Advocacy

2025 Legislative Agenda

For questions, contact Claire Lane, Director – Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition (206) 446-0966 or Claire.Lane2@gmail.com

Anti-Hunger Priorities: Free School Meals for All Kids (SB 5352 / HB 1404) Washington has made big progress on expanding free school meals, yet 1 in 3 students still don’t have access. Nutritious school breakfasts and lunches fuel student learning and healthy development. Yet cost, paperwork, and stigma are barriers for student participation – and the income eligibility for subsidized meals is too low. We know that when schools serve free meals to all students, child hunger rates improve, stigma is eliminated, staff can focus on preparing meals, meal service is streamlined, and family budgets stabilize. If they need it, every student should have access to free school meals, regardless of what grade they’re in, where their school is, or their family situation.

Extend Funding for Food Banks and Food Pantries

Across our State Food insecurity has spiked in the past two years, affecting nearly 1 in 10 households statewide. Prices remain stubbornly high for essentials, especially food, creating unprecedented challenges for hungry people – and the food banks that serve them. In the last year, there were nearly 13.4 million client visits to local food banks (up from 7.8 million in 2019), yet food donations are down. Extraordinary help is needed to respond to the crisis facing a crisis for our food banks. Invest $93 million in WSDA’s Food Assistance Programs that support food banks in every community.

Fully Fund Senior Nutrition Programs to Promote Health and Stability

Our senior population is growing – but too many are struggling to meet basic needs. Nationwide, senior hunger rose 20% from 2021 to 2024, and nearly 1 in 10 Washington seniors lives in poverty now - the highest rate in at least a decade. For years, Washington has underinvested in the nutrition safety net for seniors and people with disabilities – yet these nutrition programs are key to keeping people healthy, safe in their homes, socially connected, and able to access other supportive services to maintain health. Invest $35.4 million to fund current caseload of DSHS nutrition programs that serve low income elders.

Maintain Current Funding Levels for SNAP Fruit & Vegetable Incentive Programs

Washington has built a successful statewide network of partners for this program: farmers markets, Safeway, independent grocers and community health clinics help SNAP shoppers and food insecure patients afford to buy healthy produce and stretch their food budgets. These programs are more needed than ever - food insecurity has spiked, and SNAP isn’t adequate to afford a healthy diet. Additional funds are needed to maintain the current caseload and to ensure DOH has enough non-federal funds as match to apply for another round of federal grants to support this highly successful program. Invest $6 million to fight hunger and help low-income people afford more healthy, fresh produce.

Continue funding for SUN Bucks to Fight Summer Child Hunger

With a rise in food insecurity and poverty, we need every tool available to help hungry kids and their families. The new federal summer EBT program, now called SUN Bucks, provides funds over the summer for low-income students’ families to buy groceries. It was wildly successful in its first summer: almost 600,000 students’ families received nearly $71 million in federal food assistance. Provide $11.83 million to DSHS to manage SUN Bucks in partnership with OSPI