Legislative Advocacy News

We are working alongside community members and partner organizations to ensure that lawmakers fund and modernize the Working Families Tax Credit. We’re holding a phone bank on Thursday, April 18, to urge passage  and we need volunteers! The phone bank will be at Poverty Action’s office in Wallingford, Seattle (1501 N 45th Street), from 5-7:30 PM. Volunteers will receive training and support from staff and a free pizza dinner. If you can’t stay for the whole time, no sweat. Join us for as long as you can! For more information or sign up, please call 206-694-6794. We hope to see you there! During these final weeks of the 2019 Legislative Session, lawmakers must negotiate and pass a 2-year state operating budget for 2019-2021. It is crucial that the final version of this budget contains a progressive restructuring of our state’s tax code and bold investments in social service programs that support Washington’s low-income communities and communities of color. In addition to supporting the working families tax credit (funded by a tax on capital gains, which is also included in budget proposals), we are working alongside community members and partner organizations to ensure that lawmakers provide a bold and much-needed funding increase to Housing & Essential Needs, stop the sweep of money from the state’s TANF program, and reject the Senate’s proposed cuts to the state’s Medicaid Dental Program. (For more information and our analysis on both the House & Senate’s budget proposals .) Send an email here to urge lawmakers to pass a progressive budget that tackles poverty head-on!

A collection of progressive bills, most of which will primarily impact low-income communities and communities of color in Washington state, were voted on and passed by state legislators. These bills—some of which Poverty Action has been working alongside community members and partner organizations for years— could not have been passed without your voice and your action!  Thanks to your advocacy, Washingtonians will now see more robust and transparent laws regarding debt collection than ever before. This comprehensive package of five consumer protections bills is a big step forward for Washington state and particularly for its communities of color.

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We have just 24 hours left to bring the Death Penalty Repeal bill (SB 5339) up for a vote on the House floor by 5 PM on Wednesday, April 17. Your Representative has the power to bring it to the floor - please ask them to do so as soon as possible! The Supreme Court decision is not enough. It was stalled at this point last year. Now is the time to take this policy off the books! Please urge your Representative to take action today.

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One of the major bills FAN has been following this session has been Keep Washington Working (E2SSB 5497). We invite you to take action TODAY, and we share below more information on KWW from our partners at the ACLU: This important bill protects the privacy and civil rights of all Washington residents, focuses local law enforcement resources on protecting local communities, and defends local autonomy—putting Washington first.

Email your Representatives here.

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Preventing and cleaning up toxic pollution is critical to the health of Washington’s people, salmon, and Southern Resident orcas. Now is the moment to urge state senators by April 13th to fully fund the program that cleans up thousands of contaminated sites statewide — including 12 sites on Bellingham’s waterfront and four in the Blaine Marina area.

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Washington state’s Senate released its two year operating budget proposal last Friday, March 29, just a few days after the House’s operating budget proposal. Senate budget writers have taken critical steps in the right direction with their investments and budget priorities. The 2019-2021 Senate budget proposal makes huge strides toward ensuring we have a tax code in which the wealthy pay their fair share, and low-income people get a much-needed break. It also makes significant investments in many of the basic needs assistance programs that low-income kids and adults rely on during hard times. For years, Washington state has had the most upside-down state tax structure, with low-income people paying the highest share of their income in taxes. Just like with the House budget proposal, the Senate budget proposal generated new, progressive revenue streams that will not only help balance our tax code, but will also allow lawmakers to increase funding in essential health and human services. The Senate budget proposes important progressive revenue, including: -Closing the tax break on capital gains, which come from the sale of high-end assets, like stocks, bonds, and property. -Enacting a graduated real estate tax, which would lower the real estate tax for properties valued at $250,000 or below, and raise the real estate tax for properties valued at $1 million and higher. -Cleaning up unnecessary loopholes in our tax code, such as eliminating the non-resident sales tax and the preferential tax rates for prescription drug resellers and the tour booking industry. The revenue generated from the Capital Gains Tax will pay for a Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), a critical tax rebate for low- and moderate-income families who currently shoulder the highest tax rate in the state. The inclusion of the WFTC is an enormous step toward making our state’s tax structure equitable for low- and moderate-income families. Modeled after the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit, the WFTC will provide an average tax refund of $350 to eligible families, providing a vital income boost and a necessary break from our state’s upside-down state tax code. The Senate’s budget also included crucial investments to essential state assistance programs that help low-income children and families meet their basic needs, including: -$15 million in funding for the Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) program. HEN is one of our state’s most effective anti-homelessness programs, and it has not received a funding increase since 2011—even though housing costs and homelessness rates throughout Washington state have risen. This investment in HEN is almost $3 million greater than the House’s proposed investment, and will allow the program to make bigger strides in serving the thousands of people on HEN waitlists throughout the state. -$175 million toward the Housing Trust Fund. This is $25 million more than the amount proposed by the House, and this large investment will support homelessness resources and housing affordability throughout the state.

