Dear Neighbors,

There are just two weeks left in this short session. It’s been a very busy session, and there is still a lot of work to do before we adjourn, including rewriting our operating, capital, and transportation budgets.

The session just didn’t have enough time to hear all the bills we needed to. There was only one week between the House of Origin cutoff and the Opposite House Policy cutoff in which bills from the opposite house could be heard. Committee agendas are generally built on Thursday or Friday of the week before the meeting, so by the time the opposite chamber’s committee agendas were set, we’d not even passed some bills out of the Senate yet. This is a structural problem with the current system.

Town hall

Thank you for coming to my town hall last weekend. It was wonderful to see and hear from so many of you!

Please keep reading to learn more about what I’ve been up to in Olympia and additional details about the final weeks of session.

My bills

SJM 8002, my joint memorial requesting Congress take certain actions so Medicare beneficiaries won’t pay more for choosing original Medicare and ensuring they have a choice between the public and private programs, was passed out of committee last week, meaning the final stop is the House floor! This bill sends a crucial message to our federal government and addresses the real issues facing seniors in our community. It’s unfair for seniors to have a false choice between programs. We need to level the playing field and create real equity in this service.

HB 1408, the House companion to my bill (SB 5460), was heard in the Senate Ways & Means Committee last week. It’s always nice to advocate for companion bills when they make their way over from the House, and this was no exception. I discussed this bill more in my last newsletter — you can read more here.

Floor action

We’re entering a particularly busy time of session. Sine Die (the official end of session) is in less than two weeks, and in that time, we have opposite house fiscal cutoff, opposite house cutoff, and any necessary conferences.

The 2026 supplemental budgets came out last week. These bills combine the spending and revenue from other bills into one document. As a member of the Ways & Means Committee, I voted on every bill that is a part of the operating and capital budgets. We have some big wins in the documents!

Capital budget

There’s over a quarter of a million dollars earmarked for our district in the proposed Senate capital budget. This includes $100,000 for the restrooms at Fort Dent Park and $150,000 for improved lighting at Starfire and $302,820 for the Renton Resource Center. We’ll continue advocating for the 11th Legislative District as budget negotiations continue, and we’ll update you once the budgets are finalized!

Transportation Budget

We have some great appropriations in the transportation budget as well, including $17 million for the 42nd Avenue Bridge. This is a much-needed safety, freight mobility, and community improvement for our community, and I look forward to the work starting.

Day of Remembrance

The House and Senate both observed Day of Remembrance the week before last, memorializing the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, forcibly removing Americans with Japanese heritage from their homes and incarcerating them. There were moving speeches in both chambers, and I’m thankful for everyone taking the time, especially in our current moment, to honor the past and commit to not repeating the same mistakes.

Meetings

Even as we sprint toward the end of session, I’m meeting with constituents and groups. These past two weeks, I met with labor leaders, including UAW academic workers and health care providers, the Multi-Family Housing Association, local schools and universities, Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety, and so many others!

Contact

Below are some great ways to contact and keep in touch with my office.

Phone: 360-786-7616 (during regular business hours; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

Email me!

Sign up for my introduction sheet distribution list to see the new legislation introduced every day.

If you’d like to schedule me to speak with your organization to talk about my important initiatives on public banking, social housing, universal health care, or other issues, please schedule something with my executive legislative office manager and scheduler, Sarah Ellerbrock, at sarah.ellerbrock@leg.wa.gov.

Thank you for reading and following along this session and trusting me in this role to represent our 11th District.

Talk to you soon.
Bob