(The Center Square) – Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson is in the Tri Cities Thursday, where he is scheduled to sign several bills into law.
According to the bill action list, Ferguson will sign 11 pieces of legislation, but the operating budget and a handful of other controversial bills are not on the schedule.
One of those contentious bills is House Bill 1296, which supporters say ensures that schools prioritize student safety, access to education and privacy. Critics contend the bill keeps parents out of the loop for potentially life-altering medical decisions for their children.
“It’s possible he’s [Ferguson] seeing all this stuff from the new administration nationally and these court decisions and he’s thinking what are we getting ourselves into if we decide to be a state that says that educators cannot share information about the medical ongoings or mental health services provided to children in their care,” said Washington Policy Center’s Elizabeth New, who heads up WPC’s Center for Health Care and the Center for Worker Rights.
New was referring to President Donald Trump’s executive order on gender-recognizing only male and female and his executive order upholding Title IX, protecting girls in sports. Most public school districts in Washington have not recognized Trump’s directives as the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction told districts to ignore the orders.
The conflicting messages have the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Education Department. As reported by The Center Square, both agencies are now investigating OSPI.
“It’s harmful for kids to make life-altering decisions and take medications without parents who love and know them best and can help guide them through this stuff being involved,” said New. “Schools should be teaming up with parents, not creating an adversarial relationship.”
New suggests Ferguson should veto the entire bill.
She’s also urging the governor to veto Senate Bill 5083. In a May 12 article, New wrote the bill “will increase health insurance costs for most people and could limit access to services for all Washingtonians by placing price caps on services provided to people who the state insures.”
“Everyone showed up to that hearing. Providers and hospitals saying they are already operating in the red, with negative margins,” said New in a Thursday interview with The Center Square.
New is critical of another bill concerning health care costs that has already been signed into law. Senate Bill 5480 will prohibit collection agencies from reporting medical debt to credit reporting agencies.
“I am convinced lawmakers are simply trying to make society beg for universal taxpayer financed health care,” said New who called that a “very misguided goal.”
Another controversial bill yet to be signed into law by Ferguson concerns unemployment benefits for striking workers.
Senate Bill 5041 allows striking workers to collect unemployment insurance benefits funded by the very employers they’re striking against.
“What gets me is if it’s a priority to offer strike pay to workers, unions should be doing that. They collect union member dues,” said New. “Hundreds and thousands every single year. If this is a priority, they need to fund it. You cannot ask employers whose workers have walked out and are not working for them to pay them unemployment.”
The legislation summary states: “If an individual is unemployed due to a strike, the individual may receive weekly benefits for no more than six calendar weeks.”
The Senate initially approved a 12-week limit, while the House set it at four weeks. The compromise ended up at six weeks.
By Dec. 31, 2026, and continuing each year, the Employment Security Department will submit a report to the Legislature on the prevalence of strikes occurring within Washington and the impact of strikes on the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.
The Center Square reached out to the office of Gov. Ferguson to inquire on the scheduling of the above mentioned bills and received a response via email with a link to the bill scheduling page, which is linked here. But none of the three yet-to-be signed bills discussed in this article are listed on the signing schedule through Saturday.
May 20 is the deadline for Ferguson to sign the state’s operating budget, but he also has the option of not signing the budget, and it would then become law. If he chooses to veto significant parts of the budget, he would have to call lawmakers back into a special session.
