APIC’s 2022 Legislative Priorities: Where are they now?
The Asian Pacific Islander Coalition (APIC) of Washington saw many successes, challenges, and important lessons learned from this year’s legislative session that will shape our future advocacy efforts.
APIC had conducted a thorough process of gathering input from partners and communities across the state to create our 2022 legislative agenda. At the conclusion of the 60-day legislative session, APIC held a virtual legislative session community debrief to share the outcomes of our advocacy efforts and where our priorities stand.
Outcomes of APIC’s top priorities:
Unemployment Benefits for Undocumented Workers (SB 5438): This bill, sponsored by Sen. Rebecca Saldana (D-Seattle), did not pass out of the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce & Tribal Affairs. Advocates faced a variety of obstacles, but will continue to work to pass this bill during the next legislative session.
Health Equity for Immigrants Campaign: Advocacy for this issue resulted in more than $12 million to launch health coverage programs for all Washingtonians earning up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Line, regardless of immigration status. The Health Benefit Exchange will also request a 1332 waiver, allowing for coverage to be extended to those earning up to 250% of the FPL.
State Investment in Affordable Housing: The legislature allocated a total of $521.7 million for addressing housing needs, including over $100 million for the Housing Trust Fund and $300 million for Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition.
Funding for the International Families Justice Coalition: IFJC, which provides important low and no cost legal services to immigrant spouses who are survivors of domestic abuse situations, was denied their request for $150,000 funding in the Supplemental Operating Budget after previously being funded by and then cut off from the Office of Civil Legal Aid.
Outcomes for Solidarity Agenda items:
Prison Privacy & Trans Justice (HB 1956): This bill exempts from public disclosure sensitive records pertaining to current and formerly incarcerated individuals’ dignity and safety. Thanks to this bill, individuals affected by the prison industrial complex are no longer subject to harmful public records requests that include highly personal information pertaining to their gender, orientation, or other aspects of health.
Working Families Tax Credit: The legislature passed an implementation fix bill (HB 1888), technical fix bill (HB 2096) requested by the Department of Revenue, and allocated $10 million in the supplemental operating budget to ensure the successful implementation of the Working Families Tax Credit, which will help put money directly back into the pockets of the most underserved Washingtonians, regardless of immigration status.
Language Access in K-12 Schools (HB 1153): The legislature passed a bill to establish language access services in public schools, ensure collection of data on language access needs, and provide navigators in school districts with high numbers of ELL/LEP students and parents.
Voting Justice: The legislature considered several bills relating to voting justice. SB 5182 – Eliminating Advisory Votes did not pass. This would have removed the unnecessary and non-binding section of the ballot that contains what are labeled as “Advisory Votes,” which are confusing and alienating to new voters and voters with limited English. SB 5636 – Secure Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) also did not pass. This would have shifted AVR to a backend system at the Department of Licensing, helping to increase voter registration and further ensure that non-eligible persons are not accidentally registered. SB 5597 – WA Voting Rights Act enhancement also did not pass, but the legislature allocated $89,000 to study the current state of voting rights in our state to look for areas of inequity and maintain a data repository.
Washington State Redistricting: While the legislature did not pass legislation to overhaul our state’s redistricting process to avoid future debacles similar to the most recent situation, the legislature did pass SB 5583, which ensures an end to prison gerrymandering at the local level. Incarcerated persons, to the greatest extent possible, will be counted for the purposes of redistricting as residents of their last known residential address, rather than the site of incarceration.
Abortion Care Access (HB 1851): The legislature passed HB 1851 to ensure that advanced practice clinicians can provide abortion care and update state law to make related language gender neutral. This is an important update to our laws also in light of recent legislation in other states attempting to restrict access to abortion care, including Idaho. The passage of this legislation ensures that Washington remains at the forefront of protecting access to this type of care.
