An open letter on meeting Washington's H.R. 1 moment

John Traugott, executive director of the Washington Workforce Association

COURTESY OF WASHINGTON WORKFORCE ASSOCIATION

Executive order 26-03 was the right call. Building a verification hub that will help 400,000 more Washingtonians keep their Apple Health coverage, and standing up a committee to track the impacts of H.R. 1 is the leadership our state needs right now.

There's a piece of this crisis the executive order doesn't yet address, and it's the one our workforce system exists to solve. We're asking for two things, and both are urgent:

1. Release the $5.5 million in unused PY26 WIOA Governor's Set-Aside Funds now, through Local Workforce Development Boards – next July is too late.
2. Protect Economic Security for All (EcSA) from further cuts, and invest significantly more state funding in proven models like it – these programs already demonstrate the kind of return the state needs.

Starting January 1, more than 600,000 Washingtonians will face new Medicaid work requirements for the first time. Roughly 106,000 more already face SNAP work requirements. Many will need to enroll in a qualifying program just to keep the coverage and food assistance they depend on, at a scale our system has never had to absorb.

A system already stretched past capacity

This isn't just a Local Workforce Development Board problem – it's a whole-system problem, and every part of the system that could absorb this demand is already stretched thin:

• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I program is the largest program in our state that meets work requirements, and serves roughly 15,000–20,000 Washingtonians a year, on funding that has been flat or shrinking for multiple years running.
• Basic Food Employment and Training (BFET) program is operating at or near capacity, constrained by limits on the local matching funds needed to draw down additional federal resources.
• EcSA is already at or exceeding capacity statewide after state funding reductions in each of the past two legislative sessions – and Washington State Employment Security Department has now submitted a budget proposal recommending either a further reduction to EcSA or a shift to a different fund source, just as this new demand arrives.

Other qualifying programs exist, but none of them are positioned to absorb tens of thousands of additional customers either. Without additional capacity and coordination across this system, many Washingtonians risk losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits – not because they're unwilling to participate, but because there won't be enough program capacity to serve them.

1. Release the $5.5 million already sitting on the table now.

As of July 1, there is $5.5 million in PY26 WIOA Governor's Set-Aside Funds available, but sitting unused. Last year, folding funds like these into the state operating budget process caused real delays, and not all of it reached direct services. We can't afford that again, with work requirements landing in less than four months.

Local Workforce Development Boards are ready to put these dollars to work immediately, through EcSA, which already qualifies as work-requirement-compliant programming. A full $5.5 million investment, deployed now through local boards, could realistically:

• Serve 1,100+ additional families
• Generate $11 million+ in new wages
• Save the state $7.2 million+ as people move off SNAP, Medicaid, and other benefits
• Bring in $850,000+ in new sales tax revenue

2. Protect EcSA funding, and invest significantly more in what already works.

Releasing $5.5 million gets local boards moving today. It does not come close to closing the gap. BFET and WIOA Title I are federally funded and already at capacity, leaving the state little room to expand them on its own. EcSA is different – it's a state investment, it's already proven, and it's the fastest lever the state has to add real capacity. Reducing it now, or moving it to an uncertain fund source, takes that lever off the table at the exact moment the state needs it most.

EcSA moves people through training and into self-sufficiency, permanently off the benefits they came in on. On average, successful EcSA customers move from earning under $10,000 a year to just under $50,000 a year, and each one saves the state just under $30,000 a year in benefits no longer needed, across SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, and more.

We understand the budget picture is difficult this year. Underfunding the one model in this system with a demonstrated track record of moving people permanently off public assistance leaves a proven return on the table that the state badly needs right now. We're asking that EcSA be protected from further reduction, for a reversal on the cuts of the past two sessions, and to invest at a scale that matches what this model has already shown it can do.

Two things. Both urgent.

Medicaid work requirements start January 1. The people affected by them are residents in every one of Washington's counties, served by Local Workforce Development Boards, BFET, WIOA Title I providers, and the businesses and community organizations that partner with all of them.

Release the $5.5 million in WIOA Governor's Set-Aside Funds through local boards now. Invest significantly more state funding in EcSA to meet the scale of demand ahead.

Sincerely,

John Traugott, Executive Director

Washington Workforce Association

On behalf of Washington's twelve Local Workforce Development Boards, and the hundreds of businesses, community-based organizations, and thousands of workers driving our state’s economy