Wrap Up: Legislative Session 2025

2025 Legislative Session Wrap-Up By Brooke Davies (legislative lobbyist) & D’Arcy Harrison (legislative lead)

This is the beginning of the 2 yr 2025-26 biennium in WA state. The 105-day 2025 legislative session officially adjourned on Sunday, April 27th, at 6:31pm. During the last week of the session, the legislature focused on reconciling differences on bills passed by the House and Senate, passing major new taxes, and negotiating the final 2025-27 Operating, Capital and Transportation Budgets. This session in total there were 2,535 bills introduced and ultimately 432 passed the legislature. The Governor also had the option to veto a bill entirely or veto a specific section or appropriation within a bill. The Governor may not veto a word or sentence within a section of a bill.  As a reminder any bill that did not pass this session will automatically be reintroduced next session, the second half of the biennium. 

    The BIG issue this session was a $16 billion budget shortfall that needed to be addressed ASAP in addition to preparation for a potential removal of funding for WA state due to the new federal administration. **The main item related to the budget that COWU engaged in was regarding the Senate Democratic proposal of sweeping the Professional & Business licensing account of $5 million.  COWU  engaged our Member Advocates and did community outreach to email legislators to oppose this action. We engaged with one of the senators on the committee after testifying OPPOSED in hearing. They promised to back the House proposal that did not sweep funds therefore, at the time COWU were confident we had addressed the issue. However, on the last possible day of session– the legislature approved that  particular component which ended up sweeping a total of $25 million from a large list of departments. The only other time this has been done is during the 2008 economic collapse. We made one last ditch effort by emailing the office of the Governor right before the budget signing deadline- asking Gov. Ferguson to refrain from sweeping our fund. Unfortunately,  our last minute pleas were not heard. Dept of Licensing has assured us there are no current talks regarding increasing fees for Professional licensees. This, however is not a guarantee and the issue will be funding in 2027 as the program is mandated by law to pay for itself.

 Some unrelated items to Personal Services or small business:

• The rent stabilization bill HB1217 caps rent increases at 7% annually plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is less. The bill also prohibits rent increases during the first 12 months of a new tenancy. You can read more about HB 1217 here.  
• The final 2025-27 Capital Budget includes $7.6 billion in new appropriations for the 2025-27 biennium, with $4.5 billion financed with general obligation bonds. Some highlights of spending include $975 million in education, $2 billion on 2025 Legislative End of Session Report April 30th, 2025 natural resources, $760 million on housing, $1.2 billion on higher education, and $466 million on behavioral health facilities.  
• The 2025 state Legislature was notable in that it marks the largest tax increase in state history. The total revenue package, not including transportation revenue, raises approximately $9.4 billion over 4 years. This includes a broad B&O increase with an additional 0.5% surcharge on businesses with $250 million in revenue, elimination of several preferential tax rates, increase in capital gains taxes, increases in estate taxes, new sales taxes on certain services, a “tesla tax”, and a broad increase on liquor license fees. This B&O increase DOES NOT impact lower revenue businesses either in service or retail. The final revenue package was created following signals from Governor Ferguson that he would not sign a budget that relied heavily on new and untested taxes, like the proposed wealth tax. Governor Ferguson has also consistently urged the legislature to look for opportunities to reduce spending before raising taxes or creating new taxes. The original tax packages released by the majority party had much higher price tags and relied heavily on a new wealth tax. It is unclear where the new Governor stands on their final $9.4 billion dollar tax package. 

This legislative session (and throughout the year)- COWU’s priorities remain to support the improvement and ongoing customer service provided by DOL regarding manual application and renewal backlogs. This is accomplished through meetings between COWU & DOL quarterly to review issues and concerns that impact the experience of licensees within the Professional & Business licensing area.The online POLARIS website continues to be improved in every regular IT programming update as well as regular feedback provided through COWU social media channels that is messengered to DOL. 

