Legislative Information:

Governor Ferguson signs Second Substitute House Bill No. 1696, April 22, 2025. Relating to modifying the covenant homeownership program by adjusting the area median income threshold for program eligibility, introducing loan forgiveness, and modifying the oversight committee membership. Primary Sponsor: Rep. Jamila Taylor

OLYMPIA – On Tuesday, April 22 Governor Ferguson signed Second Substitute House Bill 1696 (SSHB 1696) into law, expanding the Covenant Homeownership Program originally introduced by Rep. Jamila Taylor (D-Federal Way) and passed in 2023.

Launched in 2024, the Covenant Homeownership Program provides zero-interest loans to help first-time homebuyers cover down payments and closing costs. To date, the program has enabled over 200 families in more than 20 counties to access homeownership.

Currently, about 69% of white households in Washington own their homes, compared to just 34% of Black households. This disparity persists across income levels, with the most significant gap seen among households earning less than $50,000 annually.

“Expanding this program is a step toward closing the homeownership gap between Black and white households in our state,” said Rep. Taylor. “It’s not the only solution to the systemic inequities caused by centuries of discrimination, but it is meaningful progress.”

The expansion includes:

• Income eligibility raised from 100% of the area median income (AMI) to 120%.

• Loan forgiveness after five years for households earning 80% or less of AMI.

• Oversight Committee membership changed to include a representative from a nonprofit housing counseling organization.

In a housing market marked by low inventory and escalating home prices, raising the AMI threshold is a vital change that will allow more Washingtonians—especially those historically excluded from homeownership—to build intergenerational wealth.

Although racially discriminatory practices such as redlining and restrictive covenants were formally outlawed in the U.S. in 1968, the impacts continue to be felt.

“The policies may have changed fifty years ago, but the harm to individuals and communities continues,” said Rep. Taylor. “We are not immune to racism or discrimination—but I believe Washington is committed to correcting the injustices of the past.”

As of this week, multiple sources are reporting that the Trump administration is preparing a series of Executive Orders aimed at targeting nonprofits—especially those involved in climate advocacy, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and those receiving international funding.

What’s Being Reported:

• Environmental and climate-focused nonprofits may be stripped of their charitable designation by the IRS under new Executive Orders.

• The term "climate change" may be removed from the list of qualifying charitable topics for 501(c)(3) organizations.

• Nonprofits receiving foreign equivalency determinations or international support could face additional scrutiny or restrictions.

• These changes appear politically motivated and could extend beyond climate, impacting academic institutions and advocacy organizations perceived as critical of the administration.

While legal experts agree that the President does not have unilateral power to revoke tax-exempt status without due process, the threat alone has triggered widespread concern across the sector.

Organizations including the ACLU, Public Citizen, Earthjustice, the National Council of Nonprofits, and over 390 charitable foundations have publicly responded, mobilizing legal support, strategic communications, and internal planning.

Our Position at FMS Global Strategies:
FMS Global Strategies and the Washington Build Back Black Alliance (WBBA) stand firmly in support of a strong, independent nonprofit sector. We believe community-led, equity-rooted advocacy must remain protected. That said, we also recognize the growing political hostility toward organizations working at the intersection of climate justice, racial equity, and civic engagement.

Our Guidance to Partners:
We strongly urge partners and community leaders to proceed with caution in all public-facing communications, particularly those that intersect with climate and DEI initiatives.

• Review current language and framing to avoid unnecessary political exposure.

• Seek legal counsel if you're concerned about risk to your tax-exempt status.

• Join collective defense efforts, including signing onto the Statement to Protect Philanthropy’s Freedom to Give. Officials can sign onto the statement here: https://cof.org/content/sign-help-protect-philanthropys-freedom-give

(PSARA)Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement 
Action 

Working across generations for social justice, economic security, dignity, and a healthy planet for all of us.

Hands Off Social Security

Start: Tuesday, April 22, 2025• 3:00 PM

End: Tuesday, April 22, 2025• 5:00 PM

Location: Social Security Office Tacoma•2608 S. 47th St., Tacoma, WA 98409 US

Host Contact Info: Lynned.dodson@gmail.com

The HEAL Act requires seven state agencies to create and adopt community engagement plans by July 1, 2022. HEAL also states that the Environmental Justice Council will provide guidance on community engagement plans as agencies create and update them.

What is the HEAL Act Washington State?

