A Letter to PTA Members: Our Position on the Proposed Millionaires Tax
From: Washington State PTA President and Advocacy Director Date: February 18, 2026 Dear PTA Members, If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve likely heard about SB 6346 and HB 2724 – commonly called the “Millionaires Tax.” These bills propose a 9.9% tax on individuals with annual adjusted gross income over $1 million, affecting an estimated one-half of one percent of Washington households. With…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Fiscal Cutoff Passes, Tuesday Marks Major Deadline
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Monday, February 9th, was the cutoff by which bills needed to pass out of fiscal committees to remain under consideration this session (See the list of bills that failed to make the deadline towards the end of the report). The House and Senate worked through the week, including a couple of late nights, and the House worked…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
House Finance Committee Exempts K-12 Schools from Sales Tax Extension
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org As mentioned last week, February 4th was the first session cutoff, with hundreds of bills failing to pass out of policy committees in the chamber in which they started. Then it was a quick rush to the fiscal committee cutoff, which is today. The Senate Ways & Means Committee chose to work a bit longer on Thursday and…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
February 4 Policy Cutoff Looms | One Third of 2026 Session Complete
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org This Wednesday marks the first of many deadlines by which bills need to advance to stay under consideration this session. As a reminder, only about 10% of bills introduced actually pass both chambers and are signed into law by the governor. Here are the next few deadlines to keep in mind as lawmakers move towards the…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Write your Legislators during Focus on Advocacy Week
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org This week is Focus on Advocacy Week, when WSPTA members will have the opportunity to send a tailored email about Top 5 priorities and current issues each day, beginning today. Members of the WSPTA Advocacy Committee have made this easy by writing letters that can be personalized by you before sending to your legislators or specific chambers. Look for…
See you at Focus Day!
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Parents and students will descend on Olympia today to meet with their state legislators during the annual Washington State PTA Focus Day. Members also will hear from Senators and Representatives over the lunch hour and will participate in a march around the capitol grounds in support of closing K12 funding gaps. If you weren’t able to travel to the State Capitol,…
And … We’re Off!
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Today marks the start of the 60-day session and it’s already setting off at a fast pace with public hearings on Governor Bob Ferguson’s proposed 2026 supplemental budgets and a variety of policy bills. Remember, all bills from 2025 are still eligible to move forward this year, but they’ll need to meet cutoff deadlines. And, legislators have been very busy “pre-filing” bills which will…
WSPTA Requests Vetoes from Governor Ferguson
Washington State PTA joined other statewide associations to request a veto of a bill that would reduce state funding to students enrolled in Alternative Learning Experience programs in eight school districts and a “section veto” of a bill that would make the inflationary growth rates different for per student enrichment levies and per student local…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
And That’s a Wrap: Legislature Adjourns
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org After an exceptionally tough and challenging session, the Washington State Legislature adjourned around 6:30 PM on April 27th, the final day of the regularly scheduled 105-day session. When the 2025-27 operating budget was revealed by the Conference Committee on Saturday, April 26th, one of the best bits of news was that…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 14 Legislative Review: It’s the Final Countdown
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org View our comprehensive bill tracker for Week 15 ahead here. Wednesday, April 16 was the final day for bills to pass out of the opposite chamber, with the exception of bills that save the state money or raise money. Starting the next day, both the House and Senate began working on…