Welcome to the weekly Washington STEM Advocacy Coalition update. Invite a colleague, changemaker, or leader to join the 2026 Washington STEM Advocacy Coalition, receive notifications and information about upcoming policy calls, and stay up to date on advocacy efforts. Sign up here.
Our 2026 Legislative Priorities are grounded in the near-term goals of our strategic plan. They reflect our response to a short 60-day session and acknowledge the challenging budget landscape.
Updates from Olympia:
Orlando Cano, Washington STEM Legislative Liaison
- Fiscal Committees: Higher volume of activity this week, and committee schedules are changing rapidly due to cut-offs. The Senate Ways & Means committee cancelled their Saturday meeting because they will likely go late today (2/6) with the public hearing for SB 6346, Tax on Millionaires. Fiscal committees are likely to run long over the weekend and Monday to get bills through the fiscal committee cut-off on Monday.
- House and Senate Budget Development: Budget development teams are taking a break to focus on fiscal bills. Fiscal bills will likely have an impact on final budget proposals.
- Revenue forecasts are expected the week of February 16, which will inform the budget conversations.
Bill Alerts & Updates
Jayme Shoun, Director of Policy & Government Affairs
Letter Sign On to Protect the WEIA account.
- There is a sign on letter available urging the Legislature not to cut higher education any more than they already have and to stop supplanting money from the General Fund to the WEIA account.
- Review the letter and sign on here.
SB 5872/ HB 2159: Establishing the preK promise account
- Passed from fiscal committees, referred to Rules to await a floor vote.
SB 5500: Defining the cost of quality child care for the biennial survey.
2025 title: Modernizing reimbursement rates for the working connections child care program.
- Passed from the Senate floor with a striking amendment and will go to the House. Bill primarily provides a definition of “cost of quality child care” based on previous work by the Early Educator Design Team and DCYF.
- Referred to the House Appropriations committee.
Note: Looking for more across early learning? We highly recommend you sign up for Start Early WA’s Notes From Olympia. Start Early WA provides excellent weekly updates (and some fun legislative trivia) Updates are also available on their website here.
SB 6089: Increasing coordination and alignment throughout the P20W system.
- Passed from committee with amendments. Referred to Rules.
- NOTE: LEV is hosting an informational webinar on Thursday, February 12 at 3pm. We highly recommend attending! Register here.
- Goal is to create a better aligned and cohesive P20W system. The bill would be funded through philanthropic partnerships. It does two things: contract with a nonprofit to establish the current landscape in the state and a statewide advisory committee for key stakeholders to come up with a vision of what our P20W system could look like. And work with a nonprofit for a dashboard for an early learning to workforce dashboard.
SB 6260/ HB 2676: Implementing efficiencies and programming changes in public education.
- SB 6260 passed from committee with no amendments. Referred to Ways and Means. House companion bill HB 2676 has been introduced and referred to House Appropriations. Not yet scheduled for a hearing.
- NOTE: Updated one-pager from SBCTC here about the impact of Running Start. .
SB 6052/HB 2570:Establishing a statewide digital transcript data-sharing environment.
- SB 6052 has referred to the Ways and Means committee. There is an updated fiscal note that shows no fiscal impact. Bill will need to be heard and exec’d out of the committee by the end of Monday to move forward or referred to rules.
- Authorizes the Washington School Information Processing Cooperative to develop, maintain, and govern a statewide digital transcript file standard and a secure, platform-independent environment for the exchange of transcript data between school districts, charter schools, state-tribal education compact schools, and postsecondary institutions.
- Requires school districts, charter schools, state-tribal education compact schools, and public institutions of higher education to participate in the statewide digital transcript data-sharing environment.
- Allows private four-year not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Washington to participate in the statewide digital transcript data-sharing environment.
SB 5828/ HB 2567:Concerning the Washington college grant and college bound scholarship program for students attending private four-year not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Washington.
- SB 5828 has been referred to the Ways and Means committee and has a public hearing this afternoon. Bill will need to be heard and exec’d out of the committee by the end of Monday to move forward
- HB 2567 had a public hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce Committee but did not meet the policy cutoff.
SB 5931/HB 2311: Concerning workforce education investment accountability and oversight board administrative changes.
- HB 2311: Passed committee and has been referred to Rules.
- SB 5931 passed from committee and has been referred to Rules Committee for second reading.
- Request legislation from WSAC. Technical bill that puts in statute some process oriented items for the WEIA Board that have been developed over the last year.
- Will need to be heard and passed from the Senate/and or House floor by February 17.
SB 5963/HB 2586: Modifying funding for the passport to careers program and eligibility for the Washington college grant.
- HB 2586 has been referred to Rules. SB 5963. SB 5963 had a public hearing in Senate Ways & Means. SB 5963 would need to be Exec’d out of the committee by the end of day on Monday (2/9)
SB 5978: Establishing the Washington guaranteed admissions program and requiring student notifications
- Executive action taken in the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development and the bill has been referred to Senate Ways & Means.
- Bill will need to be heard and exec’d out of the committee by the end of Monday to move forward.
SB 5841: Concerning the completion of postsecondary financial aid applications.
