Looking for a summary of our Top Bills?
These are the bills we deem major and significant. Click the image below.
Are you looking for a summary of our Top Bills for 2026? These are bills we deem major and significant. If so, use the filter below.
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Higher Education
Concerning the Washington college grant and college bound scholarship program for students attending private four-year not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Washington.
Bill Summary
SB 5828 updates the Washington College Grant and College Bound Scholarship statutes to expressly cover students attending private four‑year not‑for‑profit institutions in Washington. The bill aligns definitions and award calculations so that eligible low‑ and middle‑income students can use these existing aid programs at qualifying private colleges, alongside public institutions and approved apprenticeship programs. The proposed legislation treats private, often mission‑driven institutions as legitimate partners in educating Washington students, instead of steering all subsidized enrollment into public universities shaped by Olympia and faculty unions. It also supports pathways like recognized private institutions and apprenticeship programs that are more closely tied to work and community, rather than only large public campuses.
SB 5828 amends existing RCW provisions and uses the current Office of Student Financial Assistance infrastructure. It does not create a new bureaucracy or open‑ended program with its own tax stream. Award amounts for private institutions are tied to benchmarks like average public‑university awards and a “tuition growth factor,” which caps year‑over‑year increases and helps protect taxpayers from runaway benefit growth. Because the bill primarily adjusts eligibility and award rules within current programs, it should be considered a targeted refinement rather than a broad expansion of state higher‑ed spending.
Low‑income or foster‑youth students who qualify for the College Bound Scholarship and want to attend a faith‑based or independent not‑for‑profit college in Washington should not be heavily penalized compared with peers who pick a public university. SB 5828 helps ensure that the promise made to College Bound students in middle school—if you work hard and meet the requirements, support will be there—applies in a similar way whether they attend a public or qualifying private institutions. That approach fits a conservative ethic of honoring commitments and letting families select institutions aligned with their values, while still requiring personal responsibility and academic effort from the student.
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Crime & Public Safety
Addressing the issuance of confidential identification to investigators employed by the office of the attorney general.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2096 authorizes the Department of Licensing to issue confidential driver’s licenses and identicards to investigators employed by the Office of the Attorney General for undercover or covert operations. While presented as a narrow tool, the bill expands the use of government-issued false identities beyond traditional law enforcement agencies into a civil enforcement office with broad and growing authority. It provides minimal statutory guardrails, leaving key decisions about eligibility, oversight, and internal controls largely to agency rulemaking rather than clear legislative standards. The measure risks normalizing the use of state-issued confidential identification in nontraditional contexts, potentially blurring the line between criminal investigation and civil regulatory enforcement. Concentrating this power in the Attorney General’s office raises concerns about transparency and accountability, especially given that the same office sets enforcement priorities and would oversee its own investigators’ use of these credentials.
The bill does not require independent review, reporting to the legislature, or regular audits to ensure the authority is not overused or misapplied. It also creates precedent pressure for additional agencies to seek similar confidential identification authority, steadily expanding undercover powers across state government. Public trust in state-issued identification systems depends on strict limitations and clear public accountability, both of which are thinly addressed here. Existing law already provides law enforcement agencies with undercover tools when genuinely necessary, making this expansion unnecessary. For these reasons, House Bill 2096 poses avoidable risks to oversight, civil liberties, and public confidence, and should be opposed.
Bill Summary
In the past, FPIW Action has opposed Washington’s current plethora of ‘hate crime’ related bills. SB 5427 (2024) created a statewide hotline for hate crime reporting through the Attorney General’s office. HB 1052 (2025) clarifies that a crime may be determined to be a hate crime if bias is any part of the motive while SB 5101(2025) provides leave provisions for victims of hate crimes. Despite our opposition, all three bills have become law; however, we are in support of recently-filed SB 5830.
Senate Bill 5830 makes an important and necessary clarification to Washington’s hate-crime statute by adding political affiliation as a protected category. Washington, like the rest of the nation, has experienced a sharp rise in threats, intimidation, and violence directed at people because of their political beliefs and identity. These are not policy disagreements. They include harassment of elected officials, threats against volunteers, violence at political events, and targeted attacks on individuals displaying political symbols or affiliations. These acts are meant to silence, intimidate, and create fear. Real hate crimes send a message not just to an individual victim, but to everyone who shares their identity. Political identity, like religion or national origin, is often central to a person’s civic life and sense of belonging. When someone is attacked or threatened because of who they support politically or the political party they belong to, the purpose is to suppress their participation in elections, gathering signatures for initiatives, attending political rallies and running for office. That is a direct threat to our democracy.
