2023 WASHINGTON LEGISLATIVE REPORT
Overview
NAYA Action Fund staff in Olympia
The Washington Legislative session began January 9, 2023, and adjourned April 24, 2023, lasting 105 days. Legislators managed to pass legislation that both benefit and uplift American Indian/Alaska Native communities in Washington. We saw victories in the expansion of the operating and the capital budget that included funding programs that will provide more housing opportunities to underserved BIPOC communities.
We began the session engaging in the Washington legislature with training and educational opportunities for our members to be taught the legislative process. We held legislative-breakdown luncheons, and trainings for educational opportunities to our community members. Our goal this year was to empower and uplift each of our community members to be advocates and take their knowledge and tools home to their families and community. We continuously explained and broke down every bill we endorsed so that our community felt fully empowered to engage in the legislative process and began influencing lawmakers.
We continued our partnerships with coalitions with other organizations, advocating for housing reform, economic empowerment, educational development, and mental health and wellness issues. We went to Olympia to meet with legislators to educate them on various issues. Particularly, around the need to protect our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People.
Legislative Action
The NAYA Action Fund supported 29 bills by signing on pro to let legislators know we are aware of the issues in our communities, and we stand in solidarity with our coalition partners. Although we supported multiple bills, we took into consideration our time and capacity constraints, and we decided to focus our efforts on bills that impacted our community most.
We learned from prior experience to focus our efforts on being effective. Of the 29 bills we supported, we provided written testimony on 14 of them, continuing to follow each bill as it traveled through the legislative process from committee to committee. We testified both remotely, and in person in support of these bills.
>> LEGISLATIVE AGENDA <<
>> DISCUSSIONS WITH Lawmakers and coalitions <<
We partnered with the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance to facilitate the Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day (HHAD) held in February during the legislative session. We assisted in panels and one on one discussions with a legislative committee to fund the MMIWP Cold Case Unit, with regard to burial and ceremonial purposes for deceased loved ones. Our advocacy efforts included meeting with lawmakers such as Senator Kauffman, Representative Lekanoff, Representative Cleveland, Representative Stonier, Representative Hasegawa, and staff of Representative Peterson, to name a few.
>> ENGAGEMENT WITH LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES <<
Our team was deeply involved in many House and Senate committees. We actively monitored and tracked the following committees:
House Legislative Committee Meetings
Appropriations
Capital Budget
Civil Rights & Judiciary
Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry
Education
Environment & Energy
Finance
Health Care & Wellness
Housing
Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning
Innovation, Community & Economic Development, & Veterans
Postsecondary Education & Workforce
Regulated Substances & Gaming
Rules
State Government & Tribal Relations
Senate Legislative Committee Meetings
Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks
Early Learning & K-12 Education
Health & Long-Term Care
Higher Education & Workforce Development
Housing
Human Services
Law & Justice
Local Government, Land Use & Tribal Affairs
Rules
Ways & Means
Joint Legislative Committee Meetings
Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee
Joint Committee on Energy Supply, Energy Conservation, and Energy Resilience
Joint Higher Education Committee
Joint Legislative Executive Committee on Planning for Aging and Disability Issues
Joint Oregon-Washington Legislative Action Committee
Legislative Committee on Economic Development & International Relations
Legislative Outcomes
We got to see our work in Washington unfold through the final budgets and bills that passed at the close of the 2023 legislative session. Although this year, the legislature imposed new restrictions on firearms purchases, made attempts at easing the state’s deepening housing crisis, and terminated repayment requirements on the aging blind and disabled. Our most notable highlighted wins included:
$400M investment to the Housing Trust Fund. The funds are required to go to by-and-for organizations like NAYA. The Housing Trust Fund also funds affordable housing development and reconstruction projects in alignment with our housing development goals in Southwest Washington.
Funding a 988-crisis line to respond to behavioral health emergencies like suicide attempts. This bill also funds suicide prevention programs under the 988-crisis line.
