Photo Credit: Erica Hallock
Trivia!
Your family wasn’t the only one to take a vacation last summer. Our own State Constitution took its very first vacay away from Olympia! Which city did it visit? (I hope it packed sunscreen!)
Highlights of the Week
The start of session is often described as back-to-school season, but there is no equivalent of “syllabus week” in the Washington State Legislature as work got off to an explosive start. It was not uncommon to hear legislators, staff and lobbyists bemoaning that day 3 felt like day 303. A positive way to look at the level of activity is that there was no delay in addressing the needs of the people of Washington state.
Legislative Media Availability
There were several press availabilities for the Governor and legislative leadership to share their priorities and answer questions from the press about what’s “on top” for the 2026 legislative session.
I tried to catch most of these availabilities and was once again struck by the decline in the number of traditional press corps covering the Capitol. When I interviewed longtime Spokesman Review reporter Jim Camden back in 2024, he reflected on how he used to have to yell over the multitude of other reporters in gubernatorial press conferences to be heard, but today there are simply fewer reporters based in Olympia. Today, there are podcasters and bloggers in these media availabilities with distinct points of view, often asking more questions than the “traditional” press.
The media availability kicked off Friday before the start of the legislative session with the Washington Association of Broadcasters/Allied Daily Newspapers Legislative Briefing. This event consisted of three bi-partisan panels with Democratic and Republican Legislative Leadership, Operating Budget Leadership, and Transportation Budget Leadership. The event concluded with Governor Ferguson.
Governor Ferguson used his time to unveil his “Governor’s request” legislation for the upcoming year. This year, he is backing six pieces of legislation, including the “Pre-K Promise Act” made possible by a gift from the Ballmer Group to expand access to the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP).
Unfounded and racist accusations of fraud in our state’s Working Connections Child Care system that first arose online in late December were also raised during the Friday media availability. The issue also drew significant attention in the Tuesday, January 13 Legislative Democratic Leadership Media Availability and Legislative Republican Leadership Media Availability.
Democrats reinforced the accountability measures for child care provider reimbursements – including independent audits – while Republicans called for further review to ensure fraud is not prevalent in the system. In the Democratic Leadership Media Availability, legislators expressed concern over individuals conducting independent investigation and implored that any allegations should be directed toward the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
State of the State
On Tuesday, Governor Bob Ferguson delivered his second State of the State address. Against a background of another challenging budget situation, Governor Ferguson aimed to strike a unifying tone. He reflected on how Washingtonians pulled together during the recent storms and flooding as an example of how we can “do hard things” and as a call for us to come together for the metaphorical storms that continue to come our way.
A definite choice, he did not specifically mention the state’s $2.3 billion budget gap and the significant budget cuts he suggested in his first proposed budget. He instead focused on creative bills lawmakers introduced, including bi-partisan bills and those with minimal fiscal impacts. He, of course, highlighted the Ballmer Group’s ECEAP gift.
Read the Washington Standard’s recap of his speech. (And as a mom of former teenagers, I totally caught his 17-year-old twins side eyes while he was calling them out. Hey, you got a day off from school!)
Budget Work Begins
Speaking of the budget, balancing this Supplemental Budget is THE focus during this 60-day session. Each of the fiscal committees heard this week from the Office of Financial Management Director KD Chapman-See about the details of Governor Ferguson’s proposed budgets followed by hours of public testimony in response.
It was sobering hearing the multitude of impactful – and important – programs under consideration for reduction or even elimination. In her own remarks, in media availabilities and in comments from the Rostrum on opening day, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins placed the origin for our state’s fiscal predicament at the feet of the federal government. The Speaker pointed to tariff impacts as well as implementation of HR 1, especially implementation costs related to Medicaid and SNAP, as particularly impactful.
Work Session
In response to media attention on purported (and unproven) allegations of fraud within our Working Connections Child Care system, the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee held a work session on January 15 focused on the state’s child care and accountability system.
Presenters included DCYF Assistant Secretary of Early Learning Nicole Rose, DCYF Assistant Secretary of Licensing Ruben Reeves, Child Care Aware’s Contract Lobbyist Jennifer Ziegler and Ella Fultz, owner and founder of Gathering Tree Early Learning in Vancouver, an in-home outdoor preschool.
Prior to hearing from panelists, Chair Wellman and Vice Chair Wilson provided opening remarks. Chair Wellman focused on existing accountability measures in place, highlighting this 2025 DCYF Overpayment Report. Senator Wilson spoke to the state’s quality system and its evolution. Senator Wilson stressed that our state has strong systems in place and that no one wants to see fraud.
You can view DCYF’s slide deck here and the Child Care Aware (CCA) slide deck here.
In short, the work session provided an opportunity for DCYF and CCA to speak with legislative committee members about their respective roles in the licensing, coaching, monitoring and accountability aspects of the subsidized child care system. Questions from committee members helped underscore the complexity of the system and the various safeguards in place to ensure program and fiscal integrity.
You can rewatch the work session on TVW here.
What’s on Deck for Next Week
Advocates are keenly aware that the first legislative cutoff is coming quickly (too quickly!) with policy committee cutoff approaching on February 4. This means if your bill did not get a hearing next week, its path is more complicated.
Here is what I am watching next week as it relates to early learning:
- Pre-K Promise Bills Scheduled for Hearing in Fiscal Committees. SB 5872 (Wilson, C.) will be heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday, January 19 and HB 2159 (Bergquist) will be heard in the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, January 21. These companion bills would set-up the Pre-K Promise Accounts, establishing the mechanism for the State to accept the Ballmer Group’s gift for ECEAP expansion.
