Bellevue Chamber

10/19/2026

If you sell to other businesses, or want to, the Eastside B2B Networking Group meets Wednesday, November 11, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at the Chamber office, 330 112th Ave NE. There is no agenda and no speaker, just 90 minutes of introductions with professionals who work business to business!

RSVP here:

This is specifically a Business to Business networking event. Please do not attend unless you are looking to work with other businesses or have a product that you sell to businesses. 

10/15/2026

Joe Quinlan of Bank of America has given the keynote at our Economic Forecast Summit every year since 2007. On Wednesday, November 18, he returns to the Hyatt Regency Bellevue for his twentieth. UW economist Thomas Gilbert opens with the outlook for Washington and the Eastside, Joe Fain brings the room's questions to Quinlan, and the 2026 Economic & Community Metrics guide is released that morning.

Early bird pricing ends Friday, October 16, at $95 a seat for members. Save your seat: https://www.bellevuechamber.org/economic-forecast-summit

10/06/2026

Zoox came to Bellevue last month, first for a community event downtown and then for our Executive Business Roundtable. Amazon's Charles Knutson and Zoox's Paul Escobar joined us, and Joe Fain moderated.

Fain said "the potential benefits from greater affordability and convenience, and above all, improved safety, make it worth coming together to establish a comprehensive framework for commercial service in Washington."

Read the recap:

Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary, joined the Bellevue Chamber's Executive Business Roundtable to discuss autonomous vehicles, AV testing, and a framework for commercial AV service in Washington.

10/06/2026

Washington has until January 1 to opt into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, and an estimated $1 billion a year for K-12 students depends on Governor Ferguson's answer.

Treasury's new rules let any taxpayer redirect up to $1,700 of federal tax liability ($3,400 for married couples filing jointly) to a Scholarship Granting Organization that funds tutoring, special needs services, and career-connected learning. Public schools can partner with those organizations, and employers can back SGOs built around the industry credentials and apprenticeship-linked skills our members tell us they can't find locally.

That's why the Bellevue Chamber joined the Washington Student Success Coalition and is asking the Governor to opt Washington in. We broke down what the rules mean for our state: https://www.bellevuechamber.org/news/federal-scholarship-tax-credit-workforce-development-opportunity-in-washington-state

The Bellevue Chamber is urging Governor Ferguson to opt Washington into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, new money for K-12 tutoring, special needs services, and career-connected learning...

10/01/2026

Bellevue Deputy Mayor Dave Hamilton joined our September Policy Council to walk through where the city expects to grow next. His model for Bel-Red is Wilburton, where he counted eight projects and 3,466 homes in the pipeline, 313 of them affordable.

We also covered the Transportation Benefit District, formed in 2023 and never funded, which the Council is weighing for the 2027-2028 budget. The transportation work session is October 6 and the third budget public hearing is October 27.

Read the full recap:

Bellevue's deputy mayor at our September Policy Council: Bel-Red modeled on Wilburton, a record $37M affordable housing investment, AI-assisted permitting, and 1 million daily trips by 2044. Plus three years of the Bellevue Mobility Coalition.

09/30/2026

Bellevue's six-year capital plan totals $1.3 billion, a level city staff said the city has not undertaken before. Staff told the City Council on September 22 that transportation is the one area where the Council may weigh new taxes, and that discussion is set for October 6.

Read our recap of the session:

Bellevue's September 22 budget session: a $2.2 billion revenue forecast, a proposed 1% property tax increase, a record $1.3 billion capital plan, and transportation as the one new-tax question, set for October 6.

09/28/2026

Bellevue's 2027-2028 preliminary budget is on the table, and the only proposed revenue change is the regular 1 percent property tax increase. Transportation is a different story. The base scenario adds no new revenue, a second adds a Transportation Benefit District sales tax, and a third adds a $20 vehicle registration fee.

Our public policy manager Tony Sprague testified for the Bellevue Mobility Coalition, asking that TBD sales tax revenue keep prioritizing the growth corridor while car tab revenue supports the neighborhoods that pay it. Council takes up transportation funding on October 6, holds its third public hearing October 27, and is targeting adoption November 17.

Read our recap of the September 15 meeting:

Bellevue's Council held its second 2027-2028 budget hearing Sept. 15 and received a preliminary budget whose only revenue change is a 1% property tax increase, plus three transportation scenarios, two with a TBD.

09/24/2026

Chamber membership is not built for one size of organization.

Charitable nonprofits with fewer than five employees, or an annual budget under 500,000 dollars, have a membership tier of their own. Same rooms as the region's largest employers, priced and scaled for how a small nonprofit actually runs.

We say a lot about what the Chamber does for businesses. This one is for the people running a cause out of a shared office with a part-time bookkeeper. If that is you, come say hello!

09/23/2026

Eighteen small business owners across Washington were asked a simple question: what does it now cost you to stay open?

The answers came back in the same shape. Labor and the taxes stacked on top of it. Occupancy. Commercial insurance. Tariffs. A Seattle childcare center puts close to 75 percent of tuition toward labor, and its owner has not taken a salary since 2020.

This is what our members describe to us in committee rooms every month, now with the arithmetic attached. Worth reading:

The cost of doing business in Washington — wages, taxes, compliance, and more — is rising fast. And Washington families are paying the price.

09/22/2026

We're teaming up with the Mercer Island Chamber for a joint After Hours on Wednesday, October 14, 5:00 to 6:30 PM. Two chambers, one room, light bites and drinks. Capacity is limited, so register early.

https://www.bellevuechamber.org/events/network-together-mercer-island-chamber