Thank you to 95 people who filled the room for our December Membership Meeting and Annual Legislative Preview meeting. The first day of the 2020 Washington State Legislative Session is Monday, January 13.
We were joined by State Representative Nicole Macri (LD 43), State Senator Patty Kuderer (LD 48), and Zach Hall, Legislative Assistant to State Representative Lisa Callan (LD 5) who shared priorities for the 2020 session related to housing and homelessness, childcare, public benefits, and more. We also had time for rich conversation after questions from the audience to lawmakers.
After hearing from these state elected officials, four of our statewide advocacy partners shared about their priorities for the upcoming session. Below are handouts, a few of the actions we asked people to take at the meeting, and invite anyone reading this post to do the same. We also have information about contacting our partners and about upcoming lobby days.
We shared our preliminary legislative priorities and invite you to get ready for the 2020 legislative session by signing up for our Action Alerts and attending a Homelessness Advocacy 101 workshop.
Handouts from the meeting:
- Meeting Agenda
- Coalition on Homelessness preliminary priorities list. Please note: this list is not complete and we’ll be updating it throughout the legislative session.
- Advocacy Bingo Card
- Working Connections Child Care Homeless Grace Period Extension One Pager
- Strengthen TANF One Pager
- Child Support Pass-Through One Pager
Take Action Now as you get ready for the 2020 legislative session:
- Sign up for Coalition Take Action Alerts to receive timely alerts to support legislative actions related to our priority issues.
- Play Advocacy Bingo with us throughout session (see instructions below).
- Sign on letter for Working Connections Child Care Homeless Grace Period Extension – sign your organization on or ask someone at your organization to sign on today
- Plan to attend a lobby day in Olympia – a few are listed below
- Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day is Monday, February 3, if transportation is a barrier to attending for staff or clients/guests/residents, check out information about the Coalition’s Advocacy Express Bus to Olympia.
- Attend a Homelessness Advocacy 101 workshops. A fun way to learn how to be an effective advocate during the legislative session. Sign up here for workshops in Seattle (1/29), Bellevue (2/5), and Kent (2/8).
Statewide Advocacy Partners Information:
- Washington Low Income Housing Alliance
- 2020 Legislative Priorities Website
- February 3: Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day: Monday, February 3 – learn more and register
- Friday calls throughout session with updates for the advocacy community – Starting Friday, 1/17 – sign up here.
- Share personal stories about being evicted with cause (these stories will help the efforts to pass a bill to require a legitimate business reason to make a tenant move).
- Statewide Poverty Action Network
- January 20: Lobby Day: A Vision for Justice in Washington: MLK Day, Monday, January 20 – learn more and register
- Sign up for Action Alerts and learn more about Poverty Action’s priorities at www.povertyaction.org.
Poverty Action organizes around priorities and policy solutions around Basic Needs, Revenue, Justice Reform, and Consumer Productions.
- Childcare Resources
- Extending the Homeless Grace Period for Working Connections Child Care one pager
- Sign on to the letter in support of extending the grace period. Please click here to add your name and/or organization. Thank you for your support.
- Voting Rights Restoration Coalition/Civil Survival
- Information about Civil Survival
- Monday, January 27 Lobby Day – Details to be posted
How to play Advocacy Bingo:
- Print out an Advocacy Bingo card and post it in a place where you’ll see it throughout the legislative session
- Cross off bingo squares as you complete the items – the goal is to get 5 in a row! Bonus points for a total blackout.
- Email a photo of your bingo card in progress to speakup@homelessinfo.org by 1/15, 2/5, 2/20, or 3/3. We’ll draw for prizes at the following days’ Coalition Membership Meeting or South King County Forum on Homelessness Meeting.
- Encourage others to join in the fun!