2025 Legislative Agenda
The Economic Opportunity Institute envisions a Washington that is a national model of opportunity with an economy that works for everyone. Our mission is to embed the values of fairness, care, and opportunity into the foundations of our state’s economy – thereby supporting thriving people and communities across the state.
Washington’s economy is out of step with our core values, as costs for housing, health care, and groceries skyrocket while income disparities and wealth inequality grow. This year, we worked with community partners and traveled across the state to talk with advocates, service providers, and community members about what their communities need most.
What we learned from these conversations – as well as from our own research and analysis – informs our 2025 legislative agenda. We want Washington to be a desirable and affordable place for people to live, and lawmakers have a responsibility to pass laws and make public investments that do just that.
Our top priorities for the 2025 legislative session will center our values of fairness, care, and opportunity.
Fairness
We anticipate state revenue will fall well short of public needs, both during and beyond the 2025 legislative session. Lawmakers must take a different path to avoid repeating Great Recession-style budget cuts to education, housing, public employees’ wages, and critical services. Rather than making budget cuts that will take decades to recover from or adjusting the levers on inadequate, regressive taxes that overburden working families, lawmakers should empower themselves with new, better tools: progressive taxes on the wealthy and large, profitable corporations.
EOI will advocate for several new progressive taxes, including a payroll tax on employers of high earners and a tax on the ultra-wealthy to fund programs that positively impact low- and middle-income households in the short term and help slow the growth of wealth inequality over time. We support efforts to balance our tax code and increase corporate accountability.
Workers’ well-being is critical to an economy that works for all, so EOI will also advocate for an increase in the minimum wage and guaranteed paid leave for all workers. Finally, the Working Families Tax Credit plays a role in making Washington an affordable place for lower-income families – we must continue investing in and expanding this program.
Below are the bills centering fairness that EOI is prioritizing.
Update: This bill is likely not moving forward, and we anticipate additional bills to tax financial assets to be introduced this session.
This is former Governor Jay Inslee’s proposal for a tax on extreme wealth. House Bill 1319 applies a 1% tax to financial intangible property, like stocks and bonds, with the first 100 million dollars in value exempt. This is “agency request legislation” from the Office of Financial Management.
Update: This bill is moving! There was a public hearing on February 25 where our progressive revenue policy associate, Carolyn Brotherton, spoke emphatically in favor of.
House Bill 1839 eliminates the cap on taxes that big tech companies — those with more than $25 billion in worldwide revenue — pay toward the Workforce Education Investment Account, which goes towards funding the Washington College Grant and other basic higher education programs, like community and technical colleges and much, much more.
This bill has not been introduced yet, and its title may change.
Care
No one can genuinely thrive or come out of survival mode without the ability to care for themselves. Yet too many families in our state face barriers to accessing essential care and support. Programs like Paid Family and Medical Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Days change lives, but with the incoming federal administration, the uncertainties and challenges our communities face will grow. We expect attacks on health care and other essential services. Without bold, progressive policy wins at the state level, our ability to care for ourselves and our loved ones will get even more difficult. By embedding care into our economy, we’re creating a place where people can focus on what matters most: their health, families, and futures.
Our 2025 care economy bills include:
Update: House Bill 1213 is the vehicle and has passed out of the House. HB 1213 has a hearing scheduled for March 24 in the Senate.
House Bill 1213 and its companion, Senate Bill 5539, creates job protections for workers taking Paid Family & Medical Leave and continues their health care coverage during said leave.
The current law only provides job protection to a small group of Washingtonians with limited job protection requirements, including working at an employer with at least 50 employees in the state of Washington, having worked with that employer for at least a year, and having worked 1,250 hours in the past year.
The proposed legislation would change this by including workers who:
- Worked with their employer for at least 90 calendar days in alignment with when employees start accruing paid sick leaves.
And have already met both existing requirements:
- Worked at least 820 hours in the past year,
- Experienced a qualifying event that was certified by a healthcare provider.
