Washington state lawmakers are more than two weeks into the 2024 legislative session, and AARP is advocating for seniors and caregivers. “When AARP looks for legislative priorities, we really look at how can we support older adults and how can we support their family caregivers,” said Cathy MacCaul, AARP advocacy director. One piece of legislation AARP is advocating for addresses expanding affordable co-living options. Co-living homes are a low-cost, multifamily housing option where each resident has a small, private living and sleeping room and shares other areas with all residents. “Especially for older adults, that gives them a sense of community, and they can live in communities where they want to stay,” MacCaul said. “And for family caregivers, they can live closer to mom or dad but yet not have to live in the same home.” Another priority is eliminating surprise billing for ambulance rides. In Washington, when you get emergency care or get treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, you are protected from surprise billing. That covers everything, except ground ambulance, and new legislation seeks to address that. “This is basically preventing ambulance providers from charging a consumer more than they should have to pay,” MacCaul said. AARP is working closely with state senator Annette Cleveland who is sponsoring this legislation to get it signed into law. “While our state was one of the first to pass a prohibition on balance billing for certain healthcare services, and of course the federal Congress took action as well shortly after, it was really important to me that we come back and begin to address those services that weren’t included in those original policies,” Cleveland said. An additional priority is data broker legislation requiring data brokers to register with the Department of Licensing and include information about what type of data they share. This is a first step in establishing more consumer protections about how personal data is shared. “Eventually what we want to see here in the state is that a consumer could go on and see what information these data brokers are collecting about them and opt out,” MacCaul said. MacCaul encourages seniors and caregivers to contact their legislators and share their stories about how these issues and others are affecting them and their families. To learn more about how AARP is supporting family caregivers, visit the AARP website. Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest at 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.