Action Alerts
Click on the links below to learn more about bills currently being reviewed in the state legislature. You can “take action” on these most pressing bills by sending a suggested, editable email to legislators, encouraging them to vote to promote the League issue in question.
Help Pass the Wealth Tax
Right now, the top 100 people in Washington State, who own more than $250 million in financial assets, contribute only about 1/6 of what people making $26,000 per year pay in state and local taxes. The proposed Wealth Tax, HB 1473, would help make Washington’s tax system more fair and would generate nearly $2 billion more for the state each year. Please help get this measure passed by letting the House Finance Committee know you want them to pass this bill.
Click here to sign in PRO on HB 1473
Click here to ask the House Finance Committee to vote YES on HB 1473, the Wealth Tax.
Expand Revenue Generation & Economic Opportunities from Natural Climate Solutions
With HB 1789, the Department of Natural Resources is uniquely positioned to tap into emerging markets for carbon credits and other ecosystem services. This new revenue stream will generate revenue for beneficiaries and fund critical agency efforts which will increase the resiliency of the state’s natural resources including forests, agricultural and aquatic resources.
Click here to sign in PRO on HB 1789
Click here to ask the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee to vote YES on HB 1789
Rethink & Pass the WRAP Act
Are you ready to rethink and have better options for our solid waste so that there is more waste reduction, reuse and recycling? Then we need to pass the WRAP Act (HB 1131) to provide more possibilities so that it can be easier to recycle by increasing access throughout our state, to have a clear common list of what can be recycled statewide, to have companies produce packaging materials that we can actually recycle. Let’s move HB 1131 out of Appropriations and onto the next step to becoming law.
Click here to sign in PRO on HB 1131 by Feb 16 at 7 a.m.
Click here to ask the House Appropriations Committee to vote YES for HB 1131.
This Week in the Legislature
Bills are moving on!
This past week is one that many legislators and lobbyists consider to be the busiest. It is the week before the cutoff for policy committees in the house of origin, where bills start, and is typically jammed with public hearings. The following week is typically needed for executive sessions, where votes are taken.
Our Issue Chairs have been very busy testifying in person and in writing, though sometimes they sign on PRO or CON, as we ask you to do, because there are too many people lined up to testify.
The cutoff for policy committees in the house of origin this year is February 17. If a bill has not moved out of the policy committee by that date, it is “dead,” unless rescued later as NTIB, which means “necessary to implement the budget.”
If a bill has a financial cost of more than $50,000 associated with it, it must go to a fiscal committee. Bills in fiscal committees – the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the House Finance and Appropriations Committee – have a cutoff of February 24.
Once a bill has cleared these processes in the house of origin, it moves to the other chamber and the process begins again with the policy committee in that chamber.
Bills that don’t need to go through the fiscal committees or those that pass those committees go to the Rules Committee. In that committee, bills are prioritized for action by the full House or Senate, and we are now seeing more and more bills going to the floor for action. For more information about how this process works, you can watch this video, created by our WA legislative support staff.
Our Action Alerts this week include asking for your help in developing a wealth tax, a bill to help protect our old growth forests, and protecting the environment from toxic fluids in discarded appliances.
Be sure to follow the progress of the bills you care about, and scroll down for direct links to particular areas.
There are several other ways you can follow the hearings and legislative process:
- Via TVW (Washington State’s public affairs TV network), and
- On the Washington State Legislature website.
Check out the weekly updates for each issue (below) for information on how to testify, and how to sign on PRO or CON to proposed legislation.
The 2023 Legislative Issues
LWVWA Legislative Issues From the 2023 Washington State Legislative Session
Click on an issue to learn more about session results on bills the League supported and “This Week’s Updates” to read the issue chair’s report on this past week. When a “⚠️” appears next to an update, it indicates there are actions to take for this week. Click on the “⚠️” to be taken to our Action Alerts page.
Democracy Elections | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Money in Politics| Issue overview | Read this week's update Education | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Redistricting | Issue overview | New task force underway - see updates
Environment Climate Crisis and Energy | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Forests| Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Growth Management | Issue overview |Read this week's update ⚠️ Solid Waste Management | Issue overview |Read this week's update ⚠️ Transportation | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️
Social and Economic Policy Housing and Homelessness | Issue overview | Read this week's update Health Care | Issue overview | Read this week's update Behavioral Health | Issue overview | Read this week's update Children's Services | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Child Custody and Support | Issue overview | No updates this week Early Care and Education of Young Children | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Criminal Justice | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Revenue | Issue overview | Read this week's update ⚠️ Gun Safety| Issue overview | No updates this week
League of Women Voters of Washington 1511 3rd Avenue, Suite 900, Seattle, WA 98101 206-622-8961 | 1-800-419-2596 | www.lwvwa.org