Next year’s state legislative session is still two months away, but Federal Way’s leaders will decide on the community’s priorities within the next two weeks.
On Dec. 2, the Federal Way City Council will finalize the city’s priorities for the upcoming legislative session, then will present these to 30th Legislative District Sen. Claire Wilson and Reps. Kristine Reeves and Jamila Taylor at the legislative agenda breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 10 at the Federal Way Community Center, 876 S. 333rd St.
This means if community members have priorities they want to see their legislators advocate for next year, now is the time to make that known to either city council members or to legislators directly.
This can be done by speaking at public comment at the Dec. 2 city council meeting, but feedback is more likely to be taken into consideration if it is shared with council members before then.
Council members can be contacted as a group via email at council@federalwaywa.gov.
Written public comment can be submitted at https://docs.federalwaywa.gov/Forms/Written-Comment
FW’s priorities
The draft legislative agenda for 2026 starts with “restrictions upon sex offenders post supervision” as the number one priority.
While his name wasn’t mentioned at the city council meeting, the release of the so-called “South Hill rapist” Kevin Coe to a home in Federal Way less than a half-mile away from an elementary school recently has been a serious concern to the community.
The second legislative priority is a request for $82,583 for an emergency operations center project. This money would pay for installation of smart monitors, resilient and redundant networks, and communications equipment to rapidly and accurately collect, understand, share information, and conduct planning in the event of an emergency or disaster.
The last legislative priorities include funding for four transportation projects:
• Roundabout on State Route 99 (Pacific Highway) at South 373rd Street.
• City Center Access.
• Increase circulation and traffic capacity in downtown Federal Way.
• Improvements to the SW 338th-SW 340th Street corridor.
Councilmember Jack Dovey noted at the Nov. 18 city council meeting that at a community town hall with Sen. Wilson and Rep. Taylor on Nov. 17, he heard priorities around affordable housing, child care and disabled housing, and suggested that the council might want to align with those priorities as well.
Councilmember Paul McDaniel shared that he also agrees with adding those priorities to the legislative agenda.
The full text of the draft legislative priorities presentation is available online.
