A recap of the 2025-2026 Biennium
While significant gains were made and milestones achieved, universal healthcare legislation has reached the end of its road in Washington’s 2025-2026 Legislative Biennium. The last remaining active bill, SB.5947, commonly known as the universal healthcare ‘trigger bill,’ was not granted a hearing in the House before the deadline.
In each chamber, initial hearings are scheduled by the Chairs of policy committees. In this case, Chair Dan Bronoske of the 28th legislative district did not schedule a hearing in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee.
The lack of progress on universal healthcare is unfortunate and out of touch with constituents’ needs. Still, Whole Washington gained insight, experience, and respect. We showed up and mobilized at every step of the process. Between hearings, in-person meetings, sign-ons, phone calls, and our email campaigns, our bills marshalled thousands of actions. In some cases, our actions outnumbered our opponents by a 3 to 1 margin. While this year’s bills did not reach the governor’s desk, the achievements of these past two years cannot be denied.
2025
- The Washington Health Trust was introduced to a record 11 (of 49) cosponsors in the Senate from a previous high of 7
- The Washington Health Trust was introduced into the House for the first time to an incredible 17 cosponsors (of 98)
- Whole Washington passed SJM.8004 in 2025 making it the first bill (resolution) we passed all the way through the legislature
2026
- We worked with an amazing stakeholder group to introduce a suite of five new incremental but still universal healthcare focused bills into the 2026 session
- We built off of our success with SJM.8004 and developed it into a proposed new law as SB.5947
- With SJR.8206 we introduced our first constitutional amendment and to my knowledge it is the first time Washington has ever had an amendment proposed to create a right to healthcare
- With SJR.8206 we received our first hearing in the Senate Ways & Means committee
- And with SB.5947 it was the first time we got a floor vote in the Senate for Whole Washington developed universal healthcare legislation (not a resolution), and it was unanimously passed by the majority caucus!
What’s Next
We want to thank everyone who has shown up for this vital policy. There are bills we’re still tracking and supporting until the end. Following the close of the session in mid-March, we’ll pursue a joint working session of the two Health Care Committees (in both the House and Senate) to ensure every committee member understands exactly what’s in the Washington Health Trust and how it works. We’ll capture any concerns in time to address them and incorporate any changes before submitting our flagship bill again in 2027. This will include a funding study and health impact review. The internal deadline we’ve set for the working session is August of this year.
We want to thank everyone who has shown up for this vital policy. The disappointment we all feel at this moment is real, but we’ll continue to develop our legislative portfolio and keep normalizing universal healthcare in Olympia until it’s our reality. Using what we’ve learned will give all of our bills a much better shot in 2027. We know the process and deadlines, and we’ll mobilize an even stronger movement.
We can take the gains we made and apply them to the initiative campaign readiness. In the next weeks and months, our focus will shift significantly to recruitment, community organizing, fundraising, and coalition building.
Our by bill or by ballot strategies build on each other and magnify our power. Universal healthcare in Washington is inevitable.