The passage of the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act in 2021 is a historic step toward eliminating environmental and health disparities among communities of color and low income households. It is the first statewide law in Washington to create a coordinated state agency approach to environmental justice.

To learn more click on this link:HEAL Act

A More Diverse Ballot

On Wednesday, the Federal Election Commission will hold a public hearing on proposed updates to its rules for how and when candidates can use campaign funds to support themselves. The changes could make the rules more equitable by easing the heavy financial burden of running for office, giving non-wealthy candidates a fairer shot at a successful campaign. “Ultimately, if we are to have elected candidates that fully reflect America’s diversity, we need rules that help candidates of all backgrounds to run for and win office,” Mira Ortegon writes. READ MORE

The Right to Be Rude in Town Meetings

Citing the freedom of assembly, the highest court in Massachusetts recently struck down a town’s rules for making comments at public meetings. In the case, a resident had been ordered to leave after hurling insults and accusing the board of selectmen of spending like “drunken sailors.” But the court ruled that “rude, personal, and disrespectful” conduct is protected by the state constitution. In the latest State Court Report newsletter, Alicia Bannon explains the case and the fascinating history of this fundamental right in the United States. READ MORE

The Cost of Expanding Victims’ Rights

Since 2008, a dozen states have adopted state constitutional amendments known as “Marsy’s Law,” promoted as giving crime victims important new legal rights. But two pending cases in Wisconsin and Florida argue that these protections infringe on defendants’ rights and government transparency. Writing for State Court Report, Cato Institute Senior Fellow Walter Olson examines how Marsy’s Law “generates outcomes that are hard to defend in principle.” READ MORE

No one should have to worry about encountering a gun while voting, but only 12 states and Washington, DC, prohibit open and concealed carry of firearms at poll sites.

Banning guns wherever votes are cast shouldn’t be controversial. Think about it — the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision was the most sweeping expansion of gun rights in the history of the country. It wiped out vital public safety laws in six states and invited dozens of lawsuits challenging others across the nation. And yet Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged that Americans have always agreed there are certain places where guns simply do not belong. He specifically named three of them: legislative assemblies, courthouses, and polling places.

It is, in short, constitutionally sound to ban guns where Americans vote. But states have not kept up with the profusion of guns and their new constitutional protection.

In a report published this week, my colleagues Sean Morales-Doyle and Robyn Sanders, along with Allison Anderman and Jessica Ojeda of Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, issue a call to prohibit guns wherever election administration occurs: at or near polling places, ballot drop boxes, election offices, and ballot-counting facilities.

The report comes at a critical moment. For more than 20 years, lobbyists have pushed to loosen restrictions on firearms in legislatures and in the courts. Twenty-seven states now allow people to carry a gun in public without a permit or background check, up from just two in 2010. States that have tried to hold the line against the proliferation of guns have run into a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions striking down restrictions on who can carry a weapon, and where. As a result, there are now more guns than people in the United States.

The spread of guns has coincided — perhaps not entirely coincidentally — with the rise of extreme political polarization and political violence. You know the facts. Election officials have been forced into hiding. Domestic terrorists have threatened actors at nearly every level of government. Police foiled a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan. And an armed mob attempted on January 6, 2021, to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power after a lawful election.

Tamping down the rising tensions about political disagreements so that violence is never on the table will be the work of generations. It will require a cultural shift and a degree of political bravery and will that many of our leaders can’t seem to muster. But getting guns away from voting sites is something we can and should do right now. It’s common sense, it’s constitutional, and it’s absolutely necessary.

Bolstering Voting Rights for All

Today, members of Congress reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bill that would restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to full strength. Damaging Supreme Court rulings, the growing racial turnout gap, and a wave of restrictive state voting laws underscore the urgent need for this essential civil rights legislation. Our new resource details the voting rights challenges the bill would address and how it would help solve them. READ MORE

A Chance to Correct Campaign Finance Failures

The Federal Election Commission has long failed to enforce campaign finance laws, allowing dark money and foreign spending to flood U.S. elections unchecked. Tomorrow, a House committee will question the agency for the first time in more than a decade, presenting an opportunity to push the FEC to do a better job of improving regulations and upholding the laws already on the books. As Daniel Weiner notes, “Any system of rules is only as good as the body that enforces them.” READ MORE

