It's election season
The legislature is adjourned for the interim but there's still a ton to do! Help us work with candidates, develop bills, and prepare for the next session!
Primary elections are on August 4th, 2026
Check this page regularly for the latest legislative updates and actions. The state legislature is adjourned for the rest of the year and will reconvene in January. For the rest of the year our focus will be on working with candidates, developing bills, and preparing for the new 2027-2028 legislative biennium.
2026 Legislative Actions
The interim is the perfect time to build a relationship with your elected Reps. and Senators as we prepare for next year's session. Check back here regularly to see actions you can take which help lay groundwork for universal healthcare in the halls of power.
Take Action Network (TAN) is a powerful tool for tracking bills and coordinating support through the legislative process. Click below to be added to Whole Washington’s organization and receive the most up to date actions.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Today is the last day for non-budget bills to pass the legislature and there are two important healthcare bills waiting on the floor that still need to pass! The Millionaire Tax may take up all the floor time today - these bills need your support to have a shot of passing.
- SB.5993 - capping interest on medical debt to 1% (from current cap of 9%)
- SB.6210 - enabling the state to punish bad actors on the Benefit Exchange
What you can do:
- Call your Reps and leave a voicemail or message with their legislative aide
- Use District Finder to look up your Reps if you don't know them already
- Lookup their office number on the state's Legislators director
- Alternatively, you may also call the Legislative Hotline: 1-800-562-6000
- Call their office and tell them the following:
- You are a constituent in the [YOUR CITY/ZIP/NEIGHBORHOOD]
- Do not let SB.5993 and SB.6210 die on the floor
- Bring both bills to a vote and to vote YES.
- If nobody picks up leave a voicemail, but no more than one today.
- You may keep calling back until you are able to speak to a person.
- Call House leadership in the following priority order and tell them to schedule SB.5993 and SB.6210 for a vote and to get them passed.
- Speaker Laurie Jinkins (LD-27): 360-786-7930
- Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (LD-34): 360-786-7952
- Majority Floor Leader Monica Stonier (LD-49): 360-786-7872
- Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self (LD-21): 360-786-7972
Important legislative information
Washington's legislature works on a two-year cycle called a "Biennium." In odd numbered years a new biennium begins with the a "long" legislative session running from January to April for a total of 105 days. All bills must be introduced or reintroduced as no bills carry over from the previous biennium. In even numbered years a "short" legislative session runs from January to March for a total of 60 days. New bills may be introduced and bills from the previous year's session may continue from where they left off but at the end of the biennium all bills that have not passed will be considered "dead" and need to be reintroduced into the next biennium with a new bill number.
Biennium: 2027-2028
2027 Session: January 11th – April 26th, 105 days (long session)
Upcoming Dates:
- 11/03/2026 - Election Day
- 12/01/2026 - Bill prefiling for 2027-2028 session opens
- 01/11/2027 - First day of 2027-2028 Biennium and 2027 Legislative Session.
- 04/26/2027 - Last day 2027 Legislative Session.
The following bills were developed, codeveloped, or supported by Whole Washington in the 2025-2026 Legislative Biennium.
Bills that passed:
- SB.6384/HB.2724 - The millionaires tax
- SB.6208/HB.2548 - Strengthening health care market standards
- SB.5083/HB.2548 - PEBB/SEBB reference based pricing
- SJM.8002 - Concerning the privatization of Medicare (resolution)
- SJM.8004 - Seeking federal support for universal healthcare (resolution)
Bills that did not pass:
- SB.5233/HB.1445 - Establishing The Washington Health Trust, a universal healthcare system for Washington
- SB.5947 - Establishing a universal healthcare "trigger" pending federal action
- SJB.8206 - A Constitutional Amendment creating a right to healthcare for all Washingtonians
- SB.5808/HB.2073 - A tax on excess insurer premium surpluses
- HB.2100/SB.6093 - The Well Washington Fund
- SB.5993 - Lowering the interest rate for new and unpaid medical debt
- SB.6210 - Punishing bad actors administering Medicaid
- SB.5808/HB.2073 - Creating a tax on excess insurer surpluses
- SB.5955 - The Medicare Deprivatization Act
- SB.5948 - Establishing deadlines and deliverables for the Universal Health Care Commission
- SB.5946 - Expanding Medicaid eligibility up to 300% of the Federal Poverty Line
- SB.5387 - Concerning the corporatization of medicine
- HB.2283 - Requiring all insurers to maintain a medical loss ratio of 90%
- HB.1603 - Guaranteed Return to Medigap when voluntarily disenrolling from Medicare Advantage
- HB.2100 - Establishing the Well Washington Fund
- HB.1354 - Expanding PEBB to cover temporary session employees
- SB.5086/HB.1330 - Consolidating PEBB and SEBB into a single governance board
- HB.2300 - Assessing employers for their workers' health care costs paid by the state
- SB.6173 - Creating an apple health employer assessment
Healthcare bills will typically have to pass through the following committees in order to be scheduled for a floor vote.
- Policy Committee - Senate Health & Long Term Care & House Health Care & Wellness.
- Fiscal Committee - Senate Ways & Means & House Finance.
It is the exclusive authority of the committee Chair to decide which bills get a public hearing and voted on in an executive session. The process must be repeated in both the House and Senate.
More legislative actions
Looking for even more legislative action to take? Check out our pages on the Universal Health Care Commission and U.S. Congress for more opportunities to write to your representatives, make public comments, and advocate for universal health care policy!