As SEIU 775 caregivers, we understand better than anyone what we need to do our jobs well and provide quality care for our clients and residents. That’s why we use the power of our Union to hold our elected officials accountable as they make budget and policy decisions that affect our work, clients, and communities.
Because of devastating cuts in H.R. 1 – also known as the Big Ugly Bill – that were passed by Trump’s Republicans who control the U.S. Congress, the most vulnerable people in our state are facing life-threatening cuts to healthcare, long-term care, food assistance, energy assistance, and other critical life-saving services. Instead of supporting people in our state who need help the most, our federal tax dollars are funding historic tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and massive corporations.
The federal government is choosing greed over our community’s essential needs. But we know that in our Washington, we protect the people first, not the profits of corporations and the wealthy elite.
Caregivers don’t back down when things get hard. We double down. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we show up strong this legislative session to fight for our goals.
For the 2026 Washington legislative session, our Union’s goals are to make our voices heard and urge our lawmakers to:
One key way we move these goals forward is by meeting with and educating our lawmakers about our top issues and our expectations for them to fight alongside us to enact these goals. Our 2026 Legislative Agenda details what we need to win together during Washington’s legislative session to ensure that caregiving in Washington is a good career providing high-quality care to our seniors and people with disabilities, that all workers are able to join together to make change, and that our communities are places of justice and equity.
Our Goal: Stop the cuts – Protect long-term care, healthcare, food programs, and vital community services from cuts
Earlier this year, Congress passed H.R. 1 – also known as the Big Ugly Bill – that threatens the health and well-being of thousands of Washington seniors and people with disabilities. If our state lawmakers don’t act, this federal law will cut off Medicaid long-term care for 3,000 residents and eliminate health coverage for 30,000 Washingtonians, including refugees, survivors of domestic violence, and people with disabilities – many of whom rely on caregivers like us.
Unless lawmakers fund these programs, starting October 1, 2026, H.R. 1’s cuts to Medicaid & SNAP will have horrifying consequences:
- 3,000 seniors and people with disabilities will lose their access to their home care worker and many will face eviction from their homes in Nursing Homes and adult family homes.
- 30,000 Washingtonians will lose Medicaid Apple Health coverage.
- People will be kicked off food assistance (SNAP).
- Thousands of caregivers’ jobs will be at risk, hurting our families and communities.
This is an attack on caregivers and those we care for. This is about dignity for our clients and ourselves. Now, it’s up to our state lawmakers to ensure the lifesaving programs we and our clients rely on are still there for the next year. This fight is about more than a budget line. It’s about our belief that every person deserves healthcare and dignity, no exceptions.
Our clients and residents deserve more care, not less. As in-home caregivers, Nursing Home workers, and Supported Living professionals, we strongly oppose any cuts to our already fragile long-term care safety net. We need to protect healthcare, long-term care, food access, and other vital programs by balancing the budget through taxes that the ultra-wealthy have avoided for far too long.
“When my aunt needed me, I took over her care so she could remain in her home. She requires 24-hour care, as she is a double amputee, on oxygen, a heart monitor, and a CPAP machine. She’s also on Medicaid. Without Medicaid, she wouldn’t be able to afford lifesaving medications, transportation services and health equipment. I also get lifesaving medications through Medicaid. For both of us, it’s life or death.
I love my aunt, and losing Medicaid would mean losing her. Sowhen I saw Republicans pass H.R. 1, I was devastated. I was angry. I was disappointed and shocked, all at the same time. Programs like Medicaid and SNAP are safety nets for all of us, and the people who are supposed to represent us voted to strip these. Now, we’re relying on our state lawmakers to protect these programs. There are lives at stake. We’re talking about lifesaving healthcare and food assistance. We’ve got to fight for these programs — for caregivers, for our families, and for our communities.”
Nikkie L., Independent Provider, Seattle
Our Goal: Make caregiving a good career
We’ve fought hard for and won rate increases that reflect the importance of our jobs as caregivers. Now, it’s time to hold employers accountable and get some transparency on how these funds are being used. Many home care Agency Providers, Nursing Home workers, and Supported Living providers go to the bargaining table and are still refused a living wage even after we won rate increases – and that’s not right. We all deserve to be paid fair wages with good benefits to ensure a better life for caregivers and the best care for our clients.
“I’m the lucky caregiver for my adult son, Max. He’s 40 years old, and he’s my roommate, my client, and my boss. I’ve been caring for him for his whole life. Like many parent providers, I had to work while he was in school to pay the bills. And now with the cost of living only going up, it’s hard for parents of kids with developmental disabilities to care for their children and have a second job. They’re faced with no choice.
Our Union has fought hard, and we’ve won critical funding for caregivers. But now it’s time for the legislature to show some accountability and transparency for those funds.Our Union siblings that work in Nursing Homes deserve bigger paychecks and more respect. Agency Providers deserve equal pay for the same work at their CDWA counterparts. Parent Providers for kids with developmental disabilities deserve to be paid for their work. We all deserve to be treated and compensated like the healthcare professionals we are.”
