In the 2026 legislative session, Shift Zero members coalesced around priorities to help keep energy bills affordable, improve housing conditions, and reduce climate pollution from buildings. There were challenging dynamics in play including the time constraints of a short 60 day session, severe state budget deficit, and overarching affordability concerns. Strong advocacy for Shift Zero priorities resulted in some impactful legislative wins and sustaining investment in equitable building decarbonization:
Community Scaled Weatherization HB 2338 – Passed!
Washington’s successful Weatherization program provides energy efficiency upgrades and healthy home repairs to reduce energy bills and improve health and safety for households living on low incomes. HB 2338 allows agencies that lead weatherization projects to carry out larger, community scale projects that serve multiple homes and/or apartments under the umbrella of one larger project. This will simplify management, help attract contractors to rural areas in cases where travel costs would be prohibitive for smaller-scale projects, and allow weatherizing agencies to reach more homes faster and at lower cost. Thank you to Rep. Callan and Sen. Hunt for your leadership, and to WA State Community Action Partnership for spearheading the policy effort.
Protecting Tenants From Periods of Extreme Heat SB 6200 – Passed!
SB 6200 affirms tenants’ right to install and use portable cooling devices. Ending lease restrictions on cooling is a step to ensure that all Washingtonians can safely weather hotter summers and wildfire smoke. A dedicated coalition made this legislation possible and will continue to work on solutions centering renters in building decarbonization efforts. Thank you to Sen. Slatter and Rep. Mena for your leadership and Spark Northwest, Elevate, and WA Physicians for Social Responsibility for stewarding policy success.
Data Centers, Environmental Protection, and Affordability HB 2515 – did not advance
HB 2515 aimed to address data center growth and accountability, with guardrails to support grid reliability, affordability, and environmental protections. Shift Zero advocacy was focused on a section of the bill that included a facility fee to fund energy assistance, weatherization, and low-income home electrification. While HB 2515 did not advance this session, the ambitious bill ignited a serious conversation in the legislature around data center impacts in Washington. Advocates look forward to pursuing a data center bill in some form next session, as well as the fee/fund. Thank you to Rep. Doglio and Sen. Shewmake for your leadership and to the NW Energy Coalition and WA State Community Action Partnership for guiding the coalition of support.
Budget Wins
On the budget side, Shift Zero advocates were excited to see strong investments from Climate Commitment Act (CCA) revenue in building decarbonization priorities that both reduce climate pollution and provide durable savings for people now and into the future. This was a bright spot given the Legislature diverted $540 million of CCA funds to fill non-climate related budget holes. CCA dollars are expected to decline in coming years, and advocates will work hard to ensure climate dollars are paid back to keep the state on track with its climate goals.
- $15 million for Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) Program. This supplemental budget investment restores HEAR funding to enable proven programs across the state to deliver clean energy upgrades to low and moderate income households, small businesses, and adult family homes.
- $30 million for the State Home Energy Assistance (SHEAP) Program. Both SHEAP and HEAR programs support climate justice, energy affordability, and equitable clean energy upgrades in critical and complementary ways. SHEAP helps households living on low incomes in Washington pay utility bills and receive electrification home upgrades.
- $10 million for Affordable Housing Multifamily Efficiency grant program. Restoring flexible incentive funding to enable multi-family affordable housing to invest in energy efficiency and electric building upgrades, as part of the state’s Clean Buildings Performance Standard.
- $11 million for Weatherization Plus Health. These funds will launch the first community scale weatherization projects on both sides of the Cascade crest, providing a new model for addressing housing stability and energy affordability needs for vulnerable communities in Washington.
- $25 million for the WA State Green Bank, soon to be renamed “Washington Builds”. This initial state investment will be leveraged with private investment to launch an array of lending programs and tools to spur residential and commercial clean energy upgrades. WA Builds will expand access to clean energy for low-income households and vulnerable communities. Shift Zero members will participate in program design stakeholder engagement in the coming months.
Defending Progress
Shift Zero also coordinates members and allies responding to efforts to roll back or weaken energy codes and building decarbonization progress. This session, HB 2141 threatened to freeze all building code updates for 10 years, extend code update cycles from 3 to 6 years, and repeal WA’s energy efficiency mandate for new construction. In effect, this bill would prohibit innovation in all new construction and threaten Washington’s progress to reduce emissions from the building sector. Shift Zero advocates advised policymakers on the implications of HB 2141 and it did not receive a hearing.
Thank you to the following legislators for your leadership advancing clean buildings in Washington State!
- Rep. Lisa Callan
- Rep. Beth Doglio
- Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon
- Rep. Sharlett Mena
- Rep. Alex Ramel
- Rep. Steve Tharinger
- Sen. Victoria Hunt
- Sen. Liz Lovelett
- Sen. June Robinson
- Sen. Sharon Shewmake
- Sen. Yasmin Trudeau
Shift Zero 