FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1/21/2025
Contact: press@wholewashington.org
Press resources: www.wholewashington.org/press/
Universal healthcare legislation introduced into House for the first time
Olympia, WA – Representative Lisa Parshley of the 22nd Legislative District has introduced HB.1445 as a companion bill to the statewide universal healthcare bill SB.5233, often called the Washington Health Trust, into the state House of Representatives for the very first time. Representative Shaun Scott of the (LD-43) joins her as the bill’s original cosponsor.
Originally introduced into the Senate in 2019 by Senator Bob Hasegawa (LD-11), the bill has been reintroduced into the Senate every legislative biennium since. The bill was reintroduced into the Senate last week to a record 11 cosponsors.
Prior to this year, the proposal had never been introduced into the state House nor granted a public hearing in the state Senate. But with Representative Parshley, a freshman legislator who previously served on the Olympia City Council, introducing the bill as prime sponsor from her seat on the House Health & Wellness Committee, and with the bill’s new cosponsors in the Senate including two members of the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee, the proposal may have a chance of making it farther this session.
The proposal was written in collaboration with the 501(c)4 nonprofit Whole Washington and is featured on the 2025 Legislative Agenda of the Health Care is a Human Right Washington Coalition, a large community-labor coalition with 44 member organizations and 20 allied organizations including a number of labor unions.
“We are inspired by the leadership of Representatives Parshley & Scott who in their first month have already demonstrated unparalleled leadership in introducing universal healthcare into the House for the first time since 2017.” said Andre Stackhouse, Whole Washington executive director.
The deadline for additional cosponsors is 2pm on Monday January 20th so the list is expected to be finalized early this week.
Campaign website: https://www.wholewashington.org
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