With H.R. 1, the federal government has created a disaster with regards to health care access and affordability, food assistance, and more here in Washington state. This is on top of the Trump Tariffs and inflation that are also hitting Washingtonians' pocketbooks. Speaker Jinkins discusses how many of the bills before the Legislature to address local affordability concerns are actually connected to these federal actions, including the newly-introduced Millionaires Tax.

Another US citizen was killed by federal agents in Minnesota last week, and communities here and across the country are living in fear from harmful and malevolent actions by ICE. Speaker Jinkins discusses what bills are currently being considered in the Legislature to protect Washingtonians and our first responders from federal overreach.

Washington House Speaker Laurie Jinkins talks about the tone she is setting for the 2026 session, which started with her opening day remarks on January 12. As House Democrats work to protect Washington values from harmful federal actions and policies, Speaker Jinkins believes it's also important to be honest with Washingtonians about what's at risk from the bad things coming out of the other Washington.

The 2025 session adjourned on Sunday, April 27th. In this final episode of The Speaker’s Scoop (until next January), Speaker Laurie Jinkins looks back on what she calls the most challenging session since her election to the Legislature 15 years ago. In the end, she says, the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate produced a balanced budget that centers education, housing, healthcare, mental health, public safety, jobs, and the basic needs of the people of Washington.

This week, Speaker Laurie Jinkins talks about opposite-house cutoff, five o’clock bills, conference committees, concurrences — the hectic give and take that characterizes the final days of a legislative session.

This week, Speaker Jinkins talks about public health, including key legislation this session; notes that this is National Public Health Week; and reminisces about about her friend and mentor Mary Selecky, the giant of the state’s public-health efforts, who died this week.

This week, Speaker Jinkins talks about Opposite House cutoff, the next major turning point for the 2025 session. She also offers her thoughts on Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp, her predecessor in the speakership, whose death two weeks ago sent shock waves through the Legislature and the state.

With a little over four weeks left to go in the session, Speaker Jinkins is thinking about the many steps that need to happen to get a final budget agreement, pass it in both chambers, and get it to the governor’s desk for signature.