ABA President on Courtroom Bias

Public trust in the courts depends on widespread belief in judges’ impartiality. But studies show that judges are just as susceptible to unconscious racial, gender, and other types of biases as the rest of us. There needs to be a renewed commitment to well-developed, sustained, mandatory training for judges to reduce bias and ensure their decisions are truly impartial, according to a new State Court Report essay by American Bar Association President Mary Smith, Illinois First Appellate District Justice Michael B. Hyman, and University of New Hampshire Professor Sarah E. Redfield. READ MORE

The Fight for Fair Maps Reaches Another State Supreme Court

Today, the Kentucky Supreme Court became the latest state court to consider whether legal challenges to gerrymandered voting maps are justiciable under its state constitution. While many state courts have delivered wins against partisan gerrymandering in recent years, few of these have been in the South. A positive ruling for the plaintiffs in Kentucky “would offer hope — and a potential model — for voters across the highly gerrymandered region,” Michael Li writes in State Court Report. READ MORE

A Promising Anti-Gerrymandering Tool

The United States has struggled to eradicate gerrymandering, in part because almost all American state and congressional elections use single-member districts. As such, districts that a party wins by extremely narrow margins can produce comfortable legislative majorities, creating an incentive for partisan map drawers to manipulate district lines in their favor. One way this problem might be blunted is by switching to a multimember district model in which seats are proportionally allocated to parties based on the votes won. In Democracy Journal, Michael Li and Peter Miller explore the potential benefits of this model and highlight the additional research needed to assess whether it’s a solution worth pursuing. READ MORE

MEANINGFUL MOVIES TACOMA

. Films + Discussion every 4th Friday of the month, open to the public, admission by donation (no one refused entry).  We meet from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

Meaningful Movies Tacoma was started in order to gather, educate, inspire, connect and commit our community to the environment, peace, justice, and to build an educated, informed citizenry. We show a documentary film monthly— on the fourth Friday – followed by a facilitated discussion.  We oftentimes involve local groups within our community as part of our discussion to further build community.

SCREENING LOCATION: Center for Spiritual Living 206 North J Street, Tacoma, WA, 98403

CONTACT EMAIL:mdtilstra@aol.com

Know Your Rights: Northwest Fair Housing Alliance Library

New brochures are available in multiple languages to understand and express your rights when facing discrimination.

Northwest Fair Housing Alliance

Mark your calendars for the 2024 Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day (HHAD) which will be held in person in Olympia on January 30! We look forward to advocating in person and alongside you once again!

The 2024 legislative session is set to begin on January 8, and you can help position our priorities for success in the new year. 

These four main priorities together address critical issues for the people in our state who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. And these priorities will provide our state with the protections and investments needed to prevent and end homelessness once and for all, and build a more equitable and brighter future.

• Prevent excessive rent increases with reasonable, statewide rent stabilization
  
  Last year, we championed SB 5435/Trudeau and HB 1389/Ramel, and HB 1388/Macri which all addressed excessive rent increases. This year, there will be one bill (with a House and Senate version) led by Senator Trudeau and Representative Alvarado. This bill will prevent the excessive rent increases that are driving so many out of their homes and into evictions and homelessness.

• Create a permanent fund source for the Housing Trust Fund and for housing for people with disabilities
  
  Last year, we championed HB 1628/Chopp. A new version of the bill will be introduced and led by Representative Berg and Senator Frame. It will reduce real estate taxes for most properties sold in Washington and add a 1% increase to any portion of a property sold for over $3 million. This will increase funding and fast-track the development of new, deeply affordable homes, create and fund a new housing program for people with disabilities, and support the operations of permanent supportive housing for disabled people with experiences of long-term unsheltered homelessness.

• Backfill a gap in funding for homeless services to prevent cuts to shelter, rental assistance, and more
  
  $49 million was appropriated last session (2023) to backfill the shortfall at the state level and $18 million for the local portion. Still, unfortunately, it has turned out that more funds are needed to prevent cuts to homeless services. This is because interest rates remain high, driving down real estate activity that funds homelessness services. The state can address this with operating budget funding to backfill the remaining gap.

• Invest in the front-line workers and nonprofits that make ending homelessness possible
  
  Our frontline workers are struggling with difficult working conditions and low pay that fails to keep up with their own high housing costs. We depend on these workers and they deserve better. Last year we secured a $45.06 million increase in funding to homeless and housing grantees for a 6.5% contract increase. Although this was an improvement, it didn’t match the rise in inflation. More needs to be done, and we will be back this year asking for an additional budget increase in the supplemental budget.
  

These are bold priorities that will make a significant difference in people's lives. But none of them are easy, and a strong statewide coalition will be needed to move them forward.