OLYMPIA, Wash. – Ahead of next week’s start to the 2025 legislative session, state leaders spoke with reporters about their priorities over the next four months, including differing ideas on how to address a massive budget shortfall.
Speaking with reporters at a press briefing Thursday, legislative leaders said housing, transportation and education are some of their key priorities. Though a projected state budget shortfall of over $12 billion over the next four years shadows over their ideas.
“We know we have a pretty significant budget shortfall this year. And so that’s gonna be a challenge for us in doing and accomplishing these goals that we have,” said House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma).
Holding majorities in both the house and the senate, Democrats say they are going to sift through the budget to find savings – like delaying the expansion of some social programs.
Though they ultimately believe it will take new sources of money like a wealth tax or a high-earner payroll tax to address the shortfall, which they attribute to more people utilizing state resources and services.
“We are going to need additional revenue to pay for the investments that the people the state want us to be making in a prosperous future for Washington,” said Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle).
On the other hand, Republicans blame overspending as the root cause of the deficit and say cuts are needed to get out of the hole.
“A tax on jobs is gonna make it harder to find a job. A tax on innovation is gonna make it harder for companies to succeed here that is gonna grow new tax revenue. A tax on housing is gonna make it harder to solve all the challenges with affordable housing that we talked about earlier,” said House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary (R-Auburn). “ We have got to do a better job–we can definitely find room in the budget to balance it without new taxes.”
A poll released Thursday by Crosscut PBS and Elway Research found a majority of voters said the state should put more emphasis on cutting programs, rather than increasing taxes, in order to balance the budget. Though a majority also supported increasing spending on specific programs like public education and funding for affordable housing. Governor-elect Bob Ferguson (D) also said cuts to make government more efficient, rather than new taxes, are the way to address the budget shortfall.
“We are not gonna tax our way out of this thing. Not gonna happen, alright,” Ferguson said. “I’m proposing a six-percent cut across state agencies. I wanna be clear, some agencies will have to take more, others will take a little bit less, but basically the equivalent of six-percent is what we’re gonna have.”
The governor-elect said K-12 education and public safety will not be targeted by the reduction, but other state agencies will be asked to find savings in administrative and program costs. Ferguson said a total of $4 billion dollars will be saved through the cuts.
Talking about his budget priorities, Ferguson also pointed to new investments in housing, ferries and public safety – including a one-hundred-million dollar grant program to hire more police officers across the state.
Ferguson said the widespread cuts will be challenging – even pointing to the fact he asked his former agency, the attorney general’s office, to reduce spending. Though he said they are necessary.
“I’m trying to communicate, to the people of the State of Washington and to state agencies, that this is how we need to operate when you’re facing a $12, $14 billion shortfall,” the governor-elect said.
The 2025 legislative session kicks off on Monday, January 13. Governor Jay Inslee will give his final State of the State address on Tuesday, and Governor-elect Ferguson’s inauguration takes place Wednesday.
Albert James is a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University.
