Our December General Membership Meeting was dedicated to previewing the new year’s state legislative session. We were joined by four state lawmakers and two statewide partner organizations to hear what they’re focused on during the short 2026 state legislative session, which starts Monday, January 12 and is slated to run until Thursday, March 12.
Our December meeting also featured Easy Advocacy 101, helped us find our state legislative districts, introduced Advocacy BINGO, and included two actions we took together!
If this wealth of information is something you want to share with others or access again, please subscribe to the Coalition’s YouTube channel, where our membership meetings and trainings are collected.
Easy Advocacy 101
Jump to 0:05:36 to view this section of our meeting.
The first step to being an effective advocate is knowing who represents you in the state legislature. Each constituent has two state representatives and one state senator. Find out what legislative district you vote in and who represents you here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/
During each state legislative session, we will see new bills and bills from previous years. Sometimes it takes years of sustained advocacy for a bill to pass into law!
Washington state is facing a significant budget deficit going into session. The state will also need to spend more on public benefits, like SNAP, based on new federal regulations, so new revenue is necessary to sustain current homes, shelter, and services. Progressive revenue will be key!
Our 2026 Legislative Priorities (DRAFT EDITION)
Each year, the Coalition tracks key bills and budget measures that will help us achieve our legislative priorities. Bills and budget measures change throughout the session, so stay tuned for updates on this page of our website.
As of Thursday, December 11, our state legislative priorities for 2026 are:
- Sustain housing, shelter, services, public benefits, and more at risk of state or federal cuts
- End discrimination against siting and operating affordable housing and shelter
- Protect people experiencing unsheltered homelessness from banishment and other cruel punishment
Advocacy just means speaking up!
There are many ways to be an advocate. You can:
- Attend a rally
- Go to an Advocacy Day in Olympia, like Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day on Monday, January 26
- Give public testimony
- Sign in PRO/CON for a bill
- Post to social media
- Forward an action to a friend, colleague, or neighbor
- Call your legislators (and leave a message for the Governor!)
- Email your legislators (and CC the Governor!)
- Attend a Town Hall meeting hosted by your legislators
Think you can do all of these actions and more? Play Advocacy BINGO with us! Download your playing card below.
Weekly Advocacy Power Half Hours
If you are interested in staying engaged throughout the 2026 legislative session, please join our weekly advocates call every Tuesday of the legislative session from 2-2:30 p.m. over Zoom.
Weekly Advocacy Power Half Hours, Tuesdays starting January 13, 2-2:30 p.m., Zoom
These meetings will keep you informed about what’s going on during the state legislative session and will give you actions you can take and share with others!
Registration is for the entire meeting series. Please make your own calendar event and use the same Zoom link for all meetings.
2026 Legislative Preview
Thank you to all of our partners who joined us to preview what they’re working on in 2026!
Jump to 0:22:14 to view this section of our meeting.
Poverty Action
Poverty Action is a statewide organization that advances equitable policy solutions for low-income people. Lianna from the Poverty Action team joined our call to talk about funding, public benefits, and advocacy.
In July 2025, the federal government passed HR1, a budget bill that severely cut funding for public benefits, including SNAP and Medicaid, while increasing tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.
HR1 increases red tape for both recipients of public benefits and the states administering them, which will increase operating costs. The Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), which runs many of our public benefit programs, is already operating at a $40 million budget deficit.
HR1 also shifts the cost of public benefits away from the federal government and onto state governments. Ultimately, HR1 is not good for our state budget.
Back in 2011, as a result of the Great Recession, our state was in a similar budgetary position. The result was a lot of cuts to human services and policy changes that increased barriers to public benefits. We have still not recovered from those cuts. This year, we have an opportunity to write a different story.
In order to avoid cuts, we need more revenue, specifically progressive revenue.
Progressive revenue taxes people on the highest end of the income spectrum the most. Currently, our taxes in Washington state are regressive, meaning people who have the least income pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes.
State Rep. Shaun Scott (LD-43) recently announced a bill, House Bill 2100, that would create a payroll tax for large corporations and put that money in the Well Washington Fund, a fund designed to mitigate the impacts of HR1. The bill also closes tax loopholes for large corporations.
More progressive revenue bills will be proposed during this state legislative session. We need to support these progressive revenue bills overall.
