- Rep. Robinson speaking at the Town Hall in Everett on March 14.
We’ve reached week 13 of the legislative session and we are quickly approaching the April 26th end date. There is, however, a lot of work still to be done. The House and the Senate both recently released their budget proposals for the 2015-2017 biennium and we voted the House budget off the floor last week. The House budget meets the State’s funding obligation for public education from the McCleary decision, which was one of the main topics of conversation at the recent Town Hall I hosted with Rep. Sells and Senator McCoy.
Proposed House Budget
After years of budget cuts and tough economic times, I am very pleased to have voted for the budget proposed by the House Democrats last week which aligns with our shared values and makes real investments in the future of our economy and the well-being of our children, families, and communities.
With this budget, we are supporting an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
Education
The first thing on everyone’s mind this year has been funding education. One of the best tools we have to give all Washingtonians the opportunity to succeed is by providing quality education that takes young people from their cradles all the way to the launch of their careers.
K-12
Our budget increases funding for K-12 education by 21%. With this investment, every child in the state can access full-day kindergarten. We are funding class size reductions for students in grades K-3. We provide funding for tools students need in order to learn – things like textbooks, classroom supplies and school operating costs. We invest in college and career readiness programs so that students graduate from high school ready to take on their next step. Our hard-working school employees, from teachers to bus drivers get a long overdue cost-of-living increase.
We are meeting our constitutional obligation to fully fund our schools. But we know that in order to thrive, we need to go beyond just providing the minimum required by our constitution and our Supreme Court. We also need to make investments in early learning and higher education.
Addressing our unfair tax system vs. sticking with the status quo
Our state has the most unfair tax system in the nation. You read that right, the most regressive of all 50 states. That means that middle-class and working families pay four to seven times more of their income in taxes than the wealthiest five percent.
We’re asking the wealthiest Washingtonians to pay their fair share toward reinvesting in our future. As we fully fund education, repair our broken mental health care system and restore the Safety Net, we should assess the profits in the brokerage accounts of Washington’s wealthiest, not the checking accounts of Washington’s working families.
We are proposing a small 5 percent Fair Share Tax on capital gains when a person makes more than $25,000 in profit (or $50,000 for joint filers) from the sale of stocks, bonds and other lucrative investments. This proposal would almost exclusively impact the very-wealthy in our state. In fact, according to non-partisan analysis, families with a total income less than $250,000 a year would have only accounted for less than 3 percent of capital gains from 2007-2012. Instead, this fair share tax will impact only about 32,000 of Washington’s wealthiest individuals and families. The tax would completely exempt retirement accounts, most primary residences (up to $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers), and most sales of agriculture lands and timber.
The money from the sale of these investments will be invested right back in our education system, funding public schools and making sure that higher education remains affordable. We will be able to invest $1.2 billion in fully funding education for Washington’s one million schoolchildren from the fair share tax on capital gains alone.
Meanwhile, the Senate chooses to stick with the status quo – leaving our middle-class and working families to bear the burden while protecting the wealthy few.
Projects in the 38th District
The proposed capital budget was recently released and it included many different projects in the 38th District. Highlights from the capital budget for our district are:
- Marysville Pilchuck High School Cafeteria – Following the tragic shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School last October, the cafeteria has not been used. The capital budget contains funding to replace the current cafeteria with a new facility that will welcome staff and students and help with the ongoing emotional healing after last year’s tragedy.
- Everett Family YMCA—The YMCA of Snohomish County plans to construct a new facility in Everett to replace the current Everett Y facility. This project will ensure a multi-generational legacy of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility positively impacting thousands of youth, individuals and families.
- WSU Everett University Center—The University Center will be an attractive, multi-story building on Broadway in north Everett managed by Washington State University. The new center will address STEM-related fields and other high demand disciplines in Snohomish, Island, Skagit counties.
- Carnegie Building Rapid Recidivism Reduction Project – Snohomish County plans to renovate the historic Carnegie Building on the County Campus in downtown Everett. Improving the building will create a location for a program that provides needed services to low-level offenders to reduce recidivism.
Contact Me!
Please don’t hesitate to contact me as session moves along. There are a wide variety of bills introduced every year and I appreciate hearing from constituents about what is important to them. My Legislative Aide, Jordan Smith, can be reached at jordan.smith@leg.wa.gov or 360-786-7864. You can also always email me at june.robinson@leg.wa.gov