Public Policy Legislative Session Updates
March 12, 2026
There are a lot of advocacy opportunities concerning national issues these days. It’s important we also act locally by supporting state legislation and by reaching out to our community leaders.
March 12 Update on AAUW-WA Priority Bills
HB 2355 The Governor has signed the bill into law. Establishing labor protections for domestic workers
These bills have been delivered to the Governor:
E2SSB 5395 Making improvements to transparency and accountability in the prior authorization determination process
SSB 6014 Pregnancy-related accommodations.
ESHB 2225 Concerning regulation of artificial intelligence companion chatbots.
These bills are dead and will have to be re-introduced as new bills next biennium:
SB 6120/HB 2157 Regulating high-risk artificial intelligence system development, deployment, and use
SB 5826/HB 2535 Access at postsecondary educational institutions to medication for abortion. However, SB 5917- Improving access to abortion medications - has been delivered to the Governor.
SSB 5936 Prevention and remedies for human trafficking.
Members have asked for information about legislation on certain topics. Here is a list, with links to the bills.
Women’s Healthcare
• Concerning pregnancy-related accommodations: SB 6014 Update: Delivered to the Governor.
• Concerning access at public postsecondary educational institutions to medication abortion: SB 5826 Did not progress. Note that SB 5917- Improving access to abortion medications - has been delivered to the Governor.
Academic Freedom
• Adopting free speech policy statements at public institutions of higher education: SB 5608 Did not progress.
DEI
• Providing instruction on Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Latino American, and Black American history in public schools: SSB 5574 Did not progress.
• Increasing access to voting services for military, overseas, Native American, and disabled voters: HB 2572 Did not progress.
—————————————————————
The 2026 WA legislative session began on January 12 and runs for 60 days. WA AAUW branch public policy chairs have selected 7 bills to highlight on our Advocacy Day. Get info about each bill on the WA legislative website. To the right on each bill webpage, see options for signing in Pro/Con as an individual (“Sign up to testify/Submit written testimony”), sending a comment to your legislators and receiving emails about the bill’s progress.
Artificial intelligence and Women’s Rights
HB 2157 (Ryu) Regulating high-risk artificial intelligence system development, deployment, and use.
HB 2225 / SB 5984 (Callan/ Wellman) Concerning regulation of artificial intelligence companion chatbots.
HB 1566 / SB 5395 (Orwall/Rule) Making improvements to transparency and accountability in the prior authorization determination process.
Women’s Rights Bills
SB 5826 (Nobles) Concerning access at public postsecondary educational institutions to medication abortion.
SB 6014 (Nobles) Concerning pregnancy-related accommodations.
HB 2355 / SB 6053 (Thomas/ Saldaña) Establishing labor protections for domestic workers.
SB 5936 (Orwall) Concerning prevention of and remedies for human trafficking.
Talking points on these bills and template letters to your representatives are coming soon.
REGISTER as soon as possible (to make sure you get support documents) for our online January 26 Advocacy Day. Our keynote speaker will be Emily Bender, UW professor of Linguistics and Director of its Computational Linguistics Laboratory. She co-authored the 2025 book The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.
Additional presenters will be:
Fina Ormond, WA State Deputy Director of Elections
Dr. Jai Jaisimha, co-founder of Transparency Coalition AI (TCAI)
AAUW-WA legislative consultant Nancy Sapiro
Members of our AAUW-WA Public Policy Team
SIGN UP for This Week in Olympia, an informative summary of legislative activity written by our Legislative Consultant Nancy Sapiro. You must sign up each year.