WSLC announces 2026 legislative agenda

Agenda urges state legislators to act boldly to empower working people and protect working families

OLYMPIA, WA (January 12, 2026) — The Washington state legislative session convenes today, beginning a 60-day sprint for organized labor to secure policies and budget terms that support working families. As this work begins, the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is laying out a comprehensive agenda to improve jobs and quality of life for working people across the state.

The 2026 session is convening as an anti-worker federal administration continues pursuing policies and taking actions that threaten the safety and economic wellbeing of working families. D.C. politicians are pursuing an aggressive agenda, slashing vital public services to give tax handouts to billionaires and massive corporations while attacking workers rights, targeting working people on the job, and driving up costs for working families in Washington state and beyond. 

When D.C. politicians abandon working families, Washington state communities rely on state legislators to step up. This session, the WSLC is urging legislators to act boldly to empower working people and protect working families. 

“Working families are facing an affordability crisis, driven by chaotic federal policies that have targeted job-creating infrastructure funding, family-sustaining social support programs, and our rights and safety on the job,” said April Sims, WSLC President. “But we reject the model of government by and for billionaires that has taken hold in D.C. Here in our Washington, our state legislators have the power to think creatively and act boldly to improve working peoples’ lives.”

The Council’s agenda calls on legislators to expand collective bargaining, defend workers from exploitation, support union clean energy jobs, center workers in AI policy, protect working people, and develop a supplemental budget that supports working families. 

(Click to view and download the full agenda.)

Expand Collective Bargaining

The WSLC is advocating for legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to farm workers, student workers, and Office of Cybersecurity classified staff, as well as give public sector workers the right to bargain the use of AI tools in the workplace, DOC workers the right to bargain contributions to supplemental retirement benefits, and L&I interpreters the right to fully bargain compensation.

Defend Workers from Exploitation

The Council is supporting legislation to expand the Attorney General’s ability to investigate wage theft and discrimination, create a fund to expedite payment to workers who have been victims of wage theft, and pass legislation to interrupt the underground economy that deprives workers of fair pay, benefits, and equal treatment on the job.

Support Union Clean Energy Jobs

The WSLC is pursuing legislation to improve the reliability and capacity of the electric transmission system and amend existing processes to offer a more efficient path for all clean energy projects.

Center Workers in AI Policy

The Council is advocating for policies to reign in AI and new tech abuses by banning predatory surge and surveillance pricing in grocery stores, requiring employers to notify employees if AI will be used to monitor them at work, extending existing protections preventing public subsidies for job automation at WA ports, and requiring a human safety operator for all commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles.

Protect Working People

The WSLC is also working to pass legislation requiring employers to notify workers of federal I-9 audits, aiming to provide workers with a layer of protection and defend workplaces against federal government overreach.

A Working Families-first Budget

With significant budget needs outstanding, the WSLC is urging the legislature to pass a millionaire tax and craft a budget that supports health care, feeds kids, protects infrastructure projects, funds public servants’ contracts, and mitigates harm from rapidly-shifting federal policies.

A list of more than 50 policies supported by the WSLC can be found on the complete Legislative Agenda.

“With just 60 days to make progress for working people, we all have a role to play,” said WSLC Government Affairs Director John Traynor. “As we move our policy priorities forward, there will be many opportunities for union members and allies to make our voices heard in Olympia. Together, we can use our power to build a better Washington for all working families.”