LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF WASHINGTON: Legislative Newsletter (Mar. 20, 2022)
Editor’s Note: The League of Women Voters (LWV) of Washington sent this legislative newsletter on Mar. 20, 2022. Our mission at the Voter Interests Project is to monitor elected officials and ballot measures; we generally do not report on the activities of non-profit organizations. However, the LWV Whidbey Island chapter conducts candidate forums during most election cycles, and are therefore of particular interest to voters. The LWV of Washington’s website states, “The League is a Nonpartisan Source You Can Trust”; however, the LWV does take positions on public policy. Our observation is that their policy positions inform their management of voter forums. Therefore, we believe it to be of interest to our readers to know the positions for which the LWV advocates.
Action Alerts
Click on the links below to learn more about bills currently being reviewed in the state legislature. You can “take action” on these most pressing bills by sending a suggested, editable email to legislators, encouraging them to vote to promote the League issue in question.
No action alerts this week
A TRANSFORMATIONAL SESSION
What a session! Hundreds of bills passed, with many hours of hearings and discussion. The legislature made very significant investments in a number of safety net areas such as housing, and also in education and transportation. It was a mighty and consequential short session, and included the largest supplemental budget in history. Our Issue Chairs delivered uncounted written and oral testimonies, attended many meetings with legislators, met with our coalition partners, and worked to further the progress of our priority legislation. Not all of the legislation we supported made it into law, and some of the bills we opposed did make it. It’s important to realize that it can take many sessions for a bill to become law, sometimes years. Only about 20-30% of the bills proposed in a session become law.
Many of the bills passed by the legislature still must be signed by the Governor, and he has the option of either not signing them, or vetoing portions. But be assured that you did make a difference! So many of you contacted your senators and representatives at crucial times during the legislative process – it matters. We know that legislators care about what their constituents, you, want. Our Issue Chairs and Advocates were deeply involved in the passage of a great deal of legislation, and also the capital and operational budgets. You can read details of the bills that passed and did not pass in the updates in this newsletter.
Be sure to thank your legislators for all their hard work this session, especially the ones retiring.
We hope to see you at Action Workshops and Lobby Week, as we move into the next legislative session. Thanks for all you do! It matters! Our Current Actions page may help you pick out which bills are particularly important to you.
LWVWA Legislative Issues From the 2022 Washington State Legislative Session
Click on an issue to learn more about session results on bills the League supported and “This Week’s Updates” to read the issue chair’s report on this past week.
Democracy
Elections | This week‘s updates
Money in Politics | This week’s updates
Education | This week’s updates
Redistricting | This week’s updates
Natural Resources and Climate Change
Climate and Energy | This week’s updates
Growth Management | This week’s updates
Transportation | This week’s updates
Social and Economic Policy
Housing and Homelessness | This week’s updates
Health and Behavioral Health | This week’s updates
Calendar
- March 29 at 5pm ET – a League Community Call focused on the redistricting work. Hear from speakers from LWV of MN and LWV of WA about the ways they have used this effort to build power and are utilizing that power going forward into the election year! Register in advance here.
- June 10-12th – League of Women Voters Council Meeting, CHECK IT OUT!
Other Ways to Follow the State Legislature
- Washington State Legislature website, leg.wa.gov.
- Washington State’s public affairs TV network, TVW.org.
