Dear friends and neighbors,

With the 2025 session behind us, and our town hall coming up in a couple of days, this is a great opportunity for an update on the three budgets we passed, and a reminder to join your 49th district delegation this Saturday at 10:30 AM at the ESD 112 Conference Center.

I’ve been out in the community since moving back home after adjournment and have heard from many of you not just over email, but at the grocery store or just walking down the street. You have concerns, as do we, especially since there is so much uncertainty coming from the other Washington. We need to find our grounding and work together on the things we can do. So I hope you will join us this weekend, where we’ll update you on the actions taken this session, listen to your concerns and answer your questions to the best of our abilities.

A BALANCED APPROACH TO MINIMIZE HARM

Unlike the federal government, our State Constitution requires the Legislature to pass a balanced Operating Budget. And contrary to what some people believe, budget writers do start working on it very early in session. It is the most important task we must accomplish as lawmakers and one of the most difficult as well.

We started the year with a significant budget deficit caused by slowing revenue growth, increased demand for services, inflation, and unpredictability at the federal level. With that in mind, our budget team spent months combing through the budget to find efficiencies and places we could cut while still preserving people’s access to food, health, and shelter. Despite our efforts, we still needed to find new sources of revenue and I am including a section with that information further down.

The final $77.1 billion negotiated budget reflects our harm reduction approach by maintaining essential programs and services for working families and our most vulnerable residents. Here are some of the highlights:

CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES

• Family Child Care Agreement: $376 Million
• Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) Rate Increase: $40 Million
• Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) Multiplier Increase: $36 Million
• Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA) Capacity & Security: $51 Million

K-12 EDUCATION

• Maintains funding for school meals and summer EBT for kids: $45 Million
• Increases Special Education funding: $775 Million
• Funds increased Local Effort Assistance: $200 Million
• Increases funding for materials, supplies and operating costs: $215 Million

HIGHER EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

• Avoids tuition increases at our public two- and four-year colleges
• Maximum Washington College Grant awards funded at 60% median family income: $45 Million
• Continues the WSU Native Scholarship Program: $2.2 Million

HEALTH CARE

• Continues funding for the Apple Health for Immigrants program
• Protects funding for the Cascade Care Savings Program: $84 Million
• Continues the Health Homes Program in 2026: $15 Million

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH & SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER

• Funds Phase 4 of the Trueblood Settlement to continue supporting people through and out of the forensic mental health and criminal court systems: $65 Million
• Increased funding for 988 & Crisis Facility Grants for three centers: $47 Million

LONG TERM CARE & DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

• Consumer-Directed Employment, Agency Parity & Adult Family Home Agreement: $833 Million
• Funds Nursing home rates and transitions clients to community settings: $55 Million
• Maintains Assisted Living Bridge Rates & increases Community Residential Rates by 2%: $62 Million

HOMELESSNESS & HOUSING

• Housing & Homelessness Increases: $145 Million
• Youth Homelessness Diversion Funding: $6 Million
• Tenant Right to Counsel Program: $3 Million

HUMAN SERVICES & POVERTY REDUCTION

• Funds Food Security & Assistance: $128 Million
• Immigrant, Refugee, and New Arrival Supports: $40 Million

PUBLIC SAFETY, LEGAL AID & CORRECTIONS

• Community Reinvestment Program: $110 Million
• Local Law Enforcement Grants: $100 Million
• Reentry Center Conversions: $26 Million
• Crime Victims Support: $27 Million
• Public Defense Grants: $13.5 Million

CLIMATE, CLEAN ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES

• Wildfire Response, Suppression, and Recovery: $22 Million
• Invasive Species Prevention: $11 Million

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A More Progressive Tax Code for Washington

Washingtonians deserve a fairer tax structure and in such a difficult budgetary environment, our state needs revenue sources that are stable and less reliant on regressive taxes, like the sales tax.

