State policy priorities for the 2026 legislative session
The Seattle Aquarium is working with partners to pass policies and secure funding in the 2026 Washington state legislative session that will protect ocean health, including the efforts outlined below.
To reduce waste and plastic pollution and keep our ocean clean, we are actively supporting:
- Recycling Refund Act (HB 1607/SB 5502): Increase recycling rates for beverage containers by creating a deposit system, where consumers pay a deposit that’s refunded when they return containers to a collection facility.
- Amending the plastic bag ban (HB 2333/SB 5965) to prohibit the use of all plastic bags (with a few exceptions for restaurants and grocers), including the thicker, “reusable” bags. This will reduce single-use and virgin plastic and help reduce plastic pollution overall.
- Requiring microplastic filters in commercial and industrial washing machines (HB 2212)
to help prevent microfibers from getting into our waterways.
To recover orcas and salmon, we are actively supporting:
- A 6PPD ban (HB 2421) to phase out this toxic chemical that comes from motor vehicle tires. It causes serious harm to salmon and is a major barrier to their recovery.
To protect communities and ecosystems from climate change impacts and pollution, the bills we are supporting include:
- Low Sulfur Fuels for Vessels (HB 1652/SB 5519), requiring ships to use low-sulfur fuels to eliminate polluting discharges and reduce air emissions.
- CURB Pollution Act (HB 1303/SB 5380), led by Front and Centered, requiring an environmental justice impact statement for projects in communities disproportionately harmed by pollution, including evaluation of existing public health and environmental stressors in those communities.
- A bill to improve the end-of-life management of electric vehicle (EV) batteries (HB 1550/SB 5586), reducing battery waste in landfills and improving recycling and recovery rates of EV batteries and their components.
- Holding polluters responsible (SB 5360) by allowing the Washington state attorney general to pursue egregious cases of intentional pollution and/or negligent disposal of pollutants.
As a member of the Environmental Priorities Coalition, we also support those shared priorities, including:
- Continued investment in climate action like clean air, public health, public transportation and environmental justice, as well as wildfire management and response.
- Requirements for data centers to promote energy and water efficiency and further Washington’s climate and energy goals, and to protect residential utility customers from the financial and reliability impacts of data energy needs.
To deliver on the Seattle Aquarium’s mission of Inspiring Conservation of Our Marine Environment, we recognize we need collective and inclusive action, including improved voting access and turnout in marginalized communities. In this vein, the bills we’re supporting this session include:
- Preclearance (HB 1710), which ensures that election changes receive an impartial review before going into effect. This helps communities of color, rural communities and other underrepresented or marginalized communities have access to free and fair elections.
- Protect our VOICES Act (HB 2210) to protect voter representation and secure fair elections by allowing local jurisdictions to choose to adopt ranked choice voting, proportional representation or other approved election methods for a period of six years.
- Protecting Voter Registrations (HB 1916) adds requirements to ensure voter registration challenges are made in good faith and not by bad actors.
- Ballot Access (HB 1146) requires jails and hospitals to provide the resources people need to exercise their right to vote.
For more information about the above policy priorities, please contact:
Conservation Policy Manager Miguela Marzolf at m.marzolf@seattleaquarium.org.
