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Hi John,
Cause for celebration as the House and Senate pass several of our priority bills and a state budget full of progressive investments!
Sunday, April 25 marked the last day of Washington’s very first virtual Legislative Session (also known as “Sine Die”). We hope you’ll join us in celebrating the passage of several of our priority bills and a 2021-2023 budget with historically significant investments to support low-income Washingtonians and build a more equitable future.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
We were thrilled to see the legislature passed some HISTORIC investments to the state’s TANF program including a 15% increase to the monthly cash grant beginning July 1, 2021! This is BY FAR the biggest raise to the cash grant in Washington since the program’s creation in 1997! In addition to the cash grant increase, the legislature passed and funded two other measures to expand access to TANF cash assistance through time limit extensions:
- SB 5214 to allow families more time to access TANF when the state average unemployment rates are 7% or higher and;
- additional funding to extend COVID-19 time-limit exemptions through July 2022!
Revenue and Working Families Tax Credit 🥳
We did it!! This year, lawmakers responded to years – over a decade! – of advocacy to fix Washington’s tax code. The bills to implement the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) and an excise tax on high-end capital gains finally passed the legislature and are on their way to Governor Inslee. The WFTC will provide a $300-$1,200 direct cash payment each year to eligible low-income households (including people, often immigrants, who file with an ITIN!) starting in 2023, while the capital gains tax would generate more than $500 MILLION A YEAR from the richest 1% in Washington to pay for investments in childcare, early learning, and education. These bills work together to put cash back into the lowest-income households and asks the ultra-wealthy in Washington to contribute more of their fair share. Thank you so much for all your passion, advocacy, and hard work for so many years to make this happen!
BIG investments in basic needs! 😮
Lawmakers went beyond investments in TANF and WFTC to support low-income Washingtonians to be able to cover rent, put food on their tables, and meet their basic needs:
- $24 million dollar increase for Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) to provide rent for an additional 1,700 Washingtonians with disabilities.
- $33 million to the state’s Food Assistance Program, which provides food assistance for immigrants who are not yet eligible for SNAP.
- $175 million for the Housing Trust Fund, our state’s main source of funding to build affordable housing.
- $340 million for the Washington Immigrant Relief Fund to provide cash assistance to immigrants working and living in Washington who have been left out of federal COVID-19 relief packages.
- $658 million for rent and utility assistance to aid in the recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19.
Check out our final budget analysis for the more investments made this year!
Higher Education 📚
While the legislature did not make new investments in the Washington College Grant, financial aid for low-income students, they also made no cuts and passed several bills to ensure a more robust set of support services for students, particularly low-income students of color. The Legislature passed the following bills to provide those supports:
- SB 5194 to make community and technical colleges (CTCs) more accessible by requiring development of a strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion; hiring 600 full-time faculty over three years; creating a grant program for additional mental health counselors; and reducing the residency requirements for undocumented students to one year in WA instead of three years.
- SB 5227 to create and mandate anti-racism training for faculty and students across our state’s higher education system beginning in 2024.
- HB 1044 to implement postsecondary education programs at state correctional institutions.
- SB 5321 to automatically enroll eligible students in the College Bound Scholarship, rather than requiring them to sign-up by 7th grade.
- HB 1166 to extend and expand pilot programs that assist homeless students and students who were in foster care.
Missed Opportunities
While lawmakers dramatically shifted their response to an economic downturn from cutting funding to essential programs to investing in direct cash assistance, there remain missed opportunities to respond to the needs of low-income Washingtonians and communities of color.
Police Accountability
Last summer, we saw global support for the Black Lives Matter movement in response to relentless killings of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people by law enforcement. While the legislature made important progress – more progress than they have EVER made in this realm – they stopped far short of community demands to protect Black and brown communities targeted by police and uproot racist practices baked into our country’s law enforcement system.
The legislature passed the following of our priority bills tied to police accountability:
- HB 1267 creates an Office of Independent Investigation to investigate police use of force and other criminal incidents involving police officers.
- SB 5051 gives the Criminal Justice Training Commission authority to discipline officers deemed unfit to carry a badge and gun.
- HB 1054 bans the use of chokeholds, neck restraints, no-knock warrants, some military equipment, and the intentional concealment of badges, and substantially restricts the use of tear gas and high-speed chases.
Dental Therapy
Lawmakers again missed the opportunity to expand dental therapy statewide and create a path to more accessible and affordable dental care for low-income Washingtonians. Despite a decade of community demand for dental therapy, SB 5142 died early on in session after intense lobbying from the Washington State Dental Association. While the legislature approved significant investments to increase access to dental care (they DOUBLED funding for Medicaid Adult Dental rate and allocated almost $1 million for connecting children and adults to dental care!), people impacted most by lack of access to dental care deserved a hearing on how dental therapy could benefit them and their community.
After the setback on the bill, we successfully worked to secure funding for a Dental Therapy Task Force to strategize bringing dental therapy statewide. The Task Force will provide a space for meaningful discussion to develop a plan of action to push the policy forward in the 2022 Legislative Session.
For the complete update on our priority bills, visit our bill tracker page here.
This year, we made ourselves heard 📣
Your calls, e-mails, and testimony throughout session made a difference! Poverty Action extends a HUGE THANK YOU to those able to contact lawmakers and share their story before and during this year’s legislative session. The COVID-19 pandemic magnified the struggles and injustices faced by low-income Washingtonians and instead of getting defeated, we stood up to demand action from our elected representatives for an equitable recovery and better future. The investments made by the state legislature signifies a shift in response from the sweeping budget cuts made during the Great Recession. These investments show that lawmakers recognize Washington’s unfair tax code and are willing to make changes. The door to economic and racial justice has been opened, it is on us to keep pushing for the future we want!
Take a minute to thank your lawmakers for listening and responding to the needs of low-income Washingtonians. It’s important they continue to hear how their legislative decisions impact you and your community!
Now that session is over for this year, we’ll give your inbox some breathing room and reach out periodically when we have essential actions to take or information to share.
Continue to check out our social media pages (links below) and webpage for opportunities to engage in ongoing advocacy as we organize our annual listening sessions and set the foundation for big wins next session!
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