We are almost across the finish line of Session 2024! With the last legislative deadline behind us, all that remains is ensuring that the House and Senate work together to pass a budget that fully funds policies to help Washingtonians meet their basic needs.
In their proposed budgets, both chambers have made important investments in helping Washingtonians meet their most basic needs by funding efforts to replace skimmed or cloned cash assistance, expanding dental training programs to serve rural and underserved populations, funding state efforts to prevent losing homelessness services, and more.
However, in some places where the House has fully funded efforts to maintain homelessness services by backfilling the document recording fee, funded summer EBT, funded the creation of community assemblies, and more, the Senate has only provided partial funding. Additionally, the House budget funds reinstating the child support pass-through for families on TANF, which just passed the Senate unanimously and needs to be included in the final budget.
While the Senate budget is a good start, they need a nudge to fund policies to help Washingtonians meet their basic needs and find a pathway out of poverty.
Read the full side-by-side comparison of the budgets on our website!
Urge your Senator to follow the House budget's lead and thank your Representatives for funding these important efforts!
