 Dear friends and neighbors,
I’m starting off this week’s e-newsletter on a somber note as we continue to mourn the loss of Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp. His commitment to growing opportunity in our state was steadfast through his 30 years in the legislature and it’s hard to count the accomplishments under his leadership. I feel like I understand him more every year I serve as Speaker, and will miss the comfort I had knowing that he was there whenever I wanted to reach out. My heart goes out to his family, and to the many people who knew him. This is truly a huge loss for our state. It’s easy to see his impact in a lot of our current work, but one of the most obvious places is the operating budget. Earlier this week we passed our proposed operating budget off the House floor, and especially facing the significant deficit this year, our budget is focused on helping the people who need it most. |
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I’ve mentioned in previous e-newsletters that we were facing a $12 billion budget deficit this year, and due to the uncertainty that Trump is causing at the federal level, that deficit increased in our most recent forecast. I’ve also mentioned that all-cuts budget would be devastating for Washington’s people and families. We have to take a balanced approach, and that’s what we did.
Our operating budget proposal balances ~$6.5 billion in cuts with new revenue that would ask the wealthiest Washingtonians to pay their fair share. Thanks to the incredibly hard work of our budget team, our proposal maintains the programs that people rely on to put food on the table or keep a roof over their head. It does delay implementation for some programs I care deeply about, like expanding access to free early childhood education for low-income families, but it doesn’t take us backwards.
Under our proposal, if you rely on food assistance, that help will still be there tomorrow. If you rely on cash assistance to help make rent, that help will still be there tomorrow. In addition to protecting these programs, we were able to make some modest new investments in areas we know we need it. Our proposal increases funding for Special Education in our K-12 schools and allocates funding to help local governments keep shelters open. These investments are possible because of our revenue proposal, and Finance Committee Chair Rep. April Berg has a video that goes into more detail about those revenue options.
Now that we’ve passed the budget off the floor, we’ll ramp up work with our colleagues in the Senate to resolve any differences and come up with a final proposal.
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I also wanted to give a lightening round update on some of the bills I’ve mentioned this session.
HB 1217 – Rent Stabilization – has passed out of the Housing Committee in the Senate and is now in Ways and Means.
Other bills that have made it to Ways and Means include HB 1163, the Permit to Purchase bill, HB 1696 to expand the Covenant Homeownership Act, HB 1296 to ensure our schools are safe and supportive for students, and HB 1971 which will allow people to get a 12-month refill on their hormone replacement therapy.
These bills have until the end of Tuesday to pass out of committee in order to keep moving through the process. You can get updates on those and other bills here.
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Lastly, I’m continuing to work through some of the questions we didn’t get to at our town hall last month.
Lyddie A. asked “What will you do to prevent our state from harming it’s workforce with furloughs?” I’m proud that in the operating budget proposal we passed off the House floor this week, we were able to fully fund our collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for the 60,000 union-represented state employees without requiring any furlough days. This doesn’t mean our state workers are not facing significant reductions. State employees deliver the programs that so many Washingtonians need. When we have to reduce or eliminate programs, state employee jobs are a major part of those reductions.