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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Washington’s latest revenue forecast, unveiled yesterday, brought concerning news as the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council reported a worsening fiscal outlook for the state. Compared to the last revenue forecast, general fund revenues have dropped by $845 million over the four-year budget period—with a slight gain in the current biennium, but sharp declines over the next two.
For years, Republicans have warned about majority Democrats spending well beyond our means as a state. Since 2011-13, general fund spending has exploded—from $30.9 billion to $71.95 billion in 2023-25—far outpacing inflation and population growth.
During a recent press conference, Governor Ferguson said: “If the Legislature two years ago knew that we’d be facing a $15 billion shortfall, I’m confident some of those investments would not have happened.”
Well, I did warn majority Democrats, as did many of my House Republican colleagues. Watch:
So, how exactly did we get into this budget crisis?
- Since 2019, every operating budget has spent billions more than the state collected in taxes. The 2023-25 budget alone overspent by $4.1 billion.
- Budget writers used inflated revenue assumptions, spending $1.1 billion in “ghost revenue” that was never expected to materialize.
- Expensive programs were passed without being fully funded, delaying costs for future budgets.
- Democrats raided $2.3 billion from the Rainy-Day Fund and burned through $11 billion in one-time federal COVID stimulus money, leaving Washington ill-prepared for economic uncertainty.
Instead of taking responsibility and cutting wasteful spending this session, I expect majority Democrats to raise taxes by billions of dollars to fill the budget gap. What we still don’t know is if Governor Ferguson will veto the tax increases that come to his desk. If he doesn’t, Washingtonians will end up paying the price for Olympia’s spending addiction, which would be an incredible shame.
For our part, House Republicans will continue fighting against tax hikes and for a fiscally responsible operating budget that protects taxpayers now and in the future.
Democrats can either continue down the path of unsustainable spending and tax increases at a time when Washington is already the third-most expensive state in the country for residents—or they can pursue responsible budgeting that puts taxpayers first. To me, the choice is clear.
House of Origin cutoff
One week ago today marked House of Origin cutoff, a critical session deadline by which most bills were required to pass out of the chamber where they were initially introduced. Bills that failed to pass are now considered dead for this session, with the exception of those deemed necessary to implement the operating budget.
Democrat-sponsored bills that are dead for 2025 thanks to your efforts
House Bill 1380: Would have prevented cities from cleaning up homeless encampments.
House Bill 1399: Would have let state bureaucrats, not voters, decide who can run for sheriff—stripping local communities of control over their own law enforcement.
House Bill 1178: Would have lowered penalties for gang-related felonies.
House Bill 1317: Would have allowed individuals convicted of violent crimes under the age of 21, including murder, to petition for early release.
House Bill 1125: Would have empowered activist judges to resentence convicted criminals.
House Bill 1274: Would have reopened settled cases, forcing victims and their families to relive their trauma while shifting the focus away from accountability and justice.
Democrat-sponsored bills that are still alive
House Bill 1334: Would increase the property tax growth limit from 1% to 3%.
House Bill 1480: Would allow counties to impose a real estate excise tax.
House Bill 1921: Would create a new per-mileage tax on drivers.
House Bill 1386: Would impose an additional 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition.
House Bill 1320: Would increase B&O taxes on certain businesses.
House Bill 1217: Would impose rent control. While well-intentioned, rent control hasn’t worked anywhere it’s been implemented. Instead, it has discouraged investment, slowed new construction, and ultimately hurt housing providers and tenants alike. If it’s adopted here, our state’s terrible housing crisis will only get worse.
House Bill 1296: Would make sweeping changes to the parental rights initiative over 450,000 Washingtonians signed last year and the Legislature passed. When it came to the floor last week, House Republicans introduced dozens of amendments and battled for more than six hours, well into the early morning. You can watch a mashup of our speeches here.
House Republicans are continuing to work to defeat all of these bills and dozens more. You can help us by clicking here.
Republican-sponsored bills that are still alive
Republicans don’t control the gavel, so the vast majority of our priority bills to reduce taxes, improve public safety, lower housing prices, and support working families are dead this session. Even so, we still have many impactful bills working their way through the legislative process, including:
House Bill 1457: Would require tamper-resistant electronic monitoring for sexually violent predators on conditional release.
House Bill 1648: Would give child care providers more time to meet qualification requirements and remove unnecessary rules that make it harder for experienced professionals to stay in the child care workforce. This would help increase the number of available providers and ease Washington’s child care crisis.
House Bills 1414, 1121, 1722: Would remove barriers for 16- and 17-year-olds in career and technical education programs, making it easier for them to enter the workforce.
House Bill 1285: Would require all high school students, beginning with the class of 2031, to meet state financial education standards to graduate.
House Bill 1261: Would protect family farmers who engage in agritourism from losing crucial tax benefits.
House Bill 1096: Would authorize lot splitting—dividing a single property into smaller lots—enabling homeowners to build affordable homes and boost our state’s housing supply.
Staying engaged and getting in touch
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any comments, questions, or concerns.
Also, as House Republicans continue championing solutions to fix Washington and working to defeat bad bills, I encourage you to follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
It is an honor to serve you.
Warmly,
Drew Stokesbary
