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The Week in Housing Advocacy - Week 13

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Michele Thomas, Director of Policy & Advocacy

Legislative Items Still in Motion

The end of the regular session is rapidly approaching, and budget-related issues received a lot of attention last week. Lawmakers also spent a lot of time considering bills that have made it to the floor of the House or Senate. To get there, the bill had to make it through their own chamber of origin and then through the opposite chamber’s policy and fiscal committees. Bills not considered necessary to implement the budget (NTIB) will need a vote by Wednesday, April 15.

Important bills continue to await for a vote including SHB 1223 (Springer), which will provide $45 million in bond revenue to King County for affordable workforce housing in transit-oriented neighborhoods. You can help push this bill forward by emailing your senator. Our friends over at Housing Development Consortium make it easy for you to take action. Simply click here to start. The Extended Foster Care bill, SSB 5740 (Fain) is still in House Rules and needs to be pulled to the floor where it can be voted on. Stay tuned to our social media feeds (Twitter and Facebook) for updates and action requests if these bills need another advocacy push to move to final passage.

Learn at Lunch
2015 Session Wrap-up

Join the Housing Alliance to debrief the session and to discuss how affordable housing and homelessness issues fared. If there is a special session, we will discuss what to expect and what advocates can do to ensure that the final budgets include the House’s affordable housing allocations.

2015 Session Wrap-up Webinar
Wednesday, April 29
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Register here!

Good News from Last Week

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The Homeless Youth Act - SB 5404 (O’Ban) passed last Friday with a strong bipartisan vote. It’s now on its way to the Governor for his signature. Since it was what’s called “Governor Request” legislation, we are confident that the Governor will sign it soon. Thanks are due to Senator Steve O’Ban (28th - Lakewood) who was the prime sponsor. Please take a minute to send him a quick thank you for his leadership. Go the House Bill Report to learn about the final bill.

 

The Senate Capital Budget is Released!

The Senate both released and then had a public hearing on their capital budget last Wednesday. We were pleased to discover that their Housing Trust Fund allocation isn’t too far off of the House’s allocation, signaling an opportunity for the final budget to include the House’s $80 million. To read an analysis of both budgets, please see our blog post.

For the Senate capital budget hearing, two Housing Alliance Emerging Advocates Program graduates made the trip to Olympia to share how homes funded by the Housing Trust Fund has impacted their lives. Susan Russell and Nick Reyes educated lawmakers about root causes of homelessness and how the state’s investments can transform lives. TVW highlighted their compelling testimonies in their daily roundup of the important events of the day. You can view it below:

It is very significant that both the House and Senate capital budgets have prioritized the Housing Trust Fund. This is no doubt due to your tireless advocacy for affordable housing that has been building in strength each year. Thank you to every advocate who has been educating and urging your lawmakers to adequately fund affordable housing. We aren’t done yet and need to keep pushing so the final budget includes the House’s capital budget allocation levels.

 

Operating Budget: Next Steps

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The biggest difference between the House and Senate operating budgets is how they are funded. The House’s budget includes new revenue from both tax reforms and the closing of special tax preferences. The Senate’s budget includes cuts to state agencies, savings from not enacting state employee bargaining agreements, and other so-called “gimmicks” to avoid new revenue. The Senate operating budget also makes significant cuts to TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) and doesn’t include funding for important safety net programs such as state food assistance.

Overall, we believe the state needs more revenue to get us off the path of budget deficits and social service cuts. The Housing Alliance is relieved both houses made no cuts to the Housing & Essential Needs/Aged, Blind & Disabled programs and SSI Facilitation services. But we know that these programs remain at risk each year unless our state reforms our tax policies. Washington has the most regressive tax system in the country, meaning that households with the lowest incomes contribute significantly more of their incomes in taxes than the wealthiest. Our lawmakers have a real opportunity for reform this year. HB 2224 (Carlyle), which we covered in last week’s blog post, is the revenue bill that would create a capital gains tax among other things.

We urge all affordable housing and homelessness advocates to contact your lawmakers to ask them to pass this bill. Even if your lawmaker has previously told you that they will not support progressive tax reforms, they must hear from constituents who will support them if they change their minds. United For Fair Revenue is organizing a “Tax Week of Action.” Join in by calling your lawmakers today and urge them to “Pass HB 2224 because we need fair tax reforms and sustainable budget solutions.” You can learn more here. 

 

The End is Nigh

The last day of regular session is Sunday, April 26. The very significant differences between the House and Senate’s budgets will be difficult to reconcile by then. If they are unable to come to a final agreement, they will still end the session on that day, but will need the Governor to call them to back for what’s called a “special session.” The Governor could do that immediately, or could wait until the budget negotiators have a final deal. The coming weeks will provide more insights on what to expect. As always, stay tuned to Housing Alliance social media for updates.

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