Dear friends and neighbors, 

We’re about to wrap up the fourth week of the 2026 legislative session, meaning we’re almost halfway done! From bill hearings to constituent meetings and more, I’ve been working hard to ensure our state is a place where everyone can thrive. It’s critical we protect Washington and deliver real results for families. That’s why Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that defends essential services, pushes back against harmful federal policies, and reduces costs for working families.  

Reforming our tax code and funding key services 

Federal cuts to health care and education, combined with inflation driving up the cost of everything from food to housing, are stretching family budgets thin. In addition, our state’s upside-down tax code is disproportionately hurting working families, while also hindering our state’s ability to fund the key services people depend on. 

Earlier this week, leaders from the Washington State Senate and House introduced the Millionaires Tax, a policy that will help fix the state’s broken tax code, provide sustainable funding for child care, schools, and health care, and reduce taxes for working families and small businesses. These reductions include eliminating sales tax on grooming and hygiene products, such as shampoo and deodorant.   

I’m proud to co-sponsor this important bill because low-income earning and working people in Washington pay a much larger percentage of their income in taxes than wealthy people. It’s critical we reform our tax code, while also ensuring we can fund education, child care, health care, and other services that Washingtonians rely on.  

2026 Legislation 

I’m proud to serve as chair of the Human Services Committee and vice chair of the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, where I’ve led on issues related to juvenile justice, child welfare, and education. I’ve introduced 17 bills this year that focus on community safety, education and early learning, protecting and supporting children, and more. Below is a snapshot of the bills I’ve prime sponsored this session.  

Education and early learning:  

  • Senate Bill 5872: Expanding access to early learning creates important pathways to opportunities for children. The first five years of life are the most critical for brain development, and investments in early learning programs more than pay for themselves. The Ballmer Group is partnering with us to increase access to key early learning opportunities for Washington’s children by creating a new grant. This bill simply creates an account to accept these grant funds. 
  • Senate Bill 5961: We know how critical early learning is for our children, and the Imagination Library currently serves 120,000 children and operates in each of Washington’s 39 counties. This bill simply transfers the Imagination Library Program from the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). This bill also moves the Reach Out and Read program, which also promotes reading, from DCYF to OSPI so all early literacy programs are under one roof.  
  • Senate Bill 5825: The Washington State Leadership Board (WSLB) offers free, equity-focused leadership programs that help Washington high school-aged youth build skills, gain experiences, and make an impact. This bill gives WSLB the clear statutory authority it needs to continue providing leadership and mentorship opportunities for young Washingtonians, so we can help grow future generations of leaders in our state. 
  • Senate Bill 6227: It’s critically important we know how to best support students with families; however, we have little data on how many students have children. This bill would help us collect the information we need to understand the needs of college students and how many of them have children.   
  • Senate Bill 6252: Having access to free transit can open doors for people and allow them to take on new opportunities, and free transit boosts ridership on public transportation. This bill would add students enrolled in a degree-seeking or certificate-seeking program at community and technical colleges to the passengers who can qualify to ride transit for free under the transit support grant program. 

Juvenile justice and public safety: 

  • Senate Bill 5942: The DCYF Oversight board has evolved since it was first created nearly a decade ago, and it’s necessary we update their structure to better align with their work. This bill simply modernizes the oversight structure to promote effective collaboration, ensure accountability, and provide clear statutory direction consistent with the department’s current stage of development. 
  • Senate Bill 6085: The Institutional Welfare Account supports enrichment, family visitation and contact, recreation, and rehabilitation-related activities for individuals who are incarcerated. This bill helps ensures that expenditures from the Institutional Welfare Account are informed by the experiences and real-time needs of individuals who are incarcerated. 
  • Senate Bill 5873: This bill would give the superintendent of any state correctional facility the ability to grant escorted leaves of absence to incarcerated individuals confined at their institution for the purpose of participating in reentry programs to receive mentorship and prepare them for a successful reentry.   
  • Senate Bill 6062: It’s critical we modernize our juvenile justice system to make it responsive to current realities and our understanding of recidivism and best practices to promote long-term community safety. This bill is a broad juvenile justice reform measure that updates sentencing rules, court jurisdiction, and disposition alternatives. 

Supporting families and keeping children safe: 

  • Senate Bill 6319: It’s critical we develop more tools for DCYF to use when they are handling challenging child welfare cases that involve young children and the presence of potentially dangerous drugs. This bill would give DCYF the ability to continue to work on a CPS case warranting an investigation beyond 90 days if they are considered high risk. By allowing DCYF more time to work on high-risk cases, they will have the capacity to better assess the safety of the child and how to best support them and their family.    
  • Senate Bill 6308: Removing a child from their home can be extremely traumatic and lead to challenges for them down the road. That why it’s so important that we work with families to provide them with the services they need so we can ensure the child’s safety while remaining in the home when appropriate. Under specific situations, this bill would give courts the ability to set parental requirements that are designed to both keep the child safe and, in the home, when possible. This bill and Senate Bill 6319 are designed to protect the health and safety of children between birth and four years old who are impacted by the increase in critical incident cases in our state and across the country.  
  • Senate Bill 5940: Too many of our youth in foster care fall through the cracks when they turn 18 years old because they are forced to choose between receiving support from extended foster care or federal housing vouchers. This bill helps address this problem by creating a housing pilot program that provides young people in extended foster care housing support and extended foster care benefits. 
  • Senate Bill 6224: Washington Thriving is a collaborative statewide effort to develop a strategic plan for equitable behavioral health for children, youth and young adults from before birth through age 25, and their families and caregivers.  This bill would help our state implement Washington Thriving’s strategic plan and improve coordination between various state agencies to meet the behavioral health needs of our state’s young people.   
  • Senate Bill 6184: It’s essential we provide supports for young people without homes and help prevent them from becoming unhoused. This bill makes statutory changes to streamline and clarify state laws related to important youth homelessness programs. 

Save the date for our upcoming joint town hall 

I’m thrilled to invite you to my first town hall this year! Please join Rep. Jamila Taylor and me for our joint 30th Legislative District in-person town hall at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at Federal Way High School. Here are the details: 

30th Legislative District In-Person Town Hall
Saturday, Feb. 21
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Federal Way High School
Lower Commons
30611 16th Avenue S.
Federal Way, WA 98003

Rep. Taylor and I will discuss the issues critical to the beautiful 30th Legislative District; provide an update on how federal policies, including HR1, are affecting Washington state; share information on where we are in the legislative process with important bills moving through this session; and answer your questions. Your feedback helps us better represent you and center your voice in Olympia. 

Please share what questions you’d like us to answer at the town hall by filling out this brief survey. I hope to connect with you on Saturday, Feb. 21!  

Can’t make it to our town hall? Come visit our office and meet our team! Kit serves as my legislative assistant, while Emily is our office’s session aide, Sopeara is our intern, and Bridget is our communications manager. You can reach our office by calling 360-786-7658 or emailing me at claire.wilson@leg.wa.gov. 

As always, I am honored to be able to do this work and serve the 30th Legislative District!   

Sen. Claire Wilson