2025 Legislative Notebook – The Arc Washington

Legislative Notebook

Advocacy for Individuals with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, their Families and Allies

The legislative Notebook is your resource for advocacy. It includes public policy ideas that community members are working on and information to help you understand how health, education and social services affect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

This web page will be updated througout the legislative session.

About the Notebook:

This year’s notebook includes survey results from the IDD community, legislative issues that advocates are working on, and resources and data to support your advocacy.

You can download the December 2, 2024, Legislative Notebook Meeting presentation here. It includes short summaries of the issue proposals, as well as highlights from the IDD Support and Advocacy Survey. You will be able to watch the video here soon. (To hear the Spanish interpretation, click on the globe and choose Spanish.)

Top of the Mind: Access to Services, Equity and Housing

This year, we surveyed people from across state to ask them what they needed in terms of support and advocacy. Results are informing our 2025 Advocacy Days and support during the legislative session.

Challenges finding caregivers, and providers and housing rose to the top, though priorities changed when viewed by group. Senior families identified concerns about when they are no longer there, and younger families and those from BIPOC communities were more likely to identify financial and economic impacts as a top concerns. Access to mental health services or complex behavior support also came up often.

You can download the report here.

Issues Advocates are Working On

The issues highlighted here come from across the IDD community, including community members, coalitions, and organizations. The are not necessarily endorced by The Arc of Washington or the Community Advocacy Coalition.

They propose legislation to improve services or support.

Each paper lists the groups working on the issue and a contact person.

These two issues do not have specific legislation, but are important messages going into the legislative Session.