The 2026 legislative session finished last Thursday night after final votes on the operating, capital, and transportation budget bills, marking the end of a whirlwind 60-day session that had some real wins for housing justice priorities.

The successes this year were made possible by the persistence of advocates across the state who emailed, signed in pro, and testified to move bills forward and hold their lawmakers accountable. And our movement faced fierce opposition on many important bills that are still heading to the Governor for his signature!

The Millionaires Tax passed and awaits the Governor’s signature

After more than 24 hours of debate in the House and some procedural attempts to derail the concurrence process in the Senate, the Millionaires Tax proposal, SB 6346, sponsored by Senator Jamie Pederson, passed out of both chambers last week and now goes to Governor Ferguson for his signature. The Governor has said he will sign the bill.

You can thank your lawmakers who supported passage of the bill in the House using this action, and you can send thanks to Representative April Berg for her heavy lift guiding the bill through the more than 24-hour marathon debate using this action.

Once signed by the Governor, the Millionaires Tax will go into effect in 2028 and will be paid by the less than one percent of the wealthiest households in Washington. The tax will only apply to annual income over $1 million. It is estimated that the Millionaires Tax would generate $3.7 billion annually, and that money can be used to fund critical services funded out of the state general fund including public education, health care, homeless services, food security, and other essential services that Washington families rely on.

House Bill 2266 heads to the Governor!

House Bill 2266, sponsored by Representative Strom Peterson, also made it across the finish line after successfully making it through concurrence last Monday, and it now awaits the Governor’s signature. HB 2266 legalizes permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and shelter in residential zones by outlawing local ordinances and actions that delay, deny, or otherwise block these life-saving homelessness solutions.

Two other important bills passed last week that will allow local governments to use existing affordable housing funds to protect housing under attack from the Trump administration.

SB 6027, sponsored by Senator Emily Alvarado, focuses directly on flexibility for funding affordable housing and homelessness programs, and it made it through concurrence and is headed to the Governor.
HB 2442, sponsored by Representative April Berg, has a similar focus on affordable housing and homelessness programs, as well as the opportunity for local governments to impose a new 0.01% sales tax to support services for children and families, and some of those funds can be used for shelter and for rental assistance. 

You can track where each of our priority, support, and oppose bills ended the session by checking our online bill tracker.

Final budgets hold good news for housing justice priorities as well

The final operating budget includes $3 million to sustain funding for the statewide Right to Counsel program that provides legal assistance to tenants involved in eviction proceedings. The final funding package considered $1.1 million for Right to Counsel as ongoing funding, so we will need to advocate for additional funding to sustain the program at its current staffing levels next year.

The operating budget also includes $15 million to protect the grants of recipients of Continuum of Care funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to maintain permanent supportive housing across the state.

The final capital budget includes more than $197 million in additional investment in the Housing Trust Fund – which is a big investment in a supplemental budget year. This investment during a tough budget period shows the strength of our advocacy for funding affordable housing. Overall, lawmakers have invested more than $800 million for affordable housing during the current two-year budget period! Without your advocacy, there wouldn’t be the political will to make this level of investment.