Last year, the Legislature demonstrated its leadership and promoted Washington as a beacon of liberty in the nation through expanding access to health care, safeguarding privacy, and making our criminal legal system more just.
Even with these advances, we need our Legislature’s leadership more than ever this year. In 2024, we will advocate for legislation to protect access to reproductive and gender affirming care, increase fairness in the criminal legal system, and assure that people can exercise their freedoms and live safely and securely in every community in our state. Yet again, Washington has an opportunity to set an example for the country. We call on our elected lawmakers to lead our state toward addressing the root causes of problems and building a better Washington for everyone.
We created our 2024 Legislative Agenda after deep analysis and thorough consultation with impacted community members, allied organizations, and legal and policy experts. We look forward to supporting lawmakers in Olympia as they take on the challenge of building a more equitable, safe, and just Washington.
(Bill numbers, links to legislative trackers, and educational materials will be provided below as they become available.)
Abortion and Gender Affirming Care Access: The fall of Roe has devastating and far-reaching impacts that land disproportionately on the people who have always faced systemic barriers to care — communities of color, the LGBTQIA2S+ community, undocumented immigrants, young people, those living in rural communities, people with disabilities, and people with low incomes. States like Washington that protect abortion access must do everything possible to enhance and protect access to needed health care services. The ACLU of Washington is working in coalition to bring transparency to hospital system consolidations to ensure access to abortion and gender-affirming health care across Washington State.
Reducing Police Violence and Strengthening Accountability: The ACLU-WA seeks to address racially discriminatory police practices in order to increase safety for everyone. The Traffic Safety for All bill prioritizes safety stops, which data shows increases safety on the roads while reducing racial disproportionality in traffic stops. The bill also provides community funding to shift focus away from fees, fines and punitive enforcement and towards helping people fix their vehicles to increase compliance and road safety.
In cases where officers have harmed people, we want to strengthen the ability to provide justice for victims of police misconduct and bring systemic change to departments. The Attorney General’s Investigations and Reform bill strengthens the AG’s authority to address systemic violations of the Washington constitution or laws at police departments and jails by elevating resources, solutions, and accountability.
Transforming Sentencing and Reentry: If Washington state were a country, it would have the sixth highest incarceration rate in the world. For decades, Washington state has been overly reliant on life and long sentences. Yet, instead of keeping people safe, these sentences have devastated marginalized communities. In collaboration with formerly and currently incarcerated allies, the ACLU-WA seeks to advance developmentally appropriate, evidence-based sentencing laws that promote public safety and lead with racial justice.
Even with these advances, we need our Legislature’s leadership more than ever this year. In 2024, we will advocate for legislation to protect access to reproductive and gender affirming care, increase fairness in the criminal legal system, and assure that people can exercise their freedoms and live safely and securely in every community in our state. Yet again, Washington has an opportunity to set an example for the country. We call on our elected lawmakers to lead our state toward addressing the root causes of problems and building a better Washington for everyone.
We created our 2024 Legislative Agenda after deep analysis and thorough consultation with impacted community members, allied organizations, and legal and policy experts. We look forward to supporting lawmakers in Olympia as they take on the challenge of building a more equitable, safe, and just Washington.
(Bill numbers, links to legislative trackers, and educational materials will be provided below as they become available.)
Abortion and Gender Affirming Care Access: The fall of Roe has devastating and far-reaching impacts that land disproportionately on the people who have always faced systemic barriers to care — communities of color, the LGBTQIA2S+ community, undocumented immigrants, young people, those living in rural communities, people with disabilities, and people with low incomes. States like Washington that protect abortion access must do everything possible to enhance and protect access to needed health care services. The ACLU of Washington is working in coalition to bring transparency to hospital system consolidations to ensure access to abortion and gender-affirming health care across Washington State.
Reducing Police Violence and Strengthening Accountability: The ACLU-WA seeks to address racially discriminatory police practices in order to increase safety for everyone. The Traffic Safety for All bill prioritizes safety stops, which data shows increases safety on the roads while reducing racial disproportionality in traffic stops. The bill also provides community funding to shift focus away from fees, fines and punitive enforcement and towards helping people fix their vehicles to increase compliance and road safety.
In cases where officers have harmed people, we want to strengthen the ability to provide justice for victims of police misconduct and bring systemic change to departments. The Attorney General’s Investigations and Reform bill strengthens the AG’s authority to address systemic violations of the Washington constitution or laws at police departments and jails by elevating resources, solutions, and accountability.
Transforming Sentencing and Reentry: If Washington state were a country, it would have the sixth highest incarceration rate in the world. For decades, Washington state has been overly reliant on life and long sentences. Yet, instead of keeping people safe, these sentences have devastated marginalized communities. In collaboration with formerly and currently incarcerated allies, the ACLU-WA seeks to advance developmentally appropriate, evidence-based sentencing laws that promote public safety and lead with racial justice.
- HB 1325, SB 5451: Emerging Adults
- HB 1324, SB 5475: Juvenile Points
- Additional materials