Additional program improvements proposed in this legislation would require four hours of missed work to qualify for PFML, reduced from eight hours. This improvement reflects shorter shifts for part-time and service workers and allows workers to take leave in four-hour increments instead of an eight-hour standard.
Update: This bill is moving! House Bill 1875 has been passed out of the House and is making its way through the Senate.
Families and individuals should be able to take paid time off work to take care of and coordinate care around urgent matters without retribution, losing pay, or fear of losing their livelihood. House Bill 1875 allows workers to use earned Paid Sick and Safe Days to respond and attend to legal and court proceedings for themselves or their loved ones.
Our ability to care for ourselves and our loved ones is vital to thriving communities, but Washingtonians are being priced out of the care they need. EOI will advocate for a suite of health care bills designed to decrease costs and improve access. As part of our Fair Health Prices coalition agenda, we are pursuing bills to drive down health care prices, slow corporate influence, improve transparency, and stop unfair medical billing. We are also working on bill and budget items to ensure everyone has access to affordable care, regardless of where they were born or how much money they make.
Our 2025 health care bills will:
Drive down prices
Update: This bill is still in play! The Senate bill is the one to watch: SB 5083 was voted out of the Senate with an amendment clarifying sole community hospitals. The bill had a hearing in Appropriations on March 19 and is scheduled for an executive session on March 24.
Senate Bill 5083 and House Bill 1123 improves access to key health care services and drives down the cost of health care by rebalancing our health care spending. The bill does this by setting a reasonable limit on how much public and school employees (PEBB/SEBB) pay for hospital inpatient services and setting a minimum payment level for community-based primary care and behavioral health services.
Slow corporate influence
Update: These bills are not moving forward.
Senate Bill 5387 and, its companion, House Bill 1675 codifies corporate practice of medicine protections to keep patient health decisions in the hands of licensed clinicians rather than outside business interests.
Update: These bills are not moving forward.
House Bill 1560, and its companion, Senate Bill 5683 taxes excess compensation of hospital executives, returning funds to the public if executives pay themselves more than 10 times Washington state’s average wage (~$900,000).
Update: These bills are not moving forward.
Consolidation is the leading cause of rising health care prices. House Bill 1881 and its companion, Senate Bill 5704, enhances state oversight of health system consolidation, allowing the attorney general to review proposed mergers and acquisitions to ensure the transaction would promote equitable access to services and patient affordability.
Improve transparency
Update: This bill is moving! Senate Bill 5493 passed out of the Senate unanimously but was watered down to remove the accountability and enforcement mechanism. The bill has now been scheduled for a hearing on March 25 in the House Health Care & Wellness Committee.
Senate Bill 5493 requires hospitals to publish their prices for certain services, giving the Department of Health new authority to enforce federal price transparency rules. Hospitals that fail to publish their prices cannot collect on medical debts for those services.
Update: House Bill 1686 is moving! The bill passed out of the House with bipartisan support but was changed to an implementation plan to create the provider registry. The fiscal note was a challenge, so the bill in its current form puts Washington on a pathway to creating a registry. The bill had a hearing in the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee hearing on March 18 and was voted out of committee on March 20.
Senate Bill 5561 and House Bill 1686 solves Washington state’s critical infrastructure gap by creating a registry of health care providers, organizations, and facilities. This solution will help improve transparency and health care resource planning, such as analyzing rural and underserved community provider shortage areas.
Update: House Bill 1382 was voted out of the House along party lines (58-39) and had a hearing in the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee on March 20.
House Bill 1382 improves transparency in health care spending by removing a “proprietary information” distinction in current law that allows health insurance carriers to hold back information we need to improve health care affordability.
Stop unfair medical billing
Update: Senate Bill 5480 is moving! It passed the Senate with bipartisan support (35-12) on February 26 and had a hearing in the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee on March 18. The bill is now scheduled for an executive session on March 25.
