John,

We’re officially a wrap on the 2025 legislative session!

Governor Bob Ferguson signed bills and budgets into law so now we move forward. The 2025 legislative session was productive: Lawmakers passed statewide recycling reform after six years of advocacy. They required that sewage spill information be more accessible to the public. They reaffirmed our state’s commitment to clean fuels and a transition to cleaner trucks. They also made it easier for communities to practice prescribed and cultural burns.

Governor Ferguson signing HB 1670, the Sewage Right-to-Know Act

In a tough fiscal situation—a predicted $16 billion budget shortfall—legislators did not raid funds collected by our state’s historic carbon pricing law, the Climate Commitment Act. That money will continue to support energy efficiency and to help communities across the state adapt to climate change.

With our partners and with representatives and senators in Olympia, Washington Conservation Action worked fiercely to make all these things a reality. But we didn’t do it alone. Making environmental progress is a team effort. We always keep that top of mind.

There are too many allies and environmental champions to thank in a single email, but we’d like to give a shout out to those responsible for some of this year’s biggest victories:

We’re modernizing recycling systems. (SB 5284)
Companies will now take responsibility for unnecessary packaging, paying fees for the waste they create. Those fees, in turn, will fund curbside recycling statewide. 

Please thank the bill’s sponsors Sen. Liz Lovelett (D-40, Anacortes) and Rep. Liz Berry (D-36, Seattle)!
The public has the right to know when sewage spills occur (HB 1670)
Hundreds of sewage spills happen every year, yet the information is not easily accessible to the public. Now the Department of Ecology must create a public website with timely sewage spill information by 2026.

Please thank the sponsors of this bill, Rep. Victoria Hunt (D-5, Issaquah) and Sen. Vandana Slatter (D-48, Bellevue).
We created a state insurance fund to cover prescribed and cultural burns, in the rare event one of those fires gets out of control.
These burns are key to restoring forest health after a century of fire suppression has left forestlands crowded and prone to catastrophic wildfire.

Please thank Rep. Adam Bernbaum (D-24, Port Angeles) and Sen. Judith Warnick (R-13, Moses Lake).
The Clean Fuel Standard has been updated.
Transportation is Washington’s largest source of climate pollution. This year’s updates to the law will help drive more investments in cleaner fuels, like electricity.

Please thank Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34, Burien).

Thank these environmental champions!

With allies like these, we continue to protect people and nature as one. Thanks for all that you do to support this.

With gratitude,

Darcy Nonemacher (she/her)
Government Affairs Director, Washington Conservation Action