Our 2022 Legislative Priorities

Welcome to week one of Washington’s 2022 Legislative Session! This is a short session, meaning we have 60 days to do some good things in our state’s public policies and budget for our goal of making food access more equitable for all in Washington.

This session, we hope you will join us in supporting our priorities to help make sure that more kids have the consistent access to school meals that fuel learning and remove barriers to their potential. We’ll do this with HB 1878, requiring eligible, high poverty, high need schools to use the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to draw down federal funds to support breakfasts and lunches at no cost for students and with HB 1833, establishing an online portal to make it easier for families to apply for school meals.

We’re also working for additional resources to support food and capacity resources from WSDA for food banks and increasing access to the Farmers Market Nutrition Program for low-income seniors. Both of these programs help put food on the table for struggling Washingtonians and increase revenue for Washington’s struggling family farms.

Hunger is a symptom of poverty, the result of painful decisions between food and other essential needs for housing and health care. This is why we are also supporting bills to expand affordable, preventative dental care with dental therapists; increase affordable, permanent housing; reduce housing discrimination for people who have served their time for prior felony convictions; and are continuing the work of strengthening TANF, including HB 1947 that will provide a diaper stipend for our lowest-income families with infants and young children. We are also supporting bills and funding for the Working Families Tax Credit and a Guaranteed Basic Income program because direct cash payments, like those provided by the federal Child and Earned Income Tax Credits, have been proven highly effective in decreasing child poverty and stimulating our economy because payments are used for immediate essential needs to pay the rent, pay for childcare so parents can work, and put food on the table.

You can read more details about our priorities on our website and follow these updates for ideas on how to take action. Together we can continue Washington’s progress towards a stronger, more equitable future.

What You Can Do