By Cindy Alia 1/21/26
If you're between 20 and 40 in Washington right now, you're likely feeling the squeeze: rent keeps climbing, home prices are out of reach, student loans linger, and every paycheck seems to disappear faster than the last. Saving for a down payment or even just building an emergency fund can feel impossible. Government decisions—especially when agencies get stretched too thin—play a bigger role in that struggle than most people realize. And right now, the Department of Commerce (DOC) is a perfect example of how overload in Olympia ripples straight into your wallet and your future.
Governance 101: Resources Must Match Responsibilities
Good government means matching duties with resources. DOC handles big things that affect everyday life: housing grants for first-time buyers and people facing homelessness, energy assistance programs that keep the lights on, small business support that creates jobs, broadband expansion so you can work or study from home, and oversight of the many community and economic programs the legislature creates.
When audits point to gaps in monitoring grants, incomplete documentation, or weak internal controls—issues that raise risks of errors or improper spending—it shows the agency is already stretched. Adding more exploratory studies or new mandates without extra staff or funding pulls attention away from the basics: making sure taxpayer dollars are protected and programs actually deliver.This isn’t about opposing new ideas. It’s about making sure we don’t break the system while trying to fix things.
The DOC’s Growing To-Do List in 2026
In this short legislative session, several bills are directing DOC to take on new studies or assessments:
SB 6124: A feasibility study on an “affordability index” for household appliances—looking at repairability, lifespan, efficiency, maintenance costs, and more. Report due by January 2028.
SB 5821: An assessment of nuclear power frameworks, including costs and market opportunities, with a report by the end of 2026.
HB 2090: Potential planning or assessments related to integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state’s strategy.
HB 2523: Additional oversight and data support for the Community Reinvestment Program (cannabis-related equity initiatives).
These ideas may have value—better appliance choices could save money and reduce waste; nuclear could be part of our energy future. But each one requires staff time: research, stakeholder meetings, data analysis, drafting reports. DOC’s budget is already tight (hundreds of millions, much of it pass-through grants), and staffing shortages are a known issue across state agencies.
When Oversight Gaps Are Already Documented
State Auditor’s Office reports have repeatedly identified areas where DOC’s oversight of grant programs and subrecipients has fallen short—issues like incomplete documentation, inadequate monitoring, and internal control weaknesses that increase risks of improper payments or misuse. These findings don’t always mean fraud occurred, but they highlight a pattern: when capacity is strained, the detailed work needed to ensure funds are used correctly and programs reach the people who need them most can slip.
Case in point: SB 6205 aims to increase accountability for the distribution of grants for economically disadvantaged people. This is the sort of fund oversight that is pivotal in protecting taxpayer funded grants and should be the type of priority oversight the legislature directs the DOC to carefully accomplish. This prevents fraud and promotes evaluation of legislative goals. We need the legislature to focus on this work.
In a state where the legislature creates program after program—each with its own rules, reporting requirements, and compliance needs—this creates a real challenge. If DOC is already struggling to keep up with monitoring existing grants and ensuring accountability, adding more studies risks further diluting focus on the essentials.
How This Touches Home—Especially for 20- to 40-Year-Olds
If you’re in your 20s or 30s trying to buy your first home, rent without roommates forever, or just build some savings, DOC overload hits you harder than most realize:
Housing delays: DOC administers many housing and homelessness grants. When staff are pulled to write new reports or conduct new studies, grant processing slows. That means fewer affordable housing units built, longer waitlists for assistance, and higher competition for the homes that do come on the market—driving prices up and making that down payment even farther out of reach. Complications with fraudulant uses of funds and grants or uses that were not prevented through carefully worded legislation language lead to less funding for those intended to receive help, sadly at taxpayer expense.
Energy and utility costs: Energy and Programs that help with energy efficiency upgrades or bill assistance get bogged down. Higher utility bills eat into the money you could be saving for a house or emergency fund.
Job and small business support: DOC helps with workforce training, small business loans, and economic development grants. If those programs move slower because staff are stretched, you might miss out on the training or startup help that could boost your income and make homeownership possible.
Broader ripple effects: When agencies can’t keep up with oversight, the risk of waste or mismanagement grows. That means taxpayer dollars—your dollars—aren’t working as hard as they could to solve real problems like housing affordability or job growth. It also erodes trust in government, which makes it harder to get support for the big changes we actually need.
A Call for Smarter, Prioritized Governance
The legislature has good intentions with these bills, but good intentions need good management. Before adding more studies, we should:
Require agencies to report current workload and capacity before new mandates pass.
Fund any new study properly so it’s not an unfunded burden.
Sunset old mandates that aren’t delivering results.
Prioritize fixing oversight gaps first—stronger monitoring, better controls—so taxpayer dollars are protected before we expand the to-do list.
If you’re in your 20s or 30s, this isn’t just “goverment information"—it’s directly tied to whether you can afford to live independently, buy a home someday, or build a future without constant financial stress.
When agencies like DOC are overburdened, we all pay the price—through higher costs, slower progress, and lost opportunities. Lets speak out and make sure DOC can have a first priority of oversight before piling on more work like new studies all of us will be better served by smaller more efficient government.
January 21, 2026