WA Democrats reveal final operating budget deal, but the hard part is passing it
It’s here.
After weeks of working behind the scenes, Washington state Democratic lawmakers released their much-anticipated operating-budget deal Saturday morning. Both chambers will need to give it the green light with a vote, and Gov. Bob Ferguson will still need to sign it.
Senate Ways and Means Chair June Robinson, an Everett Democrat, said lawmakers worked hard to land on the final proposal.
“It’s probably not the budget that we thought we were going to be writing a year ago,” she said — but it’s one that would address the state’s fiscal challenges while funding “core services that the people of Washington … depend on.”
House and Senate Democrats released their respective plans late last month to balance the state’s budget, which faces a shortfall between $7.5 billion and $16 billion, depending on who’s asked.
Ferguson said April 1 that he wouldn’t sign either one. Both relied too much on taxes, he said at the time.
Democrats switched gears and released an updated $12 billion-over-four-years tax package earlier this month. The governor still wasn’t pleased, calling the plan “too risky” amid looming federal-level funding threats.
Senate Republicans, by the way, proposed their own budget, one that wouldn’t raise taxes. But Ferguson also said that an all-cuts budget isn’t the solution either.
Democrats on Saturday unveiled a $77.9 billion, two-year spending deal. They also suggested $5.9 billion in cuts and roughly $8.7 billion added in revenue over the four-year budget outlook.
Here are some initial takeaways from the latest budget plan.
Taxes, taxes, taxes
Democrats floated a bevy of tax ideas this session. The majority party’s messaging homed in on increasing taxes for wealthy residents and large businesses, but Republicans and critics said that many of the proposals would also hit everyday Washingtonians’ wallets.
Some revenue-package ideas include hikes on business and occupation (B&O), capital gains and estate taxes.
Other revenue legislation: the so-called Tesla tax and House Bill 2015, a Ferguson priority that would provide $100 million in police-hiring grants.
House Appropriations Chair Timm Ormsby said that while lawmakers are interacting with Ferguson’s team, the proposal “wasn’t about a relationship.” Rather, he said, it was about getting the budget-job done.
Neither Ormsby nor Robinson would speculate on whether the governor would sign the budget.
“(The executive branch is) their own branch of government,” Robinson said. “And I cannot predict, nor do I know, what they will choose to do.”
ECEAP delays
Robinson described hits to the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), a state-funded prekindergarten program for qualifying low-income families. Early ECEAP for kids ages 0 to 3 is completely unfunded in the budget, although the structure remains so that it can be funded in the future.
ECEAP entitlement has also been delayed, but there is a 5% rate increase, Robinson said.
State employee furloughs
When rolling out his own budget ideas, Ferguson suggested that state employees take one-day-per-month furlough days for two years. The Senate opted for 13 days over one year, while the House didn’t include furloughs at all.
The state-employees’ union has lambasted lawmakers and the governor for considering furloughs, qualifying them as a “betrayal.”
So, where did lawmakers ultimately land?
No furloughs, and collective bargaining agreements would be honored.
“The state needs to be a model employer,” Ormsby said. “We need to project outward to the rest of the state what it looks like to appreciate the work that people do, compensate them fairly and keep them employed.”
Rainy Day Fund
Ferguson has advised lawmakers to leave the Budget Stabilization Account, nicknamed the Rainy Day Fund, untouched. He urged them to prepare for more potential cuts from the federal government, given Trump 2.0’s ongoing slash-and-burn spree.
Although the Senate had initially mulled tapping the fund, Saturday’s final proposal would leave it alone.
Ferguson said in a statement Saturday evening he’s pleased to see that lawmakers’ budget maintains the Rainy Day Fund to help prep for the Trump administration’s chaos. He’s also glad that it boosts the state’s investment in K-12 education and includes a $100 million grant program for law-enforcement hiring, per his request.
“That said, I will be carefully reviewing the budget after it is adopted by the Legislature,” Ferguson continued. “I appreciate the hard work of legislators to finish the session on time.”
RHC closure
Both House and Senate lawmakers’ budget proposals recommended closing the state-run Rainier School residential habilitation center for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, located in Buckley in Pierce County. The lower chamber had also sought to close Yakima Valley School in Selah.
Republican lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee walked out in protest after the Senate’s version passed out of committee April 23.
Democrats’ current budget deal would close Rainier School, but not Yakima Valley School.
Republican response
State Rep. Travis Couture, the House Republican budget lead, was not present at Saturday morning’s conference committee meeting. Both he and Sen. Chris Gildon, his upper-chamber counterpart, have expressed frustration about Republicans’ lack of inclusion during the negotiation process.
Gildon said Saturday’s budget was a “complete rehaul … done in private.”
“I honestly believe that it brings shame on the Legislature for doing it this way, and it brings shame on the people of Washington state,” the Puyallup Republican said, adding that Saturday morning was the first time he’d seen the more than 1,300-page budget document.
But Ormsby said that the process has occurred throughout his time in the Legislature, regardless of which party was in charge.
In an interview, Couture detailed concerns about “the unsustainable, largest tax increase in state history, on top of a massive increase in spending.” The Allyn Republican also worries about revenue proposals, such as the B&O tax increase, hurting the state’s businesses and economic health.
“These are good taxes if you want business to move to Idaho or to another state, Arizona — you name it — where it’s more competitive and a more friendly business and economic environment,” he said. “And that means less jobs.”
The 2025 legislative session ends Sunday, April 27.
This story was originally published April 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM.
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