Columbia Legal Services
Columbia Legal Services is a statewide civil legal aid organization that does litigation and policy work on behalf of Washington communities in poverty.
Sarah, a staff attorney at CLS, joined our call to talk about House Bill 1240, sponsored by Rep. Scott Peterseon (LD-21), which helps people living in their vehicles.
When a person gets their vehicle impounded and cannot pay towing and impound fees, their vehicle can be auctioned off to pay that debt. This leaves a person living in their vehicle completely without shelter.
House Bill 1240 gets people their vehicles out of impound quickly, which keeps people from having to sleep unsheltered, and also reduces the amount a person has to pay to get their vehicle back from impound. House Bill 1240 also strengthens homestead protections for vehicle residents.
Rep. Mia Gregerson (LD-33)
Last year, Rep. Mia Gregerson sponsored House Bill 1380 in 2025, which aimed to protect city residents living unsheltered from being removed from public spaces when there was insufficient shelter being offered by the municipality.
Rep. Gregerson has been working on another bill to protect people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in 2026. Stay tuned for the more!
Rep. Nicole Macri (LD-43)
Rep. Macri joined our call to talk about the state budget and the federal funding shifts at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The State Budget
The state budget is facing a multi-billion-dollar shortfall before session begins because of two primary reasons:
- Inflation – the cost of providing public services has increased
- Demand – more and more people need and are entitled to state services
This is a long-term challenge.
Governor Ferguson will propose a budget that will likely consist of very significant multi-billion-dollar cuts, which will set the tone for the larger conversation about the state budget.
It is important to talk to your legislators about how these cuts will impact you so they know how the communities they represent will be affected and can advocate for budget measures that protect their constituents.
To learn more about the state budget, browse through this presentation from the Washington State House Democrats:
Federal Funding Shifts
For decades, the federal government has supported investments in permanent housing as the solution to homelessness. With the new administration, there has been an unprecedented shift away from permanent housing.
More than 4,000 homes in King County are supported by federal funding for permanent housing and with federal funding pulled, those people will be made homeless. In order to mitigate this funding shift, lawmakers at the city, county, and state have been collaborating on litigation and legislation.
Washington state and King County are leaders in litigation against the federal government, which is ongoing.
New legislation will help maximize the flexibility of resources under state and local control to give organizations and local governments tools to move money around as needed. Be on the lookout for a bill from Representative April Berg (LD-44) and Senator Emily Alvarado (LD-34) to this effect.
Advocacy around this issue will continue to be essential. Engagement is crucial to sustaining the system of housing and care we have built together.
Rep. Strom Peterson (LD-21)
For the last couple of years, Rep. Peterson has been working on a bill that would help site more shelter and housing in our local jurisdictions.
A number of cities are putting up roadblocks to build certain types of housing. Cities are finding ways—through zoning regulations and land-use regulations, for example—to interfere with the build of supportive housing, emergency housing, transitional housing, and shelters based on who will be living in these homes.
Rep. Peterson’s bill requires cities to treat housing as housing. For example, if a city allows multi-family housing (an apartment building) in a certain zone, they must also allow a supportive-housing apartment building in that same zone.
Rep. Peterson’s bill would stop the discrimination of certain types of housing based on the fact that low- to no-income people would be living there.
Rep. Brianna Thomas (LD-34)
Rep. Thomas is excited about progressive revenue, which could take the forms of a millionaire’s tax, a high-earner’s tax, or a capital gains tax. She wants a fair tax code that supports all Washingtonians getting their essential needs met. While she thinks cuts are inevitable—because revenue takes time to accrue—she also thinks passing progressive revenue is possible, especially if everyone contacts their lawmakers to show support for it.
Rep. Thomas is also working on a bill that ensures domestic workers have the same rights as all other workers in other environments.
Washington State Office of Civil Legal Aid
The WA Office of Civil Legal Aid is a small state agency that provides civil legal aid for low-income residents.
The Office serves about 10,000 low-income tenants a year with full representation in eviction hearings through its Right to Counsel program. This program was only funded through the fiscal year of 2026. The Office is asking for $3 million in the state budget to maintain this program.
Lawmaker Q&A
To watch the Q&A with state lawmakers, jump to 1:21:46 in the recording.
See you in 2026!
Our next General Membership Meeting is Thursday, January 15 from 9-10:30 a.m. over Zoom. Please join us!