Melissah W., Parent Provider, Seattle
Ensure Equal Pay and Benefits for Home Care Agency Providers
Whether home care providers are employed by CDWA or by an agency, we deserve to make equal pay for the same work and access to the same training and healthcare benefits.
Lawmakers set the Home Care Parity Rate, and we expect them to make sure these funds are spent by Home Care Agencies appropriately and with accountability, so that at least 80% of funds go directly toward our wages and benefits.
Invest in the Nursing Home Workforce
After years of failed fixes to our Nursing Home industry, it is time for Washington State to make sure our residents get the care they deserve by mandating Nursing Homes pay workers as the professionals we are.
Currently, Nursing Homes receive state funding even when they fail to pay workers a living wage or provide affordable healthcare. This has to change. As in other states, Nursing Homes here need to be held accountable by lawmakers, to treat us with dignity and respect.
Lawmakers set the Medicaid reimbursement rate for our Nursing Homes, and we expect them to make sure these funds are invested into the workers providing care and support to residents, not the Nursing Home CEOs and executives profiting off of our hard work.
Supported Living Rates and Wage Transparency
Supported Living professionals demand wage transparency. We need clarity on how hard-won rate increases become the wages and benefits we deserve.
Right now, when we go to the bargaining table with employers, they too often say that they are unable to pay a living wage, even though we have won increases to the Supported Living reimbursement rate. This is not fair, and we demand accountability and transparency.
We know it will be a multi-year process to change the system. That’s why we’re asking the legislature to begin the process of ensuring Supported Living funding goes towards our wages now.
End Unnecessary Supported Living Restrictions
The Community Protection Program (CPP) is overly restrictive and makes people in Supported Living sign away their rights to freedom of movement and privacy just to receive the care they need. The CPP even prevents Supported Living caregivers from joining our Union because it misclassifies us as “guards.”
Our Supported Living clients deserve care without stigma, and we are fighting to end the CPP and to expand existing waivers to ensure people receive the level of care they need.
Pay Parents of Kids with Developmental Disabilities
Currently, only parents of children over the age of 18 can be paid caregivers for our Medicaid-eligible children. As many parents remain unpaid caregivers, we know that Black, Indigenous, and women of color, women with unmet language access support needs, women in rural areas, single parents, and poor parents are especially harmed by not being paid caregivers. The legislature needs to correct this glaring injustice by allowing parents of Medicaid eligible children under the age of 18 to be paid caregivers.
Allow Spouses to Provide Paid Care to Their Loved One
For far too long, caregiving has been undervalued and assumed as “free women’s work”. This is why spouses are currently prohibited from being paid for in-home care to their spouse who requires care through Medicaid. To address this injustice, the legislature could change the law and allow spouses to be trained and paid for the caregiving and support they already provide for their loved ones. Whether it’s providing a few hours of paid respite or taking on a majority of care, spouses deserve to have a choice.
Our Goal: Tax the ultra-wealthy to fix our upside-down tax system
Even before the horrific cuts in H.R. 1, Washington’s upside-down tax code left the State without the ability to fully fund healthcare, education, and long-term care. As it stands, our state’s budget cannot make up for lost federal funding without significantly cutting critical services and putting a huge strain on our state’s budget.
Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable clients and neighbors, we need to fight for sustainable progressive revenue by implementing taxes that the ultra-wealthy have avoided for far too long.
Make Wealthy Corporations Pay Their Share
Too often, wealthy corporations refuse to provide their employees with healthcare or a living wage and instead pass the cost of their workers’ healthcare to taxpayer-funded Medicaid. Corporations received record tax breaks from the Federal Government due to H.R.1. We support new taxes that ensure wealthy corporations pay what they owe before rewarding their CEOs and shareholders with profits. Two specific policies are a fee on large corporations with high numbers of workers on Medicaid and a reasonable business tax on salaries above $125,000. These policies could generate enough new revenue to address the proposed cuts to long-term care, healthcare, and SNAP.
Make Millionaires Pay Their Share
Washington has one of the most upside-down tax systems in the country, with working people like us paying a higher portion of our income in taxes than the wealthy elite – 13.8% compared to 4.2%.
To make our tax system fairer and stop cuts to vital programs, we support the creation of a wealth tax, a millionaire’s tax, and other policies that ensure these millionaires are paying their share. The wealth tax policy is where the wealthy elite with more than $250 million in financial assets would pay a 1% tax on assets above $250 million. A millionaires’ tax would add an annual 10% tax on every dollar over the first million. With these new tax dollars, the State could invest into underfunded public services like childcare, behavioral health, long-term care, and affordable housing.
Our Goal: Promote economic justice, affordability, and protections for working people
Congress votes for policies that gut health care, wages, and rights, while working people struggle to make ends meet. The National Guard patrols our streets, ICE raids tear families apart, and authoritarian crackdowns are putting our families and freedom at risk.
