That's it! The 2020 Session is officially over.

And even though this year's session was only 60 days long, it was undoubtedly a success. Our state's anti-poverty network of community advocates, nonprofits, direct-service organizations, justice reform advocates, labor unions, and many more, worked with legislators to pass new laws and create targeted community investments that will safeguard economic security and foster economic opportunity for years to come.

We'd like to extend a huge thank you to all the community advocates and organizations we worked alongside this year. Thank you for coming to our 2020 Lobby Day, for joining us at rallies in Olympia, for reading these weekly emails and taking action on our policy priorities. This session's legislative wins could not have been accomplished without your energy and support! 

We also recognize that these are difficult, scary times. The COVID-19 situation has been all-encompassing over the past couple weeks, and its economic implications are equally severe. COVID-19 is both a public health emergency and an economic emergency as well. We've begun to see the disastrous economic impacts of the virus in our communities, as restaurants, stores, schools, and event centers throughout the region have closed, leaving many workers without paychecks. The inequitable economic impacts and health disparities of this pandemic are hitting communities of color, immigrant communities, gig workers, and low-wage workers the hardest. 

Washington State's lawmakers and public health leaders have passed several important measures meant to protect our communities from financial insecurity in the wake of this virus, such as: 

• A $200 million investment in the state budget that appropriates $175M toward WA's public health response, and the remaining $25M toward unemployment relief;
• An eviction moratorium in Seattle that has temporarily halted all residential evictions in Seattle for non-payment of rent;
• A special enrollment period for people currently without health insurance has been opened through April 8;
• Emergency resources for workers and businesses impacted by COVID-19, a list of which is available on this website.

There's no denying it: the economic and health ramifications of COVID-19 have made it abundantly clear that a strong social safety net is of the utmost importance. Affordable and accessible healthcare, paid sick leave, flexible workplace accomodations, resources for essential needs like food and housing -- these are necessities always, not just in times of crisis. We must hold our state and national leaders accountable to our communities' needs during this pandemic, and after it passes.

And on that note of a strong social safety net and community investments-- our 2020 Session recap! We're happy to report that the majority of our policy priorities passed, including policy improvements to the Temporary Assitance for Needy Families (TANF) program, increased funding for Housing & Essential Needs (HEN), elimination of the state's Shelter Penalty, increased consumer protections, funding for a homelessness prevention pilot program, and funding for a study into the efficacy of a statewide Clean Slate Act. We've written an in-depth summary on our website-- read it all here!