Washington state’s House of Representatives released its two year operating budget proposal on Monday, March 25. We applaud the House for taking critical steps to ensure our tax code is balanced and the wealthiest people and corporations pay their fare share. The House also made a number of critical — though modest — investments in our state’s basic needs assistance programs that will help more low-income kids and adults achieve economic stability. In Washington state, low-income people pay the highest share of their income in taxes, while the wealthiest people and corporations get the biggest breaks. The House budget takes important steps to turn this terrible tax code right-side up through the following proposals:

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The Washington State House of Representatives Capital Budget Committee released its capital budget, which includes $42 million in the Clean Energy Transition Fund (Clean Energy Fund IV). Unfortunately, the Senate budget, SB 5134 omits much of this funding.  The Senate Ways and Means Committee has approved the budget and forwarded it to the Rules Committee. You can take action by clicking on 5134 and clicking "Comment on this Bill." You can learn which items are affected by reviewing a list of the items omitted or reduced, which can be found here. The information below was provided by the Clean Tech Alliance, and is reproduced with their permission. The House appropriations are provided solely for projects that provide a benefit to the public through development, demonstration, and deployment of clean energy technologies that save energy and reduce energy costs, reduce harmful air emissions, or increase energy independence for the state. Priority must be given to projects that benefit vulnerable populations, including tribes and communities with high environmental or energy burden.

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Four climate bills have been introduced, passed committees and passed at least one chamber of the Washington State Legislature. They involve “Clean Energy” (100% renewables for electricity), electrification of transportation (incentives for electric vehicles), “Clean Fuels” (reduced fossil fuels in fuels), and hydrofluorocarbons (highly potent greenhouse gases). The"Clean Energy" bill, the hydrofluorocarbons bill and the electrification of transportation bill have passed the legislature but the clean fuels bill has strong opposition.

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SB 5438, under consideration by our legislature, represents a significant step toward protecting the safety and dignity of workers brought to our state under the H-2A farm labor program. It is the top priority this session for Rosalinda Guillen and Community to Community, and Ramon Torres, President of FUJ, leaders in addressing the issues of migrant workers in this State. SB 5438 would create a new Office of Agricultural and Seasonal Workforce Services within the ESD, staffed and authorized to conduct field visits of H2A workplace sites. It would create an oversight committee composed of farm employers and farm workers. It would permit the charging of a fee, on farm employers who request workers under the H-2A program and this would fund the new office and the work of the oversight committee. This is the only type of legislation of this nature in the nation–no other state is proposing or providing adequate, coordinated and funded oversight. It will be setting precedent. SB 5438 has been passed by the Senate and has passed to the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee.

• First, it must be voted favorably out of that committee, which is holding a public hearing on Thursday 3/21.
• Then must pass out of the Rules Committee for a vote by the full House
• The deadline for the House vote is April 3^rd

That’s right! For years now, Washington state has ranked as having the number one worst tax code in the entire country! It’s beyond time that our absurd state tax structure was turned right side up. We need a tax structure that works for low- and moderate-income people, not just wealthy people. That’s why this upcoming Thursday, March 21, we are gathering in Olympia to demand change and action from our lawmakers. At the rally, we will be calling on lawmakers to fund and modernize the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC). If the WFTC is funded, that will mean that about a million low- and moderate-income households in Washington will get a tax refund of about $350, thereby boosting families’ economic security and taking important steps to fix our broken tax system.