- House Capital Budget Committee Work Session on Grant Projects. On Thursday, January 22, the House Capital Budget Committee will hold a work session looking at the Department of Commerce’s Capital Budget Grants.
- Bill to Expand ECEAP Eligibility Gets Senate Policy Committee Hearing. SB 5907 (Nobles), which would expand ECEAP eligibility to include populations of families in the military, will be heard in the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee on Tuesday, January 20. Its companion bill, HB 2099 (Leavitt) is scheduled for Executive Session (vote) in the House Early Learning and Human Services Committee on Friday, January 23.
- Children and Youth Behavioral Health Gets Focus in House Early Learning and Human Services Committee. The House Early Learning and Human Services Committee will hold a work session focused on hearing recommendations from the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Workgroup followed by a public hearing on HB 2429 (Callan). HB 2429 looks to codify a number of recommendations from the Washington Thriving work, including establishing a Behavioral Health Leadership Council consisting of state agencies and using the Washington Thriving Strategic Plan to guide future work.
Bills, Bills, Bills
Bills continue to be introduced at a steady clip. Here are a few we wanted to call to your attention:
- HB 2438 (Bergquist), Establishing the supporting our early education degree seekers scholarship. This bill seeks to direct a portion of the surplus from the state’s college tuition payment program (Guaranteed Education Tuition – GET) to provide financial aid to students enrolled in eligible early childhood education programs.
- SB 6078 (Slatter), Providing prelicensing supports to individuals interested in becoming a licensed child care provider. This bill addresses prelicensing supports for child care providers, codifying services related to prelicensing supports (e.g. navigating the facilities development process). It provides that DCYF may, within existing resources, develop and publicize an online child care license resource guide for individuals interested in obtaining a child care license when they submit a permit application to a city or a county. It also requires cities or counties to notify applicants for child care licenses of the availability of DCYF prelicensing supports. This bill is scheduled for hearing in the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee on January 22.
And my personal favorite (or the one in my nightmares)…
As a reminder, each Thursday, Start Early Washington updates its bill tracker with the latest information on bills we are following. Note that we have only included bills from the second half of the biennium in this week’s tracker. Other bills from earlier in the biennium could still be addressed this session. If we have missed any bills of interest, please reach out and flag them for us!
Start Early Washington Resources
With many changes – some good and some not so good – to Washington’s mixed-delivery early learning system over the last year, we thought it might be helpful to provide a “state of play”, which you can find on our Policy Resources page. This document offers a moment-in-time snapshot of Working Connections Child Care (WCCC), Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), and Transition to Kindergarten (TTK) in our state. Key policy and budget changes from the 2025 session that impact planned expansions are also synthesized in this document.
Trivia Answer
In honor of Constitution Week, the State Constitution visited Spokane on September 15, 2025. This is the first time the document has traveled to Eastern Washington.
Since adoption in 1889, the State Constitution has been housed in Olympia, where for most of its history, lived on a shelf in the basement of the old Capitol building. However, today it is kept in a climate-controlled vault and is not usually available for public viewing. But last September, the document traveled across the state with state Archivists, an escort by the State Patrol, and was displayed in the Spokane Central Library under UV-shielding glass.
Oliver Hokama, 8, views the original Washington state Constitution on display at the Spokane Central Library.
(Photo Courtesy: Colin Mulvany, The Spokesman-Review)
This vacation was part of an overall effort of the State Archivists and the Secretary of State, Steve Hobbs, plan to bring more of Washington’s historical documents out of the archive in Olympia for the public to engage with. You can read about the experiences of State Constitution viewers in Spokane in this Spokesman-Review article.
As a Spokanite, I think this is super cool, but I do think there was a bit of a missed opportunity. I personally would have liked to see pictures of the State Constitution riding the famous Looff Carrousel at Spokane’s Riverfront Park or viewing the roaring Spokane Falls (the glass covering protecting the document from any damage). I am, though, relieved it did not visit the Park’s Garbage Goat, because that Goat is known to chow down on paper!
(Photo Courtesy: Washington Secretary of State)
The State Constitution was drafted by 75 male delegates in 1889, and on November 11, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison approved the Constitution, making Washington the 42nd state of the United States of America. You can read the State Constitution in full here.
The Washington State Constitution was modeled after Oregon’s State Constitution and adapted some language from California’s as well. Our state’s constitution is laid out on 78 handwritten, leatherbound pages. Today the Constitution comprises just under 33,000 words making up 32 articles and over 100 amendments. When put to a vote for ratification, 40,152 supported ratification and 11,879 opposed.
Nowadays, Washington state has over 5,101,680 registered voters. Just this past fall, 1,733,636 of Washington’s voters voted on amending our state’s constitution once more.
Kicking off the 2026 legislative session, the State Constitution was temporarily displayed in the Governor’s office and available for public viewing on Monday, January 12. State Archivists were on hand to answer questions about the document, and Washington State Patrol escorted and guarded the document as they did on its “vacation” earlier this year. The Governor remarked to the House delegation that this was his first time viewing the State Constitution in person.
Sources
Secretary of State News – State Constitution To Be Displayed in Eastern Washington for First Time
Secretary of State Ballot Return Statistics
The University of Washington School of Law
Best News Ever! Taylor Ray’s is back operating the cafeteria in the Dome Deli. IYKYK
