Hello King Co Public Health staff nurses and nurse supervisors! 

We need your help. Right now King County Council and Executive Zahilay are discussing the future of King County’s public health clinics and the ongoing funding shortfall issue. Below we catch you up on where we were, where we are now, and how you can help. Please also stay tuned for an Action Alert to come out in the next couple of days where you can engage directly with King County Council. 

Where we were

You may recall, in 2024 King County public health clinics faced major funding deficits and possible closure of clinics due to the County’s strained general fund. The estimated shortfall at that time was about $23-25 million per year to keep the clinics operating. While temporary funding was ultimately secured that temporary funding agreement ends at the end of 2027 and the County once again faces the clinic funding question. 

As King County considers how best to meet the needs of the community served by public health clinics, those clinics will also face additional pressure from H.R 1 which Congress passed and was signed into law last year. The law will dramatically increase the number of uninsured people in Washington in a relatively short amount of time.  An estimated 11,000+ Washingtonians will lose Apple Health Coverage as of October 1 this year and an estimated additional 200,000 assumed to lose coverage by the end of 2027. We all know that when people lose access to coverage, the need for healthcare does not simply go away.

Where we are now 

As King County once again faces the public health clinic funding question, it’s important to note that in the 2026 legislative session the state granted a taxing authority for counties to fund public health clinics with a property tax levy at a rate of up to 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for the operation, maintenance, and capital expenses of public health clinics. Hooray, right? Well, not that simple. This 5 cents property tax, if applied, does not quite meet the annual funding needs to continue running the clinics as they are now. The estimated budget shortfall at this time is around $13 million annually if this tax is applied at the full 5 cents.

King County Council next steps 

Right now, King County Councilmembers and Executive Zahilay are preparing their budgets for 2027 and the question as to whether and how they use this taxing authority is on the table. Do they use this authority in 2027 and begin to collect revenue now in order to help make up the estimated shortfall? Or do they wait until 2028 when the current, temporary funding agreement for the clinics end? Do they use it at all? Do they go for the full 5 cents, or do they only implement a 3 cent property tax to support the clinics? These are the questions that Council is currently weighing as they also consider tax exhaustion from constituents. 

So, what now? 

WSNA, alongside our partners at Protec17, is communicating with King County officials and advocating to make sure clinics continue to provide the care the community needs while government officials come to a decision about the looming funding question. This is where we need your help. 

TAKE ACTION! 

We are working on getting out an Action Alert to our King County Public Health members (that’s you) in the next couple of days that will be sent by email so please stay tuned for that. In this Action Alert we will ask you to email the King County Councilmembers and ask them to utilize this taxing authority to help bring in revenue now for the public health clinics as we are about to see HR 1 dramatically increase the number of uninsured folks. We also want you to add your stories about the care you deliver and what barriers this community faces in accessing care. Our goal is to demonstrate what caring for this community looks like on the ground and to hear about all the great work you do on behalf of the County. We want to be sure you have a voice and to help you advocate on behalf of your patients. 

Thank you for your continued dedication to the community you serve and please stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, if you have questions about this please feel free to reach out to your WSNA Nurse Rep or you may email gov@wsna.org.