Join our budget Tweetstorm today at noon! Social media can be a powerful way to bring attention to our issues and is a strategic way to add pressure in these final days of budget negotiations. Join us on Twitter today from 12-1pm for a tweetstorm to urge lawmakers to vote for the most funding for affordable housing and solutions to homelessness ever in a supplemental budget year! We’ll have messaging and hashtags that you can retweet and add your own message to. You can participate by following us on Twitter (@wliha) and adding your own personalized tweet! Or by simply retweeting messages sent by the Housing Alliance and our allies. Celebrating the passage of HB 1590! After multiple years of advocacy, it was a jubilant moment when HB 1590 finally passed last Friday! Rep. Frank Chopp conceived of this local option that the legislature passed in 2015. Michele took this picture and as you can see, he was very appreciative of Rep. Beth Doglio's incredible work to remove the requirement for a public vote.  When this option was originally passed, the legislature looked very different and the concession that limited implementation to a public vote was a necessary one to getting it passed. HB 1590 gives cities and counties the ability to implement the local sales and use tax for affordable homes and behavioral health programs through a vote of local elected officials. This will make implementing this option quicker and more efficient and means more people will be housed sooner, especially in cities and counties with limited local revenue options. It took an army to pass this bill. Or rather, it took a movement with strong allies in other sectors who were willing to weigh in and help out. This bill was dead two days before it passed, but we were able to bring it back to life because of an incredible team of lawmakers led by Representative Doglio, because of the incredible grassroots support, and because of so many allies weighing in. Notable mentions in addition to Representative Doglio include Representative Macri, Representative Ryu, as well as allies from the Association of Washington Cities, the Washington Building Trades, the Faith Action Network, the Washington State Labor Council, Skagit County, and many others who helped out all along the way. Thank you to everyone who spoke up supporting this bill! We’re especially grateful to Rep. Doglio for her work which was truly incredible both in the amount of work put in but more significantly in how strategic and effective it was. Please take a minute to say thank you to her. It is very deserved: Beth.Doglio@leg.wa.gov. Updates on key bills: HB 2384/ Doglio: Fixing the property tax exemption for affordable rental housing for very low-income households. The House concurred with the Senate amendments and it’s on its way to the Governor! Please send thanks to: Rep. Doglio: Beth.Doglio@leg.wa.gov, Sen. Kuderer: Patty.Kuderer@leg.wa.gov, and Sen. Zeiger: Hans.Zeiger@leg.wa.gov. HB 1694/ Morgan: Requiring landlords to allow installment payment plans for deposits, last month's rent and nonrefundable fees. The House concurred with the Senate amendments and it’s on its way to the Governor! Thanks are due to Rep. Melanie Morgan: Melanie.Morgan@leg.wa.gov and Sen. Mark Mullet: Mark.Mullet@leg.wa.gov HB 2343/ Fitzgibbon: This is the "trailer bill" to last year's 1923. Most significantly for affordable housing, it lowers the transit frequency rate required in order to prevent a local jurisdiction from requiring parking for affordable housing. The House concurred with the Senate amendments and it’s on its way to the Governor! Please send thanks to Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon: Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov and Sen. Patti Kuderer: Patty.Kuderer@leg.wa.gov. SHB 2634/ Walen: Creating a Real Estate Excise Tax exemption when selling to a nonprofit who acquires the property for affordable housing. Because it impacts the budget, this bill is still in the Senate Ways and Means committee. We expect it to be passed if included in the agreed upon budget. HB 2797/ Robinson: Improvements to last year’s HB 1406 so that local jurisdictions can take full advantage of the state sales tax credit for affordable housing. Like 2634, this bill is still in Senate Ways and Means with passage expected if included in the agreed upon budget. HB 2535/ Kirby: Providing for a grace period before late fees may be imposed for past due rent. The House concurred with the Senate amendments and it’s on its way to the Governor! Please send thanks to Rep. Steve Kirby Steve.Kirby@leg.wa.gov and Sen. Mark Mullet: Mark.Mullet@leg.wa.gov. SB 6378/ Kuderer: This is the "trailer bill" to SB 5600 which passed last year and it makes important fixes to make the eviction process work better. Passed both houses and on its way to the Governor! Please send thanks to Sen. Patti Kuderer: Patty.Kuderer@leg.wa.gov, Rep. Christine Kilduff: Christine.Kilduff@leg.wa.gov, Rep. My-Linh Thai: My-Linh.Thai@leg.wa.gov, Rep. Nicole Macri: Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov, and Speaker Laurie Jinkins: Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov. Bills in dispute:
Three bills that we support have passed both chambers, but are in dispute after amendments were made. We're hopeful that the legislature will agree to strong language for all these bills. SB 6478/Nguyen: Modifying Sanctions for Economic Assistance Programs, including for families experiencing homelessness. HB 2441/Entenman: Improving access to temporary assistance for low-income families. HB 2456/ Callan: Extending the homeless grace period in the Working Connection Child Care program. As you can see, we are making real progress on important issues this session! That’s thanks in large part to people like you telling lawmakers that affordable housing and homelessness must be a top priority! In just a few days, we hope to be able to tell you that the final budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars to help make sure thousands more people have a safe, healthy place to live. Please add your voice by taking action today! Sine Die is Thursday Thank you for all you do, and don’t forget about our final 2020 session update this Friday. We’ll provide an overview of the session, which ends on Thursday night. You can join by phone or computer: Register here! | 
