Dear friends and neighbors,

It has been a month since the end of the 2026 legislative session and I have scheduled a town hall event with my seatmates, Representatives Beth Doglio and Lisa Parshley, to answer your questions and share updates on what we’ve been working on.

Wednesday, April 29

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6)

Olympia Center – Multipurpose Room ABC

222 Columbia St. NW, Olympia WA 98501

I hope you can join us there! If you can’t attend, you can still always reach me with your questions and feedback at Jessica.Bateman@leg.wa.gov.

We are seeing many awful things on the news and around the world right now, and it is disconcerting to say the least. Some of the global and federal issues we hear about can be responded to with state legislation, some must be addressed via Congress. I share your concerns and look forward to sharing how we responded this session and explore opportunities for the future.

This year’s results on housing

One of my most important roles in the Legislature is chairing the Senate Housing Committee, where I help oversee all the housing bills that we consider each year. Affordability is one of the big challenges facing our state and rising housing costs are a major part of that, so this is a responsibility that I take very seriously. We were able to pass a significant housing agenda this year, despite the short session and all the competing priorities before us, some of which include:

  • SB 6026 opens up more land zoned for commercial and mixed-use, such as empty strip malls and big box stores, to build housing such as apartments and condos. More land for housing means more opportunities to expand our housing supply and lower costs for buyers and renters.
  • HB 2266 helps ensure shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing can be built more predictably by requiring cities and counties within urban growth areas to allow these housing types wherever residential housing or hotels are allowed. This is especially important for our district which has already taken steps to create housing for our unhoused neighbors. This law ensures other cities also allow shelter and permanent supportive housing so that these resources are available statewide not just a select few cities.
  • HB 1974 allows cities and counties to establish land banks that can acquire and hold land until housing projects are ready to move forward.
  • SB 6237 ensures that renters get the same notice and warning about known flood risks that homebuyers get.
  • SB 6027 preserves existing permanent and supportive housing by expanding the allowable uses of local housing-related sales tax programs to support operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation instead of just new construction. New federal rules from the federal Administration are threatening many of our housing providers, and this bill is a necessary response.
  • SB 5156 makes it easier to build small apartment buildings by allowing smaller elevators that still meet safety and accessibility requirements.
  • HB 1687 allows local governments to streamline and waive red tape and requirements for mixed-income and affordable housing projects being built by a social housing developer.

What’s on deck for next year in housing policy, you might ask? I am holding committee meetings with legislators and stakeholders this interim on our senior independent living facilities and how we can make sure seniors get the protections they deserve, on pathways to affordable home ownership and how to make sure we build starter homes that younger people and growing families can actually afford to buy, not just rent. I am excited to pursue legislation on these topics, along with my other long-standing housing priorities like streamlining permitting so we can lower the cost of construction and legalize more housing options around our state.

Discussing housing bills with the Republican lead on the committee and my friend, Sen. Keith Goehner from Chelan County.

That’s the update for this week! I hope to see you on April 29 for our town hall meeting, and please don’t hesitate to stay in touch if you have questions about these or any other topics. Thank you so much for reading!

– Jess