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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The 2026 legislative session concluded last month, and a lot was packed into 60 days.
My focus throughout session was on how actions in Olympia impact everyone in the 25th District, including working to:
- Increase affordability and decrease cost burdens;
- Grow economic opportunity and jobs;
- Support fiscal responsibility; and
- Increase public safety.
I held the line on these priorities, and we were able to shepherd good ideas through the legislative process. Unfortunately, my colleagues and I were unable to stop some harmful bills, including the new income tax.
Budget wins
We secured funding for capital infrastructure projects to improve community livability.
- $2.05 million for Step By Step and Farm 12 to secure land for a 25-unit affordable housing campus that will support paths to homeownership for area families.
- $1.03 million for the 4th St. NW stormwater improvement project to cut flooding risk, improve Puyallup River water quality, and unlock downtown Puyallup redevelopment.
- $412,000 to improve safety on the Foothills Trail with a new lighted crosswalk and flashing beacon at Pioneer Way.
- $361,000 to expand the Van Lierop Park parking lot from 12 to 55 stalls. Final design is underway, and construction is set for 2027.
- $62,000 for The Opportunity Circle, sponsored by 3-2-1 Buddy, to upgrade facilities so all adults with special needs can participate in the adult day program’s life skills, career development, and personal growth sessions.
We also preserved funding for key transportation projects, including the Puget Sound Gateway Program to extend SR 167 to connect Puyallup to Tacoma, which will cut travel times. The project also includes a shared-use path and wetland restoration. The state Department of Transportation hopes to complete the project in 2030.
The state also allocated $300 million for statewide road maintenance and repair, including repaving, some of which will be used in our area.
Common-sense public safety and child protection bills
I sponsored a package of bills — and cosponsored another — that would protect children and keep offenders off the streets. I am dismayed these bills didn’t pass because of the majority party’s decisions, but I will continue working with them on these issues.
House Bill 2146 passed the House Community Safety Committee unanimously but stalled in the Appropriations Committee.
- This bipartisan bill would have ensured prosecutors could charge offenders with felonies when they engage in sexually explicit conduct in front of a child, or force a child to view such conduct, to record the child’s reaction.
- Unfortunately, there is a dark underbelly of the internet where people trade in this disgusting content, creating lifelong trauma for children.
Other important bills didn’t even get public hearings this session.
- I cosponsored this bill to fix the Keeping Families Together Act. Right now, the state doesn’t consider the presence of hard drugs to be a good enough reason to remove a child from a home. However, 92 children in the child welfare system died or nearly died just in the first half of 2025, and fentanyl was involved in many of these cases.
- The bill would have brought back common sense by removing endangered children while ensuring their parents get connected to treatment so they could be safely reunited later.
- We also attempted to fix this problem with an amendment in the operating budget, but the majority didn’t support it. Listen to my floor speech.
House Bill 1074 and House Bill 1101 would have addressed serious weaknesses in vehicular homicide laws.
- HB 1074 would have stopped offenders from being eligible to receive a first-time offender waiver — and a lighter sentence — if they hadn’t been previously convicted of a felony or received a felony deferral.
- HB 1101 would have ensured reckless driving resulting in a death would be treated as a violent offense instead of a nonviolent offense (as courts have interpreted current law).
Killing someone because of driving recklessly is obviously a violent act, and it also shouldn’t matter if you had another felony before that or not.
Traffic fatalities are thankfully down from the very high numbers we saw in the wake of the pandemic, but they remain much higher than even a decade ago. It has to stop.
- This bill sought to give local governments in large and growing areas greater power to clean up encampments on public property when they are close to schools, day care centers, public parks, courthouses, or in areas in danger of water contamination.
I understand firsthand how mental health and addiction are serious factors in homelessness, and I support treatment and recovery programs. However, parents should not have to worry that their children will step on a used syringe, and all people should be able to safely enjoy our public spaces.
Affordability also plays a role in getting people off the streets, yet the state consistently makes bad decisions that only serve to increase the cost of living.
Taxes won’t solve out-of-control spending
A recent report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked our state as the fifth most expensive state in the nation. Families are struggling with higher prices on housing, groceries, fuel, and many other everyday necessities.
Lawmakers should increase economic opportunities and decrease cost burdens on all Washingtonians, but the state’s constant overspending only makes life more expensive.
State spending has increased 114% in the last decade, surpassing the inflation rate and population growth, yet we still face budget deficits.
The supplemental operating budget the Legislature passed this year pushes spending above $80 billion for the two-year budget cycle.
To meet this bloated budget, the majority raided dedicated monies, including the LEOFF 1 pension plan for emergency responders and our “rainy day” fund.
They also cut millions of dollars for K-12 education, including Running Start. Nursing homes and other health care also took a hit, bringing total Medicaid cuts over the past two years to $1.2 billion.
As the assistant ranking member on the House Finance Committee, I voted against this irresponsible budget. We can pass a responsible budget that preserves services for our needy neighbors by wisely prioritizing spending.
Here comes an income tax
My colleagues and I spent over 24 hours straight debating Senate Bill 6346 on the House floor, but we could not stop the majority from passing the bill.
We offered amendments to lessen the negative impacts on working families and raised our concerns about the long-term impact on our state.
The bill creates a 9.9% income tax on individuals and families making over $1 million (adjusted gross income).
I spoke on the House floor and released a statement explaining why I oppose this tax.
My reasons include:
- Future legislators could easily lower the income threshold to apply to middle-income Washingtonians. I supported locking in the $1 million threshold, but our attempts were rejected.
- The policy clearly seems unconstitutional. Taxes have long been required to be the same (or “uniform”) on the same class of property, and income has been considered property since a 1933 court ruling.
- It will hurt our economy, threaten jobs, and drive investment away. We are already seeing employers and high-income residents leave the state.
Property rights, affordability, and local control
I also spoke out on other bills that would affect the 25th District, including:
House Bill 2118, which I sponsored to prevent homeowner associations from enforcing new, stricter rules against existing property owners.
- Power is very one-sided between HOAs and property owners. If someone buys property in an area that allows them to have chickens or rent out their basement to provide more housing, that shouldn’t be suddenly taken away from them.
- The bill received a public hearing in the House Housing Committee but did not pass.
Senate Bill 6309 passed and lets Sound Transit deviate from local zoning regulations and requires local governments to accept the agency’s permit applications, even if Sound Transit does not yet own the property.
- Listen to my floor speech highlighting Sound Transit’s fiscal irresponsibility and years of delays. Our communities aren’t getting any benefit, yet we still have to pay for it.
House Bill 2034 passed and raided the Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System Plan 1 (LEOFF 1) by $569 million.
- I was against the raid, but I wanted to at least direct the funds to help our retirees. I sponsored an amendment to provide badly needed cost-of-living increases to the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) Plan 1 and the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) Plan 1, but the majority did not support it. Listen to my floor speeches.
House Bill 2442 and Senate Bill 5998 both impact property taxes.
- I support property tax relief, which affects both homeowners and renters, to help people stay in their homes. Listen to my floor speeches: HB 2442 and SB 5998.
Senate Bill 6260 deals with school funding and programs.
- I sponsored an amendment to allow all alternative learning experience (ALE) programs to count toward local effort assistance funding formulas. Currently, local effort assistance is reduced if a school district has more than 33% of eligible children enrolled in ALE courses. Listen to my floor speech.
- If this amendment had passed, it would have brought in more federal funding to our local schools.
I encourage you to check out my website to see more of my work during the session.
Thank you for reading this update, and it is an honor to serve you.
Sincerely,
Cyndy Jacobsen
