Last week we were watching Floor votes galore, and now somehow, we are less than three weeks away from the last day of the 2026 legislative session. These final weeks are the most critical points for our Growing Together agenda. All of our priority bills are still alive and working their way through the process – this is an incredible feat, especially in a year where the Legislature is navigating tough budget issues, and a ton of priorities for Washingtonians that they want to address. This is a reminder that every phone call, email, and sign-in PRO makes an impact.

If you want a jump start on the action – we’re thanking the Senate Housing Committee for passing three of our bills through last week, and urging them to vote YES on HB 2266, supporting STEP Housing statewide — hit that button below, then read on for more updates!

Lay of the land, key dates, and milestones:

· Budget negotiations will soon begin to take center stage: The House and Senate each write their own draft budgets as a starting point, then negotiate between the two; the Governor also throws their own budget draft into the mix for consideration

· February 25th, Policy Committee Cutoff – all bills have to pass through the policy committee in the opposite chamber (i.e. if they started in the House, they need to pass through their Senate policy committee)

· March 2nd, Fiscal Committee Cutoff – Bills that require state funding allocation have to go through a finance committee in addition to a policy committee

· Lots of Floor action- lawmakers will spend full days on the floor voting on bills

· March 6th, Opposite Chamber Cutoff – last day for bills to pass through both the House and Senate

· March 12th, Sine Die – the last day of session 🎉

We’re grateful to the lawmakers in the House who pushed the Growing Together agenda forward so successfully! Now we’re asking the Senate to keep it up.

After last week’s major House of Origin deadline, here’s where our bills are at:

Half of our bills are ready for a final floor vote, but we have a few that still need to make it through their committee before Wednesday. Keep your eye on your inboxes for urgent action opportunities to support them. 

For this week, our top action is making sure STEP Housing joins the rest of our Growing Together agenda on the floor! Will you email the Senate Housing Committee before Wednesday morning to keep HB 2266 moving?

Join your district Town Hall

Legislators are hosting town halls in-person in districts all over Washington. Town halls are THE place for you to hear directly from your elected representatives, but importantly it’s also a key way that they can hear from you. Getting to meet your neighbors and advocates involved locally in your neighborhood are a bonus, too.
Ask a friend to join you, and check out our handy-dandy toolkit to organize a post-town hall meet-up or host a town hall screening!  

Find the next Town Hall near you!
(Or check the website of your local representative)

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Now that most of our bills are starting the second half of their journey towards the Governor’s desk, there’s a lot of opportunities to get involved. Thank you for sticking with me to the end here, and for taking action on things that help all of our communities grow together.