State Representative, 30th LD
State Representative Jamila Taylor represents the communities in the 30th Legislative District, including Federal Way Milton, Algona and Pacific.
In addition to her role in the state legislature, Taylor is a small business owner and victim rights advocate with an extensive record of volunteer service in the Puget Sound.
She brings a needed voice for women, seniors, youth and other vulnerable populations in the criminal justice system to Olympia as Vice Chair of the Housing, Human Services and Veterans Committee.
Taylor shares her home with her mother and sibling, both of whom live with chronic illness. Taylor knows that too many seniors and low-income residents are having to choose between lifesaving medication or having somewhere to sleep at night, and brings these voices - and her legal expertise - to her work every day to address our shared concerns around affordable housing, public safety, and health care.
This year, through her role on the House Transportation Committee, she passed HB 1514 to reduce the minimum requirement for ride sharing to encourage the use of vanpools and other mechanisms that help people affordably travel from work and home and support a reduction in transportation fossil fuels.
As the former Statewide Advocacy Counsel for Northwest Justice Project, Taylor managed a network of legal aid attorneys assisting domestic violence survivors and other crime victims. She has worked locally and regionally on youth intervention programs and other crime and violence reduction efforts.
When the Washington State Supreme Court in State v. Blake declared unconstitutional Washington's strict liability drug possession statute, Taylor was part of the legislative team that facilitated the state’s quick legislative action that provides alternatives to arrest, encourages diversion, and invests in prevention, treatment services, expanded recovery support and a homeless outreach stabilization transition program. Her work is helping the state shift how the state of Washington is addressing mental health and substance use disorder with more thoughtful, humane and result-driven mechanisms.
Taylor also serves on the House Community and Economic Development Committee and was elected 2021 chair of the Chair of Washington State Legislature Black Members Caucus, leading the largest caucus of Black representatives in Washington state’s history.