Editor Writing Workshop. Learn how to best advocate for the WFTC.

Wednesday, March 8, 7-8pm, online, 2nd Wednesday Speaker Series: 2023 Legislative Session Priority Bills hosted by Health Care for All – Washington. The pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on the financial security and mental health and well-being of people of color, low-income people, LGBTQI+ people, and other under-served groups. Join this conversation to hear about the key bills that are making a difference this year.

Monday, March 13, 10am, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action Poulsbo, Washington, Presentation by Medea Benjamin, co-author of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict. This free public event will address the threat of use of nuclear weapons in the ongoing Ukraine war.