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Advocacy

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ADVOCACY 2026

In this tab:

  • WACD Watch List (see the bills WACD is actively monitoring)
  • WACD Legislative Check-Ins
  • WACD Legislative Education & Outreach Postcard Campaign
  • Contact information for legislators and their assistants

WACD Watch List

WACD actively monitors legislation: our WACD WATCH LIST covers bills still in the legislative process, with defunct bills that didn’t clear legislative hurdles on this DEFUNCT WATCH LIST. This watch list is also shared regularly with subscribers to our Legislative Newsletter.

WACD Legislative Check-In

New in 2026, WACD will be hosting a Legislative Check-In every Monday at Noon for districts to interact face-to-face (virtually speaking). This comes from requests made during the All District Meeting in Leavenworth in June, for more opportunities for direct engagement regarding the state legislature.

These check-ins will start on the first day of session, January 12th, and continue through the end of the regular session on March 16th. It is intended for both the experienced legislative hands, and the greenhorns. Bring your lunch, learn about the latest in Olympia, and ask about bills, budgets, or legislators.

Legislative Education & Outreach Handouts

WACD Legislative Day45strong

WACD 2026 Legislative Day

General Information

WACD Legislative Day will be February 10th. If your district would like WACD to make your appointments with legislators for you, please reach out to Ryan Baye at rbaye@wadistricts.org

Schedule

6:30 AM to 8:00 AM – Breakfast (at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Olympia)
7:00 AM – Welcome from WACD & Overview of WACD priorities
7:15 AM – Welcome from the Commission
7:30 AM – Briefing from WACD Lobbyist and Q&A
8:00 AM – Attendees depart for meetings with Legislators
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM – Attendees have access to the Columbia Room in the Legislative Building ~ Come take a break between meetings!

Hotel Information

We have a new hotel this year: the DoubleTree by Hilton in Olympia. If you are planning to come to Olympia, there will be a breakfast at the hotel the morning of the 10th before everyone descends on the Capitol.

Capitol campus map

Find maps (a digital version and a printable version) for the Washington State Capitol campus at https://capitol.wa.gov/visit/campus-map

Contacts for the 69th Legislature

Find contact information for legislators and their LAs (legislative assistants) here.

CUTOFF DATES

Cutoff date data is from the Cutoff Calendar published at https://leg.wa.gov/media/b2akn2nz/2026-cutoff-calendar-short.pdf

  • January 12, 2026: First day of session
  • February 4, 2026: Policy Committee Cutoff
  • February 9, 2026: Fiscal Committee Cutoff
  • February 17, 2026: House of Origin Cutoff
  • February 25, 2026: Policy Committee Cutoff — Opposite House
  • March 2, 2026: Fiscal Committee Cutoff — Opposite House
  • March 6, 2026: Opposite House Cutoff
  • March 12, 2026: Sine Die (Legislature adjourns)

ADVOCACY

Testimony and support

WACD advocates for the interests of Washington State’s 45 local conservation districts. We testify before the Washington State Legislature, submit letters and comments on proposed rules and legislation, and regularly meet with lawmakers and agencies to advance policies and procedures that benefit voluntary conservation.

Member engagement

WACD’s team also engages our membership each spring with a Legislative Day to help connect conservation districts with state legislators. The event serves as an opportunity for conservation districts to advocate for policies that benefit them directly and to familiarize decision-makers on the ins and outs of conservation district work.

WACD’s advocacy on behalf of conservation districts occurs throughout the year.

Legislative tours

WACD supports conservation district tours for legislators and other elected officials outside of session. Tours are one of the best ways to showcase the great work of conservation districts and its impact on the landscape. Districts wishing to request help on planning tours or to request WACD and/or the SCC staff to attend can do so my completing this form: Conservation District Legislative tour sign up

How to sign in and submit testimony or state your support

The Washington State Legislature has guidance on how to comment on a bill.

House

General guidance on how to submit written testimony for House committees is published at https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/house#. At that link, you can sign in to express support or to provide testimony. For example, to sign in for HB 1652, select the State Government & Tribal Relations committee on January 12 at 8:00 am. If you successfully followed those steps, you’ll see something like this:

Image of House Committee Sign In page
House Committee Sign In

Select the middle option of “I would like my position noted for the legislative record” and then complete the resulting form. You can testify or sign up in support of the bill. You must sign up at least one hour before the committee hearing is to start.

Senate

General guidance on how to submit written testimony for Senate committees is published at https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/senate#. It works very much like the system for the House.

WACD 2026 Legislative Education & Outreach Postcard Campaign

Last year, WACD launched a coordinated outreach campaign consisting of one-pagers designed to educate legislators on who and what CDs are and the importance of CTA funding. We are following up on that work this year with the development of a postcard campaign designed to highlight the importance and need for Forest Health and Community Wildfire Resiliency and Conservation Technical Assistance funding. WACD called for volunteers from conservation districts across the state to sit on a focus group to help our consultant, KR Creative Strategies, develop the postcards.

Why postcards? – Legislators want to hear from their constituents. The landowners who are directly impacted in their communities.

WACD has developed three post-cards, one around CTA funding and two for Forest Health and Wildfire Resiliency as shown below.

Ww forest postcard p1Ew forest postcard p1

CTA Postcard p1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Districts can access the postcards and instruction in the Postcard Users Guide here.

WACD 2026 Washington Grown TV Partnership

WACD is partnering with WA Grown during Season 13 (airing January–March 2026). Each half-hour episode features a short conservation district story. Districts can amplify the positive impact of CDs by sharing these episodes within your networks. Episode links take viewers directly to the conservation district segment.

The accompanying Media Guide includes ready-to-use messaging, hashtags, and sample posts for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, websites, and more. We encourage you to tailor the content—especially if the featured service aligns with work your district provides or if your district appears in the episode. The Media Guide will be updated with episode links shortly after each airing.

WACD Custom Carousels and Reels

Finally, we are offering custom social media Carousels and Reels designed to build support for funding Conservation Technical Assistance and Forest Health and Wildfire Resiliency. Carousels use a sequence of slides to tell a story and drive a call to action, while reels deliver the same message through short, impactful videos. A dedicated User’s Guide explains how to access and use these materials.

Legislative Education & Outreach Handouts

Feedback?

Questions or feedback? Contact us at oly@wacd.org

 

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