• Re-imagining investments in public safety: We need to re-envision how we invest in public safety. House Bill 2015 places the needs and well-being of our communities at the forefront while demanding greater accountability from law enforcement. It prioritizes the values of transparency, fairness, and community-centered policing shape the future of public safety.
• Funding Washington’s paramount duty: Our schools are struggling with budget constraints. House Bill 2049 increases the per-pupil limit for school enrichment levies, allowing local districts to vote on increases to support local school needs, including classroom and teacher supports, increased student services, and mental health and counseling programs.
• Ensuring high-grossing businesses help fund community needs: House Bill 2081 changes our Business & Occupation (B&O) tax in several ways, making it more progressive and ensuring some of the world’s largest corporations pay what they owe. It will help protect Washingtonians from harmful cuts to education, public safety, and the safety net, and invest in critical public services that keep people healthy and support our economic future.
• Modifying Washington’s capital gains excise tax and estate tax: Senate Bill 5813 modifies the capital gains tax, creating a tiered structure with an additional 2.9% surcharge on profits above $1 million from the sale of stocks, bonds, and other financial assets. For the estate tax, it excludes smaller estates up to $3 million in value – indexed to inflation moving forward – and creates a more progressive structure with higher rates on larger estates. The revenue is dedicated to K-12 schools, early learning, childcare, and higher education through the Education Legacy Trust Account.
• Closing ineffective and obsolete tax exemptions: Senate Bill 5794 repeals tax exemptions if the public policy objective wasn’t met, its unclear it was met, or if the exemption is legally obsolete. It also applies Business & Occupation tax to state-chartered credit unions if they merge with a bank regulated by the Department of Financial Institutions and applies B&O to revenue from the rental of storage units. By ending tax preferences that are not effective, Washington state will have more revenue for the essential services our communities need and keep Washingtonians healthy, housed, and fed.

INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE STRENGTHENS OUR COMMUNITIES

The state’s Capital Budget is responsible for funding the construction of needed infrastructure, like housing, school buildings, behavioral health facilities, and other important projects, while also creating jobs.

This biennium’s Capital Budget made several key statewide investments, including:

• $782 Million in housing and homelessness programs.
• A record-setting $605 Million for the Housing Trust Fund – directly funding the construction of affordable housing.
• $1 Billion for K-12 school construction and early learning facilities – including $202 Million for small district and tribal compact schools, $151 Million for school seismic safety, and $100 Million for early learning facilities.
• $130 Million in grants for projects expanding behavioral health care capacity in community settings.

Locally, these are the projects in our communities that received funding:

• $18.28 Million for renovations and updates to the Washington Center for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Youth 
• $2.46 Million for modernization and improvements to the State School for the Blind
• $1.5 Million for Clark County Public Safety
• $1.36 Million for Cascadia Tech Academy building repairs and updates 

• $1.2 Million for the Vancouver Family Resource Center

• $1.18 Million for the Housing Solutions Center acquisition and renovation

• $1 Million for the Community Roots Mill Plain Housing Project: 20 units and access to mental health services and support for people exiting homelessness
• $850K for Dept. of Ecology cleanup remedies to remove, treat, or contain potentially harmful substances
• $500K for the Wildlife & Recreation Program at Raymond E. Shaffer Community Park

• $400K for the YWCA Clark County, Housing & Empowerment Campus: planning, engineering, and preparation for construction of 54-unit income-restricted housing project

SAFETY, MAINTENANCE & MOBILITY

The state’s Transportation Budget funds development of transportation infrastructure, which includes transit, roads, bridges and ferries, to ensure we can commute and travel safely, as well as move goods efficiently across Washington. This year’s budget invests in safety, maintenance, and mobility by protecting funding to continue ongoing work on critical projects, including priorities in our area, such as:

• The I-5 Columbia River Bridge replacement
• Improvements and reconstruction on the I-5/Mill Plain Boulevard
• Auxiliary lanes to relieve congestion on SR 14/I-205 to SE 164th Avenue
• Several C-Tran projects:
  • Fourth Plain Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Extension Project
  • Various Highway 99 BRT Projects
  • Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses & Fueling Station Infrastructure
  • Vancouver Mall Transit Center Relocation & Upgrade
• Reconstruct roadway and traffic signals on SR 501/I-5 to Port of Vancouver
• Chelatchie Prairie Railroad Bridge & Rehab Work
• Garrison Road Sidewalk Infill
• Expanding Vancouver Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program to include a residential program
• Expanding Vancouver TDM Program & Clark County Commute Trip Reduction Program by offering transportation subsidies and discounts

LET’S TALK!

While the Legislative Session only lasts a few months, I am your representative year ’round and I love hearing from you, in fact, I NEED to hear from you to keep me informed on the needs in our community, which is why I always welcome your emails and calls. But let’s take it a step further. How about we get together once a month to discuss what’s important to you over a good cup of joe? Let’s try it for a few months and see what happens. I will send you reminder invites every month a week before, which will also serve to let you know of any changes.

I hope you found this information useful. To delve deeper into all three budgets, please visit www.fiscal.wa.gov where you can look up specific investments by agency, and you can also take a look at the project maps. And if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact my office.

Hope to see you on Saturday morning!

Best,