Caregivers know what’s at stake. Every day, we care for people who depend on Medicaid, housing, and public services. We are fighting to make sure all caregivers feel safe in our homes, can put food on our tables, and can live the good-quality life we deserve.
Fight for Immigrant Justice
As immigrants face increasing attacks from the federal level, we will push to strengthen the Keep Washington Working law, to ensure State resources aren’t used to target and detain immigrant workers.
Our Union, SEIU 775, is a Union of caregivers – many of us are immigrants, doing the work to care for our community’s loved ones. Removing caregivers from our communities will not make our country better but instead will cause real harm to seniors and people living with disabilities.
We support policies that protect our communities and provide for immigrants in our state including the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, Keep Washington Working updates, Wage Replacement, and Direct Cash assistance programs.
“I’m an immigrant, my husband is an immigrant, and I care for an immigrant. It took me ten years to get citizenship. I worked hard, paid my taxes, and poured money into attorneys. The recent attacks on immigrants have been really scary for me and my family. Our community is being terrorized. Families are being torn apart. Caregivers and the people we care for are losing lifesaving healthcare. There are close to 3,000 lawfully present immigrants here in Washington state who will lose their long-term care and Medicaid healthcare because of H.R. 1.
As caregivers, we cannot provide our best care when we don’t feel safe. We work hard and we deserve to feel safe in our workplaces. Our tax money should not be used to target and detain immigrants in our communities. That’s not right. We deserve safety. We deserve healthcare. We deserve to be paid fairly and treated with respect. We matter.”
Mahta S., Family Provider, Lynnwood
Expand the Working Families Tax Credit
Every day, working people like us face real financial stress. As workers, we believe that our hard work should be matched with living wages, allowing us to not just get by, but to build a life of dignity. That is why we fight for sound economic policies that reduce the burden on workers and our families and make meaningful investments in our shared safety nets – including expanding the Working Families Tax Credit to cover people between the ages of 18-25 and those over 65 because these people also need support.
Support Workers’ Rights
As caregivers, we stand in solidarity with workers demanding the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights. We know what it is like to not have basic worker protections because of who we are and the work we do.
Caregivers support essential labor protections for nannies, house cleaners, gardeners, and other domestic workers, including a minimum wage, rest and meal breaks, anti-harassment protection, access to L & I, and workers compensation.
Protect Ballot Initiative Integrity
Recently, we’ve seen firsthand just how easy it is for the ultra-wealthy to buy their way into putting harmful and unpopular initiatives on the ballot in Washington state. We support protections that prevent anyone from unfairly buying their way onto our ballots and instead let our communities decide what we vote on, including preventing initiative campaigns from paying signature gatherers by the signature which is a real incentive for fraud and abuse.
Promote Public and Community Safety
Reducing police violence and increasing police accountability makes all our communities safer and stronger, supports deeper community connection, and promotes basic human rights. As caregivers, who are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and women of color, we know the impact police violence creates in our lives, and the lives of our clients. Lawmakers need to pass reforms that hold police accountable and make our communities places where we are safe, valued, and respected.
Caregivers support our coalition partners’ public safety priorities, including authorizing the Attorney General to investigate and reform police, establishing independent police investigation, and increasing traffic safety by limiting police chases.
Fight for Safe Housing We Can Afford
Caregivers, our families, the seniors, and people with disabilities that we serve all deserve to live in safe, healthy, and affordable homes in thriving communities.
Last year, caregivers fought for and won much-needed tenant protections against extreme rent increases, to make housing more affordable for working people. But now, some lawmakers are proposing cuts to these crucial protections. We will fight against these cuts and continue to work for policies that protect renters against extreme rent increases and late fees, and to invest in more affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and rental assistance.
“As someone who has experienced homelessness, I know firsthand how important it is to have safe and affordable housing in our communities. I’ve been a caregiver for ten years and lived in a homeless shelter for several of those years. We give our lives to our clients — which means their care goes hand-in-hand with ours. As caregivers, we can’t give our clients the quality of care they deserve if we can’t afford to take care of ourselves.
We work hard for our clients, and we deserve to make enough money to pay our bills and cover, gas, food, and rent. But skyrocketing housing costs are making this impossible. This needs to change. We need to be protected against out-of-control rent increases. We need to invest in safety nets to help folks who can’t afford housing. We need to make sure every caregiver can afford to put food on the table, put a roof over their head, and live the good quality of life we deserve.”
Laurel J., Independent Provider, Seattle
Make Utilities Affordable
We support making utilities affordable for all families while also fighting for clean water and clean energy. We know that many caregivers and the people we care for often struggle to pay for electricity, water, and other utilities and, because of this, we suffer from climate disasters like heatwaves and cold snaps, and more.
We support efforts to protect and improve energy assistance programs, because everyone should have access to utilities.
