Issaquah adopts 2026 legislative agenda and adds immigrant‑protections priority

Issaquah’s City Council adopted the 2026 legislative agenda on Nov. 10, directing staff and the city’s lobbyists to prioritize three existing items — State Route 18 safety work, city financial sustainability, and digital permitting system upgrades — and to pursue them in the short 2026 legislative session. At council request, members also approved an amendment adding a fourth priority: immigrant protections, which asks the legislature to close data‑sharing loopholes (for example, automated license‑plate reader data), to strengthen protections for sensitive locations (health‑care facilities, courthouses, shelters and schools), and to require visible law‑enforcement identification and limit face‑covering by officers.

City staff and the city’s government‑affairs consultant explained that the 2026 short session will focus on supplemental budgets and reintroduced bills, making prioritized budget requests and technical fixes more practical for even‑year session timing. The council debated whether to add new priorities; members who supported adding immigrant protections characterized it as a response to recent local enforcement concerns and as consistent with a council‑adopted statement earlier in the meeting. One council member who serves in the state legislature recused from the vote to avoid an appearance of conflict; the final vote to adopt the agenda as amended carried on the Nov. 10 consent motion (recorded 6–0 with one recusal).