From the LWVWA Legislative Newsletter, WEEK OF JANUARY 12
Bills needing action this week
SB 5400 Supporting local news journalism. This bill would establish a fund for supporting local news in Washington state. The bill is currently being amended to be revenue generating and not add net costs to the challenged 2025-2027 biennium budget. If the proposed amendment is accepted, the bill would establish a surcharge on international companies that generate more than $100 billion in advertising revenue. That would help offset the impact of those companies’ practices of taking content and ad revenue from the original news producers without any royalty fees or payments, which has continued to diminish local news organizations, such as Google, which reported revenue of $348 billion in 2024; and Meta, which reported revenue of $164 billion for 2024. Payments would be capped at $10 million per year. Among the amendments that are proposed is to establish $1 million of the bill’s revenue as “seed” money to expand the highly successful Murrow News Fellowship at Washington State University.
In 2025, the bill was referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee but did not pass out of committee. In order for the bill to successfully be amended as proposed, and begin to meaningfully rebuild local news in Washington state, your help is needed. Please contact your senators and members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee to request a public hearing for the bill. As you email or phone your Senator to ask for the public hearing, remind them of the importance of local news and that it is foundational for the well-being of our communities.
Contact your State Senator & members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee to request a public hearing on SB5400. Senator Warnick: 360-786-7624, Senator Warnick’s email.
For additional action items, which help pass bills the League supports on specific issues, click on the see all action alerts, and take action on the ones you are most interested in. Thank you for your support for the League’s issues! There are many more action alerts in this weeks legislative newsletter! Get the LWVWA Legislative newsletter delivered direct to you by subscribing here.