Bills and Upcoming Town Halls - from the Washington State Democratic Party
Legislative Action Afoot!
The state legislature is at work passing bills out of each chamber this week – while the Senate Republicans still continue to refuse to pass the “levy cliff” bill (HB 1059) that would prevent $358 million in school funding cuts across our state despite pleas from schools across our state, the Democratic House is hard at work.
Some of the bills already passed by the House include:
HB 1800 – the WA Voting Rights Act!
This is the fifth year in a row that the House has passed one of the most important bills in our legislature. The VRA would create a swifter and less costly path to justice for individuals who have been shut out of their local elections. By empowering cities, counties, and districts to more easily solve issues of discrimination in their electoral structures, the bill will also lower costs for local governments and taxpayers.
HB 1234 – 12 months of birth control
HB 1234 would allow pharmacies to give out 12 months of birth control at a time, making it easier for women to get consistent contraception.
HB 1440 – the student loan Bill of Rights
The student loan Bill of Rights would help students borrowing to attend college or university. The bill would protect students by preventing student loan servic
HB 2097 – protecting immigrants from Trump
HB 2097 would limit the ability of government to collect information on a person’s religious affiliation, and would prevent law enforcement from enforcing or assisting with any registry that the federal government may create based on religious affiliation, while HB 2029 would create a telephone hotline and website managed through the Human Rights Commission to refer people to assistance for immigration and citizenship issues.
Now, we need the Senate to act on all these important bills and more!
Upcoming Town Halls
We’ve been encouraging people to call their legislators, but there’s nothing you can do more effective than speaking with them face to face at a town hall meeting.We’re assembling a list of town hall meetings across the state being scheduled by state legislators, many of them on Saturday March 11th. Click here to see the list! We’ll update it with more information as we get it.At town hall meetings, voters can emphasize the importance of funding education, preventing school funding cuts by passing the “levy cliff” bill, protecting the rights of immigrants and minorities in the face of attacks by Trump’s administration, protecting health care, and other important issues.