The Washington legislature wrapped up their short 2026 session late last week. The lawmakers' primary task was to update the state's budget, but they paid a lot of attention to affordability and responding to the Trump administrations' actions.
State Government Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan walked through what the budget means for the state with KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrik.
Transcript
Kirsten Kendrik: Sarah, this was your first Washington legislative session as our new state government reporter. Just wanted to get your first impressions.
Sarah Mizes-Tan: Yeah. You know, I came in a couple weeks into the session already starting. So it was a bit of a chaotic effort, and there was a lot of catch up to do, but I feel like I survived, and we made it through, and I am grateful to have done so.
Kendrik: Well it's great to have you covering all this. Let's start with the budget. What big changes did lawmakers make? And who's going to be happy? Who's going to be hurting?
Mizes-Tan: There were a couple areas of concern. Namely, the state is facing a budget deficit due to rising costs from inflation, rising costs from payouts that they've had to make for lawsuits against them, which is a whole other topic. And then they also needed to basically address the cuts that were made by the federal government through H.R.1 this year.
So they ended up having to spend more money on things like food assistance and health care for low-income people and noncitizens who are here in the country legally. But essentially, Washington had to step up to fill those gaps. Otherwise, legislators said, we would have a real humanitarian crisis to deal with.
But as a result, there's always something else that has to lose in this and so they made some really deep cuts to child care subsidies through the Working Connections Program and cuts to transitional kindergarten. Those two programs shouldered about a third of the budget savings. Some advocates are relieved that lawmakers didn't end up drawing money from revenue that the state raises from its carbon market to fill holes in the budget. So that was one positive. But essentially, the state drew about $880 million from the rainy day fund, and lawmakers just said it's raining outside right now.
Kendrik: Yeah, right. Well, from the state budget, Sarah, to household budgets, affordability was a big issue this session. What did lawmakers do to address issues like access to food, housing, health care and child care?
Mizes-Tan: Yeah. So I think the very first thing that Democrats and leaders will mention as the way that they addressed this was through that "millionaires tax." That's because this bill includes things like sales tax breaks for diapers and over-the-counter medication, but it doesn't kick in until 2029. When I pressed the House speaker and the governor to point to exactly what they've done that'll make things more affordable sooner, they say that Ferguson has signed bills to protect discounted drug prices and ease zoning for grocery stores, and the governor's requested bill to convert strip malls to housing is also headed his way.
Kendrik: What question about the millionaires tax are you getting the most?
Mizes-Tan: Definitely "who it affects?" The answer to this is: this is a tax on income over a million dollars. So again, your first million that you make, if you're lucky enough to make that, is not going to be subject to this tax. Any amount above a million will be. So if you make $1,000,001 you will be taxed on that $1 above $1 million, so about 10 cents.
This is not a tax on your assets. So if you have a million-dollar house, or you sell one, you will not be subject to this tax. If you are a pass-through entity. This tax is estimated to generate about $3 billion annually from about 20,000 households. So if you really think of it, in the big picture, most people are not going to be subject to this tax.
Kendrik: I think that's a great distinction to make — income and not assets. When is Gov. Ferguson expected to sign this income tax into law?
Mizes-Tan: It was delivered to the governor on Friday, March 13, so he's got until April 2 to sign it.
Kendrik: He has, though, started signing other bills into law, right?
Mizes-Tan: Yes, absolutely. He is signing bills right now. He is signing some today [Tuesday March 17]. These include a bill to allow the state to accept philanthropic gifts to pay for child care. He's already signed a bill that requires insurers to cover vaccines recommended by the state. That was one of the big measures passed that lawmakers point to as a response to the Trump administration. Other measures responding to Trump that Ferguson has signed or will be signing in the next coming weeks: He's barring law enforcement officers from wearing masks. He's protecting the privacy of people who've changed their sex designation for their ID. He's limiting inspections of worker records by immigration agents, and a number of bills to protect voter data.
Kendrik: All right, Sarah, that's a lot. Thank you so much for your reporting throughout the session.
Mizes-Tan: Thanks so much for having me.