Law enforcement and prosecutors struggle to address politically motivated assaults or threats under existing statutes. This amendment offers clear statutory authority, making it easier to charge these cases appropriately when a crime is motivated by political bias.The amendment in SB 5830 is carefully crafted. It does not suppress lawful political debate or free speech, and it does not punish political disagreement. It applies only when a person maliciously commits an assault, property destruction, or threat because of bias against someone’s political affiliation. It is viewpoint-neutral and protects everyone—Democrats, Republicans, Independents, activists, labor organizers, and anyone targeted for political affiliation. By including political affiliation, this legislation strengthens public safety, protects civic participation, and upholds the values of a healthy democracy. It also provides law enforcement with clarity, ensures consistent enforcement, and reinforces the notion that violence or intimidation based on political identity has no place in Washington.
Bill Summary
At the request of the Uniform Law Commission, Senate Bill 5831 adopts the Uniform Mortgage Modification Act, a nationally developed framework that brings much-needed clarity, consistency and legal certainty to how mortgage modifications are treated under Washington law. Currently, when a lender and a homeowner agree to modify a mortgage—whether by extending the maturity date, lowering an interest rate, forgiving or reducing principal, capitalizing arrears, or providing forbearance—the legal consequences can be uncertain. That uncertainty can discourage lenders from offering modifications and can lead to avoidable disputes or litigation. SB 5831 solves that problem. It ensures that when a modification falls within the bill’s clearly defined parameters, the original mortgage retains its priority, is not considered a novation, and continues to secure the obligation without requiring a new recording. This clarity makes it easier for lenders to work with struggling borrowers while protecting the integrity of Washington’s property-recording system and preventing courts from being burdened with avoidable litigation.
Most importantly, the bill supports foreclosure prevention. By removing legal obstacles that can make loan workouts risky or complicated, SB 5831 encourages lenders to offer modifications that help families stay in their homes. It supports responsible loss mitigation, protects neighborhoods, and strengthens the overall housing market. In times of economic downturn, financial crises, or natural disasters, widespread loan modifications are often necessary to keep families housed and maintain market stability. Uniform rules help ensure the system functions smoothly and predictably during these moments.The act also modernizes our law to reflect current lending practices, supports electronic records and signatures, and applies standardized approaches used in other states adopting the uniform act. It avoids altering the statute of frauds, recording statutes, tax lien priority, general mortgage content requirements and statutes of limitation. Homeowners remain fully protected under Washington’s foreclosure and consumer lending laws. Supporting this legislation means supporting housing stability, clearer rules, and a healthier lending environment.
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Parental Rights
Concerning guardianship, conservatorship, and other protective arrangements.
Bill Summary
SB 5837 is a large, technical bill that makes extensive amendments to Washington’s guardianship, conservatorship, and protective-arrangement statutes. Essentially, this is another anti-parental rights bill that expands the already-existing wedge between parents and their children by increasing the state’s power and decreasing parental authority. The bill does so by building upon SB 5599, a law from 2023, which currently allows “healthcare” – e.g., transgender surgery – for youth. SB 5837 builds upon it by establishing a court-appointed “emergency guardian” that would be even more so under state control. This means that power once again has shifted away from parents.
The bill bolsters state intrusion into family matters—for example, by broadening when courts may appoint lawyers, appoint court visitors, and override parental preferences—which may reduce family autonomy in circumstances where parents or relatives are acting responsibly. It also imposes new procedural mandates—such as expanded investigations, additional reporting, heightened notice requirements, and formalized court-visitor statements—that could slow proceedings and make it harder for families to secure timely guardianship or conservatorship for vulnerable adults or minors. By increasing mandatory procedural steps and raising the risk of litigation, SB 5837 makes it harder for responsible relatives to serve as guardians, discouraging family-based care in favor of more formalized, state-driven processes.
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Elections
Making adjustments to the schedule for reporting campaign finance expenditure activity.
Bill Summary
SB 5840, a bi-partisan bill, strengthens transparency in Washington’s elections while also giving campaigns and committees a clearer, more predictable reporting framework. Currently, the campaign finance calendar is a patchwork of different deadlines that change depending on whether a committee is “in” or “out” of an election, which can confuse smaller campaigns and make it harder for the public to track money in real time. SB 5840 moves to regular monthly reporting on the 10th for all committees, and adds 25th-of-the-month reports from July through October for candidates, active political committees, and incidental committees. That means voters, journalists, and regulators get more timely, consistent information about who is funding campaigns as ballots are being mailed and votes are being cast.
The bill also updates the definition of “participate” to include spending on ballot propositions and assures that significant activity around initiatives and referenda is reported. It requires continuing political committees to file an annual statement of whether they expect to participate in campaigns that year, reducing “gray areas” about who is active and when. The legislation aligns dissolution and record-keeping provisions so that committees can wind down in an orderly way without losing accountability for past activity. Mosti importantly, SB 5840 comes at the request of the Public Disclosure Commission, the agency that actually runs and enforces these systems. Their goal is not more red tape, but a clearer, more consistent schedule that is easier to follow and easier to enforce. SB 5840 makes campaign finance information more timely, more accessible, and more reliable for the public, while giving campaigns a straightforward, consistent reporting calendar.
