Making Your Voice Heard in Olympia

With the close of the 2008 Washington state legislative session on March 13, United Way of King County's public policy team is pleased to report significant progress in funding that supports ending homelessness and comprehensive statewide 2-1-1 information service.

The opening of the 2008 session marked an early victory in our homelessness and housing public policy efforts. The first bill of the session signed into law by Gov. Christine Gregoire provides an additional $6 million for the Washington Families Fund to support 1,000 more families in the coming year. The fund creates service-enriched housing for homeless families and families at risk of becoming homeless across the state. Capital projects for housing and homelessness received $50 million for the Housing Trust Fund and $10 million for rapid response loans (low or no interest loans to purchase property for affordable housing).

Prevention is a key strategy to end homelessness and one of the best ways to prevent homelessness is to help people build their incomes and obtain assets. In this year's budget, the legislature set aside $1.25 million for creating a program to return state tax money to working families receiving federal Earned Income Tax Credits.

The Washington Information Network 2-1-1 received a $750,000 increase for a total of $1.75 million for fiscal year 2009 to enhance its capacity and provide support in flood affected areas. The funding will also go towards an assessment on the program's effectiveness to respond to emergencies throughout Washington state.

Legislation focused on early learning issues fared less well in this session. Funding was provided to the Department of Early Learning to develop a proposal for creation of Washington Head Start, a program that would combine the federal Head Start Program with the State Early Childhood Education Assistance Program. Although the Infant and Toddler Equity Act did not pass, the Department of Social and Human Services was directed to recommend to the Office of Financial Management a consistent funding approach for supporting early intervention services for children with developmental delays.

United Way of King County will continue to make your voice heard with our governmental leaders in future legislative sessions. Sign up to receive Legislative Alerts during legislative sessions. For more information or if you have any questions about our advocacy work, e-mail our public policy team.

Back to Top

United Way of King County has strict privacy practices. If you have questions, please review the United Way of King County Privacy Policy or e-mail webmaster@uwkc.org.

Missed a story find it here

Unsubscribe | Subscribe