     For EXAMPLE: It was COWU’s suggestions that pushed  DOL to create EASY, how to videos to navigate the Polaris Online Renewal System: Check them out here: WA DOL YOUTUBE TUTORIALS for ONLINE RENEWAL SYSTEM

      We also had a successful in person legislative day in Olympia the end of January (our second event of this nature.) COWU assisted in scheduling district legislators and their staff with COWU Member Advocates. Talking points and resources were provided to attendees to navigate the Capital Campus & conversations in addition to providing a break with a sponsored lunch. (See images below)

         Below you can review the specific bills we engaged in in session 2025:

HB 1023: Cosmetology Compact: Creates a Multi-State license option to participate with other Compact Member states in more cosmetology license mobility between states. This is designed predominantly to assist military family and spouses get back to work faster after relocation and is a quicker process than the reciprocity method. It creates an interstate database of multi-state licensees. (Note: Not a universal license) COWU testified as “OTHER with Concerns” due to the state budgetary issues and the law that mandates the Cosmetology program must pay for itself. We testified we did not want the services provided by DOL to degrade due to necessary funds (labor costs, IT programming for POLARIS website, etc) for starting this program. COWU worked with the bill sponsor and committee members to add language that specified the Compact program must pay for itself and will NOT pull funds from in-state licensees. The bill passed and is effective in 2028. PASSED

EHB 1874: Textured Hair : Requiring training for cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians, and hair designers on the care, styling, and treatment of textured hair. This gives the Dept of Licensing Director and Dept of Cosmetology the rulemaking power to adjust education and testing requirements regarding the execution of texture hair services in addition to cultural and historical info regarding communities with textured hair.  COWU testified as SUPPORT. Bill. PASSED. Effective 3/2026

HB 1297 Reporting Self-Employed Workers to the Division of Child Support.

This bill would have mandated that an owner of a business (regardless of if employing w2 employee or booth rental small business) would have to report income of all workers to the Division of Child Support. This would require a whole new system to oversee the incomes of self employed individuals whom rent inside a salon or shop. TESTIFIED OPPOSED. DID NOT ADVANCE THIS SESSION: Will stay active in next session and may come back in amended form.

SB 5785 Amending the Washington college grant and college bound scholarship. This bill alters how Washington college grant $ is determined for WA based students in secondary education. Beginning with the 2025-26 AY, students with family incomes up to 60 percent of state MFI receive the maximum WCG award. For students attending private four-year not-for-profit higher education institutions, the maximum WCG award is 50 percent of the average of awards for the same academic year granted to students at the public research institutions, beginning in the 2026-27 AY. The maximum WCG award for students attending two-year and four-year private for-profit institutions of higher education are eliminated, beginning in the 2026-27 AY.  The maximum WCG award for students attending WGU is reduced to $4,150, beginning in the 2026-27 AY. Testified in Hearing Opposed. PASSED.

•      All in all, this session COWU had a  “mixed bag” of results in the WA state legislature. We continued pressure to remind legislators of the law that mandates our services by law MUST pay for itself. Therefore, our strategy was to simultaneously press for fiscal responsibility while supporting the continued quality & improvement of what is provided by the state to Professional licensees. 

     COWU consistently advocates year-round in Olympia with legislators in addition to state agencies like Dept of Licensing, Dept of Ecology & more. 

     This 2025 Legislative Session- Cosmetologists of WA United members opted to hire legislative lobbyist Brooke Davies for the full year. In the past few years- COWU has continued a strategy of contracting Brooke for the full year in preparation for longer session and then only for short session at the end of the biennium. In April 2025, the Board of Directors motioned, seconded and voted on this continued strategy and will be working with Brooke for session only in 2026. We appreciate Brooke’s continued dedication to supporting Personal Services and small business in WA state and look forward to continued success for COWU!

   ….As always our work is nothing without the support of enrolled Member Advocates, Generous Sponsors, community members and volunteers! WE THANK YOU!

Want to get into the mix? 

•  Get input on the association leadership and increased advertising exposure specifically to WA state Personal Services Pros? 
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• One on One Coaching for the Online renewal system?
• Have “boots on the ground” alerting you to any potential harmful legislation? 

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Thanks to our Sponsors: 

Salon Services Pro, Evergreen Beauty College, & Gloss Genius

Special Thanks to: 

Gloss genius for providing the packed lunch for our legislative day in Jan 2026 in Olympia