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The Week in Housing Advocacy - Week 7

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Michele Thomas, Director of Policy & Advocacy

The Halfway Point

This week marks the halfway point of the legislative session, which is scheduled to end on April 26. Last Friday was the second “cutoff” of the session. All bills with a fiscal impact had to clear a fiscal committee in order to proceed. Bills that are considered “necessary to implement the budget” are not subject to these cutoffs. But many policy bills with fiscal impacts are subject to cutoffs, including most of the bills on the Housing Alliance’s support agenda. The next cutoff is Wednesday, March 11. All bills have to be voted off the floor and moved to the other chamber by that date. The next week and a half will include a lot of floor action, so stay tuned for developments as bills move forward.

Tell lawmakers to pass crucial legislation to protect tenants before the March 11 cutoff!

All bills, including the ones below, have to be voted off the floor and moved to the other chamber by Wednesday, March 11 or they're dead. The next week and half will include a lot of floor action, which is why we need you to click here to tell your elected official that you support bills eliminating barriers to housing.

Please take action below to:

Make tenant screening reports fair and affordable. Pass the Fair Tenant Screening Act (HB 1257)!

Ensure innocent tenants won't unfairly have evictions on their record. Pass the Truth in Evictions Reporting Act (SB 5376)!

Give cities the ability to make sure tenants have reasonable notice for large rent increases. Pass the 90 day notice Bill (HB 2051)!

Take action now!

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Moving Into Budget Advocacy...

We are now reaching the point of the session where budget writing will start to take center stage. We’ve heard the House will release their budgets around Friday, March 20. We hope to see a capital budget investment of $100 million in the Housing Trust Fund and operating budget investments in key priorities like the Permanent Supportive Housing Medicaid Benefit and the Washington Youth and Families Fund. We also hope to see the Carbon Polluters Tax - SHB 1314 (Fitzgibbon) move forward, because it is good public policy and because it creates a permanent funding stream for the Housing Trust Fund. Continue to stay tuned to these weekly emails, Housing Alliance action alerts, and social media for updates. Also refer to our bill tracker to see where key priorities are at in the process.

 

Your Advocacy Worked...

Thank you to everyone who took action last week. Earlier in the week, many of you called to urge your lawmakers to invest $100 million in the Housing Trust Fund. And then a whole lot of you responded to last Thursday’s urgent request to help get the Homeless Student Stability Act - SHB 1682 (Fey) and Extended Foster Care - SHB 1735 (Orwall) past the Friday cutoff. We are very happy to share that both bills made it through and are now in the Senate Rules Committee with all of our other support agenda bills!

...That's Why We Need You to Keep It Up!

We need to keep the pressure up to make sure affordable housing and homeless priorities make it past the finish line. The Truth in Evictions Reporting Act - SSB 5376 (Habib), the Fair Tenant Screening Act - SHB 1257 (Walkinshaw), and the Relocation Assistance and Rent Increase Bill - SHB 2051 (Farrell) all need a push. Last Thursday was the annual Landlord Lobby Day, and we know that they exaggerated the impact and spread some misinformation about the bills. We need your help to correct the record and to urge your lawmakers to vote yes!

Please click here to take action today, and urge everyone in your network to join you by sharing the action page link (http://bit.ly/Week7-Action) on Facebook! Thank you for all you do to help move affordable housing and homelessness priorities forward. Your involvement is key, so please keep it up!

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