2024 Legislative Priorities
We want to acknowledge that every issue is a 2SLGBTQIA+ issue. 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are impacted on every level of policy.
These are just a selection of our top priorities, and bills we are keeping an eye on.
*The copy for these priorities is mostly from the LGBTQ Commission and Gender Justice League. Check them out!
2024 Top Priorities
AGAINST: Prohibiting Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
This bill would prohibit puberty blocking medications, “cross-sex hormones,” and gender transition surgeries for minors.
AGAINST: "Protecting Childrens' Bodies Act"
This bill would prohibit healthcare providers from providing gender transition procedures to individuals under 18 years of age, and restrict them from making referrals for such procedures.
Healthcare
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FOR HB1151/SB5204 - Requires large group health plans to cover the diagnosis of infertility, treatment for infertility, and standard fertility preservation services.
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FOR SB5351 - Establishes consumer rights with regard to consumer health data and defines obligations of regulated entities that collect, process, share, and sell consumer health data.
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FOR SJR 8202 - Amending the Constitution to address reproductive freedom.
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AGAINST Mandated Reporting Against Trafficking (HB 1937): "This bill names healthcare providers as mandated reporters for suspected human trafficking. The problem with this bill is that sex work is so often inappropriately confused as trafficking, and reporting sex workers for doing sex work endangers us. Additionally, trans people who are not sex workers are also often assumed to be; this bill would lead to an increase in reporting trans people for simply existing and trying to access medical care, which endangers us." - Gender Justice League
Education
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AGAINST SB5653 - Claims to protect the childhood of children by refusing to discuss gender identity prior to third grade.
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FOR HB1239 - Directs the design and establishment of a simple, uniform, and easily accessible state-level process for the receipt and classification of complaints involving the elementary and secondary education system.
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FOR SB5237 - Establishes procedures to investigate and address complaints alleging noncompliance with state laws concerning civil rights; harassment, intimidation, and bullying; certain curriculum requirements; the use of restraint or isolation on a student; and student discipline.
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FOR SB5441 - Promotes and supports school districts to develop and adopt curricula that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
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FOR SB5462 requires school districts to adopt inclusive curricula and select inclusive, age-appropriate instructional materials that include the histories, contributions, and perspectives of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.
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FOR SB5029 - Empowering school district boards of directors.
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AGAINST Let’s Go WA ballot initiatives, including “Parent’s Bill of Rights” (I-2081). "This package of initiatives put forth by a conservative political action committee focuses on taking away protections for trans & queer people, eroding state funding for necessary social infrastructure, and increasing police power. One of the initiatives of highest concern to us is I-2081, which hopes to create a “Parent’s Bill of Rights” that undermines trans students’ autonomy and self-determination: allowing parents to opt students out of sex education, and any education/assignments/topics related to CRT or “sexuality.” This initiative also destroys students’ privacy when receiving medical care in school, granting parents access to this information." - Gender Justice League
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AGAINST Birth Names Only in Schools (SB 6026): "This bill would require students in public schools to use only their name assigned at birth, prohibiting the use of nicknames or preferred/alternative names. This bill allows educators to not use the pronouns or alternative names requested by a student. This would affect more than trans students: it would apply to any student who prefers a nickname to their assigned name or a shortened version of their name (e.g. Sam vs. Samuel)" - Gender Justice League
Housing
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In solidarity with Washington Low Income Housing Alliance 2024 Priorities:
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Backfill the state and local document recording fee shortfall to prevent cuts to homelessness services.
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Invest in the front-line workers and nonprofits that provide homeless and housing services.
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Stop excessive rent increases.
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Create a permanent fund source for the Housing Trust Fund, for services and for housing for people with disabilities.
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Youth
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FOR SB5230 - Extends foster care services to provide a financial subsidy for youth and young adults ages 21 through 25 who were in out-of-home care on their 18th birthday.
Public Safety
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FOR HB1513/SB 5572 - Would direct police to focus on protecting public safety, not waste time and money harassing people for minor infractions like expired tags and cracked windshields.
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FOR HB1445 - Would empower the State Attorney General’s Office to investigate entire police departments or sheriffs’ offices for patterns of misconduct, civil rights violations, unconstitutional or illegal racial targeting.
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FOR HB1579 - Would establish an independent prosecutor with statewide jurisdiction within the Attorney General’s Office to charge and prosecute wrongful deadly use of force by police.
Incarceration
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AGAINST WA HB1233 - Concerning housing of inmates in state correctional facilities. This bill states that an inmate may not be housed in a correctional facility with inmates of a different biological sex if said inmate has committed a sex offense against someone of the same biological sex as the individuals currently housed in said correctional facility.
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AGAINST WA HB1325/WA SB5451 - Emerging Adults: By increasing the age for sentence review consideration from 18 to 25, this bill modernizes state code, decreases incarceration costs, and takes meaningful steps to address racial disparities in sentencing.
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FOR WA HB1324/WA SB5475 - Juvenile Points: No longer counting juvenile points in adult sentencing calculations.