The 2023 legislative session has come to a close! Let’s review what we were able to accomplish from our policy agenda this year:
Meeting Basic Needs
This year, we set out to improve equity and access to safety net programs and ensure that everyone can meet their basic needs. While we weren’t able to pass the full slate of policies we hoped to, the bills that we did pass will make a difference for low-income Washingtonians.
Legislative Goals
- Make permanent TANF hardship Time Limit Extensions for all households and eliminate time limits for Child-only cases
- Introduce Stabilization Waivers for families by waiving WorkFirst requirements during times of hardship
- Smooth the cliff effect by disregarding 6 months of earned income
- Expand the existing $50/$100 child support pass-through for TANF parents to 100% of Current Support.
- Update Cash Grants to align with the Need Standard and inflation by paying 15% of new Needs Standard, updated yearly
- Expand asset limit to $25,000 and waive the value of one car
- Remove the requirement for adults with disabilities to repay their ABD benefits to the state when they transfer onto SSI
Legislative Outcomes
- Eliminate TANF Time Limits for Child-only cases
- Introduce Stabilization Waivers for families by waiving WorkFirst requirements during times of hardship
- Smooth the cliff effect by disregarding $500 of monthly income
- Expand asset limit to $12,000 and waive the value of one car
- Remove the requirement for adults with disabilities to repay their ABD benefits to the state when they transfer onto SSI
Building Vibrant Communities
Beyond our efforts to help folks meet their basic needs by improving existing social safety net programs, we also worked this year to implement innovative poverty reduction efforts and ensure that people can move past surviving into thriving. While many of these efforts did not succeed this year, we are encouraged by the support they received and excited to continue working on implementing them in the future.
Legislative Goals
- Expand eligibility to the Working Families Tax Credit to all adults 18 years and older
- Ensure that individuals filing “married filing separately” can apply for the Working Families Tax Credit and extend the time that folks can claim the credit
- Implement a 1% wealth tax on wealth above $250 million
- Create and fund the Evergreen Basic Income Pilot to provide a guaranteed basic income for low-income Washingtonians
- Create and fund the Washington Futures Fund, a baby bonds program to help break the cycle of poverty for low-income families
Legislative Outcomes
- Ensure that individuals filing “married filing separately” can apply for the Working Families Tax Credit and extend the time that folks can claim the credit
Dental Care Access
After over a decade of hard work, we were finally able to authorize dental therapy, a mid-level dental care model focused on community-based care, statewide in Washington! While there is still work to do to implement this policy and remove limits on practice settings, we are so excited about this hard-fought success.
Legislative Goals
- Authorize dental therapy statewide
Legislative Outcomes
- Authorize dental therapy at Federally Qualified Health Centers and lookalikes statewide
Investing in Human Services
This year, we worked to create a biennial budget that prioritizes helping low- income Washingtonians meet their basic needs. See a full breakdown of the budget on our Operating Budget page!
Budget Goals
- Reallocate ~25 FTEs away from the Office of Fraud and Accountability and strategically reinvest them in supporting access though improved intake and eligibility
- Allocate $2M to Community Based Organizations to inform TANF recipients more equitably about the services available to them
- Reinstate the Child Support Passthrough
- Increase the TANF cash grant
- Medicaid equivalent coverage for uninsured adults regardless of immigration status
- $26.5M investment to continue fully funding Housing and Essential needs
- $2M investment in Skagit Valley College’s Dental Therapy Program
- $6M investment in dental capacity for Community Health Centers
Budget Outcomes
- Allocate $8M to Community Based Organizations to inform TANF recipients more equitably about the services available to them
- 8% increase to the TANF cash grant
- Increased TANF cash grant (to $100) for families with children under 3
- Medicaid equivalent coverage for uninsured adults regardless of immigration status
- $26.5M investment to continue fully funding Housing and Essential needs
- $2M investment in Skagit Valley College’s Dental Therapy Program
- $6M investment in dental capacity for Community Health Centers
This session, we were able to help pass and fund several important and hard-fought bills to make TANF a more effective pathway out of poverty, increase access to oral healthcare, and more. As we look ahead to next year, we are invigorated by our successes and remain dedicated to the work that’s left to be done.
We are so grateful for all the work done by advocates, organizers, lawmakers, and coalition partners to get so many great bills across the finish line this session! We look forward to continuing to work with our community as we host listening sessions this summer and fall and organize for more progress next session.