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Only eight days remaining
- It is day 97 of the 105-day legislative session, which is scheduled to finish April 27. Eight days remain.
- Our typical day begins at 9 a.m., and on several occasions, we have been on the floor until midnight and beyond, making for a very exhausting week.
- Wednesday, April 16, was a major floor deadline. Bills must be passed from their opposite chambers by 5 p.m. or they are considered “dead” for the session. Bills necessary to implement the budget are exempt from the cutoffs.
Today’s newsletter is 902 words, a five-minute read.
Budget and taxes dominate the last days of the session
On Tuesday, April 15 (“Tax Day”), legislative Democrats released their second version of comprehensive tax proposals. The $12 billion buffet of tax increases includes hikes in business and capital gains taxes, new sales taxes on services, and greater property tax collections by the state and local governments.
Other selections include an increase in a surcharge on technology companies, an expanded tax on nicotine products, and a mandate for some large businesses to make a one-time pre-payment of sales tax owed to the state. Major financial institutions will also pay more. And there’s a surcharge on large corporations.
New taxes are also proposed on vacation home rentals, storage units, and rental cars. They also want to add a surcharge to gun purchases, increase the price of a Discover Pass from $30 to $45, and boost the cost of hunting and fishing licenses by 38%. This would tax the joy out of being a Washingtonian!
At this point in the session, no one outside of the Democratic budget writers yet knows if they will have a new state operating budget to vote on before the session ends on April 27.
Read my opinion articles:
Today’s debate: School administration savings
Did you know that as many as 85 public school superintendents in Washington make more than $250,000 annually? How does that compare with average salaries in our local rural counties?
- Adams County – Median income: $44,696 | Household median income: $91,387
- Asotin County – Median income: $34,872 | Household median income: $69,107
- Columbia County – Median income: $37,807 | Household median income: $71,528
- Garfield County – Median income: $36,500 | Household median income: $62,411
- Lincoln County – Median income: $38,958 | Household median income: $71,227
- Spokane County – Median income: $38,506 | Household median income: $73,513
- Whitman County – Median income: $24,222 | Household median income: $52,893
View the superintendent salary list here.
Washington’s school system is heavy in administration and has grown 54% since 2020. Student learning loss has not been fully recovered, enrollment is down, and fewer than half of the students are at grade level in math, science, and only half in English. We also have the highest per-student spending for Western states at $19,727. See the Washington Policy Center report.
We spent the afternoon discussing and debating these issues and how we could provide administrative savings for Washington taxpayers under House Bill 2050.
Protecting our families from reckless environmental and energy policies
Our Public Utility District friends inform me that before Gov. Jay Inslee implemented his energy policies, the average cost of power in Washington was $33 per megawatt (approximately 3.3 cents per kilowatt on your power bill). After his extreme policies were in place, the cost of power is now $83 per megawatt, or 8.3 cents per kilowatt on your power bill. Read this Substack article from Benton County PUD Manager Rick Dunn. Also, read my letter to the Garfield County Commissioners.
As the ranking Republican on the House Environment and Energy Committee, I have spent much of my time opposing reckless energy policies that would transform our Eastern Washington rural areas into Seattle’s massive, weather-dependent energy factory, making life more expensive for us and our families. Here are a couple of examples:
- Environmental crimes—Senate Bill 5360 would have established Class B and Class C felonies for violations of state environmental laws. As the bill came up for a vote in the House Environment and Energy Committee, my Republican colleagues and I pointed out the hypocrisy of targeting the business community while ignoring state accountability. Although the measure passed out of the committee, it died in the House Appropriations Committee. Listen to my Capitol Report radio program on this bill.
- Grocery packaging—Senate Bill 5284 requires producers of particular paper and plastic packaging to participate in and fund the operations of a nonprofit organization that would collect, sort, prepare, track, and market this packaging material for reuse or recycling. Producers would pay fees in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually when the program is fully implemented. These fees/tariffs would be embedded in the cost of groceries and household items. Washington already has the highest grocery costs among Western states. We shouldn’t make it worse. The bill passed early Tuesday morning, 51 to 45, with all Republicans voting no.
Learn more about Senate Bill 5284:- See how grocery prices would rise in this chart.
- Listen to my interview with Lars Larsen, KXL – Portland
- Listen to my interview with Spokane Public Radio’s Doug Nadvornick.
- Listen to this radio report.
Please write, call, or email my office with your questions, comments, or suggestions about the content of this email update, any legislation, or challenges about state government. I’m here to help. Thank you for allowing me to serve and represent you and the 9th District!
Sincerely,
Mary Dye
