AWC’s Board adopted the 2026 legislative agenda during the September Board meeting based on the recommendations put forward by the Legislative Priorities Committee. The Committee started work in late spring and met through the summer to vet issues and develop recommendations based on input from the AWC membership.

The Board adopted an agenda that includes four priorities and a variety of other issues. You can find a summary of these priorities here and watch for our upcoming fact sheets on these issues in early October.

The four priorities are:

• State-shared revenues: Preserve state-shared revenues that provide critical fiscal certainty and sustainability for city services.
• Housing supply: Increase investment in affordable housing and provide additional tools and resources to cities to increase housing options across the full housing continuum.
• Indigent defense: Invest more in municipal indigent defense to assist with current needs and address the new Washington Supreme Court-ordered reductions in caseloads, and explore creation options to increase the public defense workforce.
• Local transportation needs: Provide more sustainable resources for local transportation operations and maintenance needs, including efforts to improve traffic safety.

In addition to these priorities, the full agenda includes a wide variety of additional issues that AWC has identified as significant and support items. The full agenda includes issues like revenue flexibility, infrastructure funding, homelessness response, reducing city liability exposure, preserving manufactured home parks, and tools for annexation. You can find the complete AWC 2026 legislative agenda here.

AWC encourages cities and towns to adopt your own specific legislative agendas that include the items identified on our agenda. For more ideas about adopting your own agenda, check out our advocacy tools. Now is the perfect time to craft your agenda and share it with your community and your legislators.

You can also hear more about these priorities and our advocacy work at the upcoming District Meetings. Register for one now.