$69.3B to the Operating Budget that included reconstructing and refurbishing decaying public schools. The budget also funds educational supplies and development, as well as inhabitable prison conditions.
6.5% pay increase for frontline housing and homeless services providers
$5M for eviction prevention and increased funding for tenants’ right to counsel.
| STATE OF WASHINGTON | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HB 1238 - School Lunch for All | Creates system that provides free school meals for students, regardless of income. | Passed | |
| SB 5339 - School Lunch for All | Creates system that provides free school meals for students, regardless of income. | Failed | |
| HB 1399 - Scholarships | Establishes Native American Scholarship Fund | Failed | |
| HB 1174 - Access to Democracy | Provides voter access to incarcerated individuals in prisons/jails throughout Washington. | Failed | |
| HB 1124 - Tenant Protections | Protects tenants from excessive rent and related fees by providing at least six-month’s notice for rent increases over a certain amount. | Failed | |
| HB 1147 - Capital Budget | Concerning the Capital Budget | Failed | |
| SB 5016 - Addressing Homelessness | Addressing homelessness through providing emergency shelter, incentivizing employment of workers experiencing homelessness, and building homes for a better future. | Failed | |
| SB 5045 - ADU rental/property tax | Incentivizing rental of accessory dwelling units to low-income households. | Passed | |
| SB 5060 - Vacant unit registation | Requires the registration of rental and vacant housing units. | Failed | |
| HB 1177 - MMIWP | Creates a missing and murdered indigenous women and people cold case investigations unit. | Passed | |
| HB 1228 - Multilingual Language Retention | Creates a multi-lingual, multi-literate Washington through dual and tribal language education. Aims to protect tribal languages. | Failed | |
| HB 1086 - Community organization contracting | Increases local governments' ability to contract with community serving organizations. | Passed | |
| HB 1046 - Addresses Housing Supply | Expands housing supply by supporting the ability of public housing authorities to finance affordable housing developments. | Passed | |
| SB 5095 - Parks Rx | Create parks access by establishing a health and wellness pilot program to increase healthy lifestyles. | Failed | |
| HB 1134 - Addresses Behavioral Health Services | Creates access to Behavioral Health Services for children and youth, increases bed capacity for behavioral health workforce, expands services to the 988-crisis service program, provides funding to tribes to address opioids. | Passed | |
| HB 1076 - Salmon Protections | Allocates $157M to support projects increasing salmon protection, habitat restoration, and recovery of fisheries. | Failed | |
| HB 1087 - Solitary Confinement | Bill would restrict the ability to put an inmate in solitary confinement except when necessary for emergency purposes. | Failed | |
| SJR 8202 - Reproductive Health | Amends Washington's constitution and would require a vote of the people. Would codify an individual's right to choose in matters related to their reproductive health. | Failed | |
| HB 1389 / SB 5435 - Residential rent increase | Concerning residential rent increases under the residential landlord-tenant act and the manufactured/mobile home landlord-tenant act. | Failed | |
| HB 1110 - Middle Housing | Increasing middle housing in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing. | Passed | |
| HB 1260 - Work-limiting disability | Accelerating stability for people with a work- limiting disability or incapacity. | Passed | |
| HB 1324 - Prior juvenile offenses | Concerning the scoring of prior juvenile offenses in sentencing range calculations. | Passed | |
| HB 1388 - Residential rent practices | Protecting tenants by prohibiting predatory residential rent practices and by applying the consumer protection act to the residential landlord-tenant act and the manufactured/mobile home landlord-tenant act. | Failed | |
| SB 5060 - Rental/Vacant Properties | Requiring the registration of rental and vacant housing units. | Failed | |
| SB 5200 - Capital Budget | Concerning the capital budget. | Passed | |
Expenses
The allocated expenses from staff actively lobbying, advocating, and working on behalf of our legislative agenda totaled $2,457.76 from January 9, 2023 – April 24, 2024, totaling 88 hours advocating on behalf of the NAYA Action Fund’s 29 legislative priorities
