How will legislative budget writers fill a multi-billion dollar budget hole? And how will Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson’s early comments, in which he’s been skeptical of tax increases proposed by outgoing Governor Jay Inslee and many legislative Democrats, play into the mix?
Host Austin Jenkins kicks off the 2025 season with an in-depth conversation on the state budget with the lead budget writers in the State Senate: Ways and Means Chair June Robinson of Everett, and the ranking Republican on that committee, Chris Gildon of Puyallup.
Robinson on the budget writing process: “We will initially go through the budget, line by line, and look for places where we can reduce spending…” but “I still maintain that at the end of the day there will need to be some tax increases … to keep our state moving forward.”
Gildon’s take on how we got here: “The Legislature a few years back basically put a number of bills on layaway, they said we want to pass these bills, we’re not ready to pay for it yet, but we’ll just pay for it in the future, and now it’s time to pay the bills, and there’s not sufficient money to cover it.”
Plus, we debrief with State Capitol reporters – Shauna Sowersby of The Seattle Times and Laurel Demkovich of the Washington State Standard – on the big bills and big themes of the 2025 legislative session, which kicked off this week in Olympia and stretches through the end of April. One big theme is Governor Bob Ferguson himself. His early comments and priorities, particularly on taxes and spending, have surprised many.
“I think for some of the progressives that voted for Bob Ferguson and his campaign, it seems like a lot of them are pretty shocked,” says Sowersby. “It seems like a lot of the more conservative folks are pleased with Ferguson’s proposal.”
