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 – The Washington Health Trust, a statewide universal healthcare proposal backed by Whole Washington and the Health Care is a Human Right coalition, has been introduced into both chambers of the state legislature as HB.1445 and SB.5233. Carried since 2019 in the Senate by Bob Hasegawa, the bill was introduced for the first time to the House this week by freshman Representative Lisa Parshley, formerly of the Olympia City Council.
The proposal began the session with some positive momentum having secured a record 11 cosponsors in the state Senate (up from a high watermark of 7 back in 2021) including two members of the Health & Long Term Care committee (Bateman & Chapman), Deputy Majority Leader Dhingra, Majority Caucus Chair Hasegawa, and WWU Professor of Economics Shewmake.
Its debut in the House was progress in its own being co-introduced by Parshley and Representative Shaun Scott of the 43rd LD. The cutoff for additional cosponsors was Tuesday afternoon and by the evening it was confirmed that the House bill had secured an impressive 17 cosponsors.
Parshley is a powerful prime sponsor from her seat on the Health & Wellness Committee, but she is also joined by committee members Nicole Macri and Tara Simmons. The complete list of cosponsors is listed below:
Parshley, Scott, Berry, Doglio, Farivar, Alvarado, Reed, Ramel, Wylie, Goodman, Cortes, Macri, Fosse, Ormsby, Pollet, Hill, Simmons
“The 2025 session is off to an incredible start for Whole Washington and The Washington Health Trust, our universal healthcare proposal. We have never felt that we had so many allies in our legislature and with the support of such a powerful cohort in both the House and Senate we believe legislation for an actual universal healthcare implementation may finally be taken seriously in Olympia.” said Andre Stackhouse, Whole Washington executive director.
Both bills have been referred to the healthcare committees putting the ball in the court of the committee chairs who will decide if it receives a hearing.
Campaign website: https://www.wholewashington.org
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