Dear friends and neighbors,
There’s just one week left in the legislative session! We have completed our work on many important issues, but we still have a lot left to do. Legislators are working this weekend to negotiate the final details of our state’s operating, transportation, and capital budgets and putting the finishing touches on the Millionaires Tax proposal to fund schools, which I hope to see the House vote on as soon as possible.
I was glad to see Gov. Bob Ferguson announce that he would sign the latest version of the Millionaires Tax so it can pass into law. This would be an important step forward to fix our broken tax code and ask the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share to fund schools, health care, and the essential services people are counting on amid the federal cuts being made by the Trump administration. I’m delighted to see this huge victory for the people of Washington moving forward!
Policy bills passing
Yesterday was the deadline for policy bills to be passed off of the floor of the opposite chamber where they were introduced, so for the Senate to pass House bills and vice versa. I’m glad to report that many of the important bills I worked on are on their way to the governor’s desk!
SB 5917 will allow for the distribution of tens of thousands of state-owned mifepristone pills that are essential to medication abortions, so patients who need them can get them, is headed to the governor for his signature.
SB 6189 allows Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater to jointly seek voter approval for a public facility district to acquire or build a public pool and is also passing into law! I’ve heard from many of you with concerns about the pool at Evergreen State College – while this bill will take time to work, it’s a good option to have for supporting public aquatic access going forward.
My bill providing renters notice about flood risks, SB 6237, is also headed for signature. The Seattle Times wrote a great story about the issue – I encourage you to read it!
We’ve also passed several House bills that I had the “companion” Senate version to:
HB 2155, which would make it an unlawful practice for any non-human entity, like a large language model chatbot, to be identified to a patient as a nurse.
HB 2228, which legalizes “scissor stairs,” a design for stairs in apartment buildings and condominiums that take up less space and allow for cheaper construction (lower housing costs and more affordability!) and more density in a building.
We’ve passed a long list of other good bills on civil rights, affordability and utility costs, homelessness prevention, and more. Despite the short session, I think there’s a lot to be proud of!
Thank you to my staff!
With the legislative session wrapping up, I wanted to offer a special thank you to my staff who have worked so hard. When you pick up the phone to call my office with a question or need assistance with a state agency, they are the first point of contact for serving you. Kasey, Lee, and Chris have done so much to help keep me on track and make this office work, and I am so grateful for everything they’ve done this year!
Next week will be a big week of news, with action on the budgets and reaching final resolution on the issues still outstanding before us. I will work hard to make sure we deliver the very best results for our district that we possibly can. Thank you so much for reading and for your advocacy throughout this process!
In service,
– Jess
