Dear friends and neighbors,  

Washington state needs to be more affordable for families to live here. I’ve done a lot of work keeping college tuitions low and increasing financial aid; this session, I’ve continued that work and supported bills to reduce property taxes, control the costs of medical debt, and make it easier to build housing so we can drive down housing prices. Here are some highlights:  

Keeping College Affordable 

College tuition is one of the largest expenses for many families. I was happy to support the bipartisan bill that cut tuition at our public colleges and universities in 2015; since then, we have successfully kept tuition increases at about 2-3% a year (down from the double-digit increases we saw in the early 2010s). I was also the prime sponsor of the bill that created the Washington College Grant, which provides financial aid that makes public college completely tuition-free for low-income families and gives partial scholarships to middle-class families. 

These efforts have paid off: today, about 70% of University of Washington students graduate without debt (up from about 46% in 2015); about 57% of WSU students graduate without debt (up from about 35% in 2015). We can always do more; but I’m proud that we’ve kept college degrees affordable at our outstanding public colleges and universities. 

More Affordability Bills 

Below are some of the bills I supported in the Senate which now await consideration from the House to help make life more affordable: 

  • Senate Bill 6162 would expand the senior property tax relief program and create a standard $7,500 deduction for those who qualify. This would help keep seniors, those with disabilities, and disabled veterans on fixed incomes in their homes and streamline property taxes statewide.    
  • Senate Bill 5993 would cap interest on medical debt at 1%. Medical debt is the primary cause of personal bankruptcy, and this is one way we can help ease the financial strain of medical debt.  
  • Senate Bill 6026 would allow residential development, like condos and apartments, in commercial and mixed-use zones without requiring ground-floor retail. This should help us drive down the cost of housing across the state. 
  • Senate Bill 6091 would give renters and homebuyers more access to the housing market — and potentially more competitive prices — by requiring real estate brokers to advertise all available homes in Washington to the public.   

We are now 20 days from the end of the 2026 legislative session; please feel free to reach out with any questions as we finish our work!  

Sincerely,  

Drew Hansen