After weeks of waiting, we finally know what Washington state’s next budget looks like.
Lawmakers approved a final budget deal in late April, after wrestling with a multi-billion dollar deficit all session long. But, the big question was, what Gov. Bob Ferguson would do with it?
In this conversation with Olympia Correspondent Jeanie Lindsay and Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick, we now have some answers.
Click “Listen” above to hear their conversation, or find the transcript below.
Transcript
Note: This transcript is provided for reference only and may contain typos. Please confirm accuracy before quoting.
KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick: So Jeanie, all eyes had been on the governor and what he would do with the budget. First, tell us a little bit about the budget that lawmakers sent to him.
Olympia Correspondent Jeanie Lindsay: Yeah, the $78 billion dollar, two year budget really included a combination of billions in new taxes on businesses and various services. It also included billions in cuts to various programs and services across the state. Some of those cuts included delayed program expansions in childcare, reductions in higher education, and also delays and reductions in some health areas. So really, just a combination of various numbers to really close this multi-billion dollar budget gap that they had been seeing coming for quite some time.
Kendrick: So let's talk about what the governor did with it, how he handled it.
Lindsay: Yeah, he mostly left it alone. He didn't make any reductions really to the tax changes. There was one tax deduction change around like community banks and residential home loans that he decided to cut out. But as far as the major increases that are going to bring in the most money for the state budget. He didn't really touch those. He did make some additional cuts, in addition to what lawmakers approved. He said that there was about $25 million of various programs and studies that he decided to cut out of the final spending plan, which, in the grand scheme of a $78 billion budget, isn't a lot, but for those particular programs, it's pretty significant.
Kendrick: So this was Ferguson's first session and budget as governor. Do we have a clearer picture of him now and how he will be leading?
Lindsay: I think coming into it, there were a lot of expectations just based off of his campaign, and sort of the rhetoric of leading up to the election last year, and then he sort of flipped some of those expectations on its head with just the way he talked all session long about a cuts first approach to the budget. He pushed back on Democrats' original plans for a major wealth tax. And so Republicans were very excited about this governor who had a little more conservative tendencies, if you will, compared to his predecessor, Jay Inslee.
Ferguson also was meeting with Republicans throughout the session, which Jay Inslee certainly did not do. But when it came down to the final budget legislation and the final signature, I think that Ferguson ultimately was more aligned with his party than I think some people had anticipated, just the way that he was talking about the budget this session. So certainly interesting.
He's a first year governor. This was his first budget, his first session, so I think that there are still things that could change and evolve with future years and as he gets more embedded into this office. But ultimately, Bob Ferguson is a Democrat, and he aligned with his Democratic legislators when it came to the final signing of this.
Kendrick: Something else I wanted to get your thoughts on Jeanie, given the big tax push that majority Democrats made during the session. Do you expect any fallout for the lawmakers who are up for reelection this year?
Lindsay: I would be surprised if this didn't come up quite often in the campaigns that we're going to see this fall, especially in the more competitive races between Democrats and Republicans. I know that there's a mixed district that is going to have some election action going on. So I would be shocked if this didn't come up and make things a little bit harder for the lawmakers who are running to try and keep their seats.
Kendrick: All right, Jeanie, thank you so much for talking through all of this.
Lindsay: You're welcome!
Kendrick: And thank you for all your reporting on state government over the past three sessions. This is our final chat, as you'll be moving on.
Lindsay: I'm certainly going to miss it, but you know, I'm excited for the next adventure that awaits. So thank you for all the time that we've spent talking with each other. I appreciate it.
Kendrick: We do appreciate you, and we wish you the best of luck.
