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Legislative Outreach

Hi FIRST Washington Community, 

Ask 

  • 10 minutes of your time between now and Wednesday, January 28, 2026. 

What you need to do 

  • Find your three state legislators 
  • Get their email addresses 
  • Send three emails (one to your Senator and one to each of your two State Representatives) 
  • If you have any questions, please contact Lila Mowatt at lilam@firstwa.org  

What are you and your team asking for 

  • Asking your local Representatives and Senator to agree to sign a letter of support requesting funding be reinstated to support our Robotics Community next season 

Why this matters 

As many of you remember, our robotics community in Washington lost critical state funding last year – about $1.5 million annually. That funding, paired with additional philanthropy raised by FIRST Washington, helped ensure ALL teams could purchase equipment, pay registration fees, and afford travel. 

The Supplemental Session of the Washington State Legislature is now underway. We are actively building the case to have funding reinstated for the coming year, and lawmakers need to hear directly from students in their districts. 

Here are the steps for your 10-minute time request… 

Step 1: Identify your legislators 

  • Visit https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/ to find the legislators who represent your district. Each team will have two State Representatives and one State Senator. Use the address of where your team is located. 

Step 2: Find email addresses 

  • Use this Excel file to locate the email addresses for your three legislators and their Legislative Assistants. 
  • Send each email individually and cc the Legislative Assistant, as they often manage requests. 

Step 3: Send the emails by Wednesday, January 28, 2026 

  • Send 3 separate emails to each of your three legislators. Use the subject line: “Request from youth in your district” 
  • Copy and paste this email into the body of your message. Be sure to customize the highlighted sections. 
  • Attach the corresponding (senator or representative) Operating Budget Request Letter to the email to your legislator. 
  • Add Fred Krug in the cc so we can see who is sending & receiving letters fredk@firstwa.org