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Criminal Justice
Establishing penalties and protections against harassment of initiative and referendum signature gatherers.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5843 strengthens Washington’s harassment laws by extending specific legal protections to individuals who collect signatures for initiatives and referendums, recognizing them as election officials for purposes of enhanced penalties. The bill updates the criminal harassment statute to make clear that threatening or intimidating a signature gatherer—whether through physical threats, property damage threats, or threats intended to harm their safety—can result in felony-level consequences when certain criteria are met. This protection aligns signature gatherers with other essential participants in the democratic process, such as election workers and law enforcement personnel, acknowledging that they often perform their duties in public settings where they may face hostile or aggressive encounters. SB 5843 also ensures that signature gatherers who become targets of harassment may access the state’s address confidentiality program, offering a critical safety measure if their personal security is compromised. Support for this bill preserves open political participation and prevents intimidation from undermining Washington’s direct democracy.
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Housing & Property
Concerning the delivery, execution, acceptance, and provisions of individual storage space rental agreements and modifying the use of individual storage spaces after notice of termination or nonrenewal of rental agreements.
Bill Summary
A bipartisan bill, SB 5844 modernizes Washington’s self-service storage law by bringing clarity, flexibility, and fairness to how storage rental agreements are delivered, accepted, and enforced. It explicitly authorizes electronic delivery and execution of storage contracts, reflecting how consumers and businesses already operate in a digital marketplace. The bill sensibly provides that continued use of a storage unit after notice constitutes acceptance of the agreement, preventing disputes over unsigned contracts while still giving occupants clear notice and time to act.
SB 5844 also strengthens transparency by requiring occupants to disclose known lien holders and by clearly warning that unpaid rent can result in a lien and sale of stored property. It establishes clear, reasonable timelines for termination or nonrenewal, including a minimum 15-day notice to remove belongings before any disposal occurs. Owners are allowed to impose limited, practical access restrictions during this period, protecting facilities while still allowing occupants to retrieve their property. These provisions reduce confusion, litigation, and administrative costs for both consumers and storage operators.
Bill Summary
SB 5845 strengthens Washington’s health-care system by ensuring that health carriers pay providers on time, communicate clearly, and follow consistent, enforceable standards. Currently, delayed payments, vague denials, and repeated documentation requests create significant administrative burden and financial strain for providers and healthcare facilities. These delays ultimately affect patient access to care and postpone the determination of out-of-pocket costs for families. This legislation improves payment expectations by creating objective, quantifiable timelines: carriers must acknowledge non-clean claims within 14 days, clearly identify what information is missing, and pay or deny clean claims within 30 days.
This bill also introduces meaningful accountability—interest penalties for late payments, escalating for prolonged delays, and administrative penalties for claims left unresolved beyond 90 days. These reforms bring Washington in line with best practices and ensure that carriers cannot shift blame to subcontracted entities or internal processing problems. By establishing real transparency and enforceable standards, SB 5845 supports financially stable clinics and hospitals, reduces administrative waste across the system, and helps ensure patients receive timely, accurate cost-sharing information. It is a practical, balanced step toward improving provider sustainability and patient access without increasing regulatory burden beyond what is reasonable and overdue.
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Crime & Public Safety
Providing community notification and protection for less restrictive alternative placements for sex offenders in the community.
Bill Summary
SB 5846 takes seriously both community safety and public trust in how Washington manages highly dangerous sex offenders who transition out of total confinement. This legislation recognizes that our current siting system for secure community transition facilities and LRAs needs a serious, thoughtful reset, not piecemeal fixes. The bill strengthens notification and transparency by ensuring that not just law enforcement, but members of the community and their local legislators are notified when a civilly committed sex offender is conditionally released or placed in a less restrictive alternative in their area. People deserve to know when a high-risk individual is being placed in their neighborhood so they can work with local officials on safety planning, monitoring, and community awareness.
In addition, the bill expands the minimum distance between these placements and child care facilities or K–12 schools to two miles, and extends that same expectation to individuals in the community protection program receiving home and community-based waiver services. If someone will be supervised and treated in the community, it is reasonable to require that they live well away from places where children regularly gather. This legislation temporarily pauses new conditional releases to LRAs and new secure community transition facility sites—while still allowing use of the existing south Seattle facility and McNeil Island—so that the Legislature, agencies, local governments, law enforcement, survivors, and treatment experts can re-evaluate the entire siting framework. During this pause, a formal legislative work group must study siting criteria, local control, equitable distribution, public notice, security measures and deliver concrete recommendations by mid-2027.
SB 5846 does not abandon treatment or community transition; instead, it demands we do it better by rebuilding public trust, protecting children and communities and developing long-term reforms. It keeps pathways for treatment and release in tightly controlled, existing settings while developing a more transparent and safety-focused siting system. It also reinforces fair share principles and oversight of housing providers, ensuring that no one community is blind-sided by decisions made without local engagement and quietly turned into a dumping ground for high-risk sex offenders.