- Passed from committee and is in Rules.
- Amendments offered in committee and were adopted on Thursday (1/29)
- Removes the requirement that students complete a state or federal financial aid application as an element of their high school and beyond plan.
- Directs that the universal high school and beyond plan platform must import financial aid application data maintained by the Washington student achievement council to provide an easy way for authorized persons to view the student's progress on financial aid applications.
FYI: Revenue Proposals/“Millionaire’s Tax” Proposals
SB 6346/HB 2724: An act relating to investing in Washington families and businesses to fund K-12 education, health care, higher education, other essential governmental services, and the working families' tax credit, and to reduce certain sales and use taxes and certain business and occupation taxes by establishing a tax on millionaires.
- Released this week. SB 6346 has a public hearing today in Senate Ways and Means. HB 2724 has been referred to the House Finance committee but not yet scheduled.
- The proposal establishes a 9.9% tax on income over $1 million, using federal adjusted gross income with state-specific modifications. Certain income is excluded, including home sales, some small business sales, and income earned outside Washington by nonresident professional athletes. Credits are provided for capital gains and certain business taxes paid. If passed, the tax would take effect January 1, 2028, with first payments due in April 2029.
If you have any feedback on the bills listed or ones you are tracking, reach out!
Data Visualization around Student Pathways
Mikel Poppe, Impact Data Manager at WA STEM
- ERDC (Education Research and Data Center) has updated and created a Student Pathways chart.
- Data visualized below is one cohort of approximately 77,000 students who were in public kindergarten in the 2006-07 school year.
- Using ERDC’s P20W data system, this visualization demonstrates transitions from early learning through high school graduation, postsecondary education, and workforce entry.
- Question during the meeting about the “missing” students in the chart. Per ERDC: "Students in the missing categories during K-12 years might have moved to a private school, home school, or out of state. Students who are missing in one year can reappear in the data in another year if they re-emerge in a public school, institution, or in the workforce "
- Check out the dashboard here: https://erdc.wa.gov/about-us/about-erdc/student-pathways
Weekly Action Alerts:
Action alerts and bills to watch for the upcoming week.Note: Next week will consist primarily of floor action. You can also refer to the attached bill tracker.
Take action on any legislation here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/
Committee Calendar
Standing committee calendars of relevant education and fiscal committees. Find all legislative committees here
Week of Feb 9-Feb 13 Highlights
- Monday, February 9 is the first fiscal cutoff. Bills with fiscal impact, not deemed necessary to implement the budget, must move from the fiscal committees by this date.
- We then move into lots of floor action. Follow House Floor Calendars and Senate Floor Calendars. The House of Origin cutoff is February 17.
- Remember- bills that did not meet cutoffs last session are eligible for action this session.
Saturday
9:00 AM
Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee (starting 1/19)
Monday
9:55 AM
House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
10:00 AM
Senate Floor Action
Follow Senate Floor Calendars.
10:30 AM
Senate Ways and Means Committee
10: 30 AM
House Appropriations Committee
TUESDAY
9:00 AM
House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
10:00 AM
Senate Floor Action
Follow Senate Floor Calendars.
WEDNESDAY
8:00 AM
House Education Committee
9:00 AM
House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
10:00 AM
Senate Floor Action
Follow Senate Floor Calendars.
THURSDAY
9:00 AM
House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
10:00 AM
Senate Floor Action
Follow Senate Floor Calendars.
FRIDAY
9:00 AM
House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
10:00 AM
Senate Floor Action
Follow Senate Floor Calendars.
SATURDAY (2/14)
9:00 AM
(Tentative) House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
10:00 AM
(Tentative) Senate Floor Action
Follow Senate Floor Calendars.
SATURDAY (2/15)
9:00 AM
(Tentative) House Floor Action
Follow House Floor Calendars
(Draft) 2026 Legislative Session Cut Off Calendar
Draft cut off dates (must be adopted when session begins)
January 12
2026 Legislative Session Begins
February 4
Policy Committee Cutoff (House of Origin) Except House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees.
February 9
Fiscal Committee Cutoff (House of Origin)
February 17
House of Origin Cutoff. Last day to consider bills in the house of origin (5 p.m.).
February 25
Policy Committee Cutoff - Opposite House. Except House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees.
March 2
Fiscal Committee Cutoff - Opposite House
March 6
Opposite House Cutoff. Until 5 p.m., last day to consider opposite house bills with the exception of budgets
March 12
Sine Die
What’s next?
- We will host Friday calls throughout the session and as always, will send comprehensive notes after.
- The Bill Tracker and Weekly Notes will be available on Washington STEM’s Advocacy page. Our tracker includes a wide swath of bills throughout the session that align with our shared goals.
Invite a colleague, changemaker, or leader to join the 2026 Washington STEM Advocacy Coalition, receive notifications and information about future policy calls, and get updates on advocacy efforts. Sign up here.
The WA STEM Advocacy Coalition exists to collect and disseminate information pertaining to statewide education policy. We exist to provide feedback and evidence-based recommendations to the Legislature. Joining our weekly informational sessions to hear updates on our policy and advocacy does not in itself constitute lobbying
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