Register here.

Town Halls are an excellent way to actively engage in the civic process and advocate for the change you want to see. Usually held either in person at local community centers, or over the phone on a conference line, town halls are an opportunity for your lawmaker to listen to you, their constituent, and receive feedback on the policy priorities that matter most to your community. The 2019 Legislative Session is just about halfway over, which means that while some bills are moving quickly, others are progressing more slowly as lawmakers decide what bills to prioritize. Town Halls are the time and space to hold your lawmakers accountable to the changes and priorities that matter most to the wellbeing of your community! Here is a list of when and where each district's Town Hall is located(thank you Housing Alliance!). And if you don't know which district you live in,here's how to find out.

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A Message from Interfaith Worker Justice

Recently, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed a rule change to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under current law, able-bodied adults without dependents are subject to the harsh time limit of only three months of assistance every three years if they do not work enough hours each week. However, the USDA can grant waivers in areas where unemployment is higher than the national average. Nearly every state has employed a waiver from the USDA in the past 20 years. This rule change would limit the ability to access these waivers, therefore limiting access to SNAP benefits for people who are unemployed or who do not meet a quota of hours of job training and/or work each week. Those who don't meet the required hours would lose their SNAP eligibility after three months, regardless of how hard they are trying to find more work, more hours, or job training. In Washington State, 70% of counties with high unemployment rates would lose their waivers under this change, which would take SNAP benefits away from 80,000 people in our state alone.

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WorkFirst, Washington state’s version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, is a critical resource that helps low-income families with kids stay housed, pay bills, and purchase food and essential items for growing children. It should be there when families need it. However, due to program cuts implemented a decade ago during the Great Recession, WorkFirst policy changes have made it increasingly harder for families to stay engaged with TANF and get the assistance they require. Stand with low-income kids and parents in Washington state and take action now

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In the Washington State Legislature, HB 1713 on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women has passed the House.  Now onto the Senate . . . Read the bill history to date here and follow the bill's progress here.  

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Ethnic studies bill 5023 is currently being considered by the state legislature.  It Requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop and periodically update a model ethnic studies curriculum for use in grades 7–12.  It requires an advisory committee to oversee the process.

Take a look here https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5023&Year=2019&Initiative=false

In October a federal court in Texas struck down the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), what I consider to be an important piece of civil rights legislation for Native families here in the U.S. This important law, passed in 1978, strengthened the legal rights of Indigenous families and specified that when Native children are removed from the care of their families, they will be placed in the care of extended family members, families in their own tribe, or Indigenous families from another tribe. Oral arguments will be heard in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 13.  In preparation for this hearing, 325 tribal nations, 57 Native organizations, and 21 states [including WA State through the Bob Ferguson, our Attorney General] joined the United States and four intervenor tribes by filing briefs to urge the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act. We are working to organize candle-light vigils in our communities on March 13th in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. For this to have an impact in each of our communities, we ask that participating congregations send press releases to local papers explaining these vigils, so that they know we support Indigenous Self-Determination, and stand with the 322 tribes that wish to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act.

~ From Sarah Augustine, Structures Committee Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition

Farmworker leaders from Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia have been in Olympia this month supporting bills concerning much-needed oversight of the H2A guestworker visa program. Take action to make sure this bill becomes a law! C2C has been demanding increased oversight of the H2A guestworker visa program for years. This federal program has created ongoing exploitation and quasi slave labor conditions that led to the death of a farmworker in Whatcom County in 2017. Thanks to your support, our community based organizing efforts have convinced the WA State Employment Security Department (ESD) to introduce a bill this legislative session (HB 1398 / SB 5438) that would increase their funding for the establishment of an office of oversight for regulation and enforcement of H2A workers to guarantee health and safety for guest farmworkers in Washington State.  

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