Washington patients should not be punished for needing medical care. Senate Bill 5480 and House Bill 1632 prohibits the inclusion of medical debt on consumer credit reports and scores.
Update: This bill is moving! Senate Bill 5651 passed out of the Senate with bipartisan support and in good condition. Amendments were adopted, but the bll still eliminates the sunset which would have ended protections, increases garnishment exemptions, and includes an escalator clause. The bill has a hearing on March 26 in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee.
Medical debt should not bankrupt Washington families. Senate Bill 5651 protects low-income families from poverty by ensuring a basic amount of family savings is protected from wage garnishment. This bill was originally titled, Increasing the amount exempt from garnishment in nonbankruptcy cases.
Increase affordability
Update: This bill is not moving forward.
Everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care — regardless of where you were born or how much money you make. The Washington State Legislature has taken meaningful steps in recent years to advance equity in health care access for all, regardless of immigration status. House Bill 1482 brings critical funding to ensure all low-income Washingtonians have access to life-saving medical care, regardless of immigration status.
Cascade Care Savings program subsidies have helped thousands in Washington access more affordable care. But we are at risk of losing ground on our progress in the face of the state legislative budget shortfall and uncertain federal landscape. In Washington, 70,000 people will likely lose coverage when the federal government fails to extend federal premium tax credits. We must maintain our state premium assistance at $55 million annually and expand funding to safeguard Washingtonians against federal attacks.
Opportunity
EOI aims to increase real opportunities for those who have been marginalized by economic systems that put a thumb on the scale for those with money and power. We will advocate for policies that level the economic playing field and against those that diminish income and exacerbate wealth inequality.
The Washington Future Fund provides low-income young adults with a government financial investment to help pay for things like higher education, the downpayment for a home, or the seeding of a new business. This fund would help level the playing field for young people who don’t have family wealth to help them stabilize on their own. We will also advocate for policies to expand other opportunities for Washingtonians, including cost-free college and addressing medical debt. Less debt means better credit scores and more money in your pockets —both of which can open doors that help families overcome barriers to economic stability.
Below are the bills centering opportunity that EOI is prioritizing.
Update: These bills are not moving forward.
The Washington Future Fund pilot program will study the effects of economic stability for Washingtonians who are eligible to receive these funds. The pilot program provides a $25,000 grant to young adults born under Medicaid to use on one of three eligible expenditures: homeownership, entrepreneurship, or post-secondary education.
Senate Bill 5541 and House Bill 1661 gives wealth-building opportunities to Washingtonians who do not have access to capital or generational wealth due to systemic and economic inequities. The Washington Future Fund will reduce these barriers by utilizing the power of state investing to provide direct capital assistance.
Below are the bills centering opportunity that EOI is supporting.
Update: This bill is not moving forward.
Senate Bill 5115 allows undocumented students and those not eligible for federal financial aid due to their immigration status access to paid work-study and other paid work opportunities to support their higher education journey.
Update: This bill is not moving forward. However, we anticipate additional bills with similar legislation to be introduced this session.
House Bill 1181 adjusts the minimum wage rate to maintain an employee’s purchasing power by increasing the current year’s minimum wage and providing paid vacation leave and five days of bereavement leave.
Update: House Bill 1214 is stalled for now, but because it's Necessary to Implement the Budget, there could be movement later. There is now a Senate compainion bill that is moving! Senate Bill 5768 has been scheduled for executive session in the Ways & Means Committee on February 27.
Currently, the Working Families Tax Credit statute requires that people without qualifying children must be at least 25 years old, which means that most young adult workers (age 18-24) are excluded from our state tax credit. Senate Bill 5768 and House Bill 1214 expand eligibility to support 85,000 young adults living on low incomes. It would be particularly impactful for youth transitioning out of foster care, community college students supporting themselves while going to school, and young adults without familial financial support who are just entering the labor market. The young adults who would become eligible for a cash boost through this expansion are living on very low incomes ($18,591 a year, or $25,511 if married).