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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The 2026 legislative session concluded March 12 after 60 days, and it was one of the most challenging I have experienced. Over those weeks in Olympia, we saw a continued push for higher taxes, more government spending, and policies that do not reflect the realities of life in rural Washington, especially for our farms, small businesses and families.
As ranking Republican on the House Environment and Energy Committee, much of my work this session was defensive. I spent a great deal of time pushing back against proposals that would have driven up energy costs, added new regulations, and made it harder for our communities to keep going in an already difficult environment. That kind of work does not always make headlines. But it matters.
Now I am home again—and grateful for it. There is nothing like being back out on the farm, seeing the fields, hearing the equipment running, and looking out across the Palouse hills toward the Snake River. It is a reminder of why this work is worth doing and to whom I am accountable to every day.
I want to share a few thoughts on what happened during the 2026 legislative session and how I worked to stand up for you and our communities. Please read on for more.
A long fight over taxes and spending
The final days of session were dominated by one of the longest debates in state history—a 24-and-a-half-hour continuous House floor debate over Senate Bill 6346, a proposal from majority Democrats to create Washington’s first state income tax. I opposed that proposal.
House Republicans fought hard to slow the bill and improve it, offering more than 50 of the roughly 80 amendments brought forward during the debate. Those amendments were designed to protect taxpayers, increase transparency and give citizens a voice. Democrats rejected every one of those efforts.
They argue the tax would apply only to high earners. But history shows once an income tax is established, it rarely remains limited to the group it was originally intended to target. For decades, our state has chosen not to have a personal income tax. That has helped attract businesses, support job creation and provide stability for families and employers. An income tax introduces long-term uncertainty. It creates pressure for future expansion and increases the risk that working families and small businesses will eventually bear the burden. Watch my floor speech during that marathon debate.
At the same time, the Legislature approved an operating budget that now exceeds $80.2 billion, increasing spending by $2.3 billion and spending $4.9 billion more than projected revenue.
The budget relies on fund shifts and accounting tools—including a raid on LEOFF 1 firefighters and law enforcement pension-related dollars—to support ongoing spending. This is wrong! Despite serving on the House Appropriations Committee, I was shut out of the final budget-writing process, and Democrats rejected our amendments to fix the budget. Sadly, even with new taxes, this approach puts Washington on track for another budget shortfall in 2027.
Ensuring citizens are heard
The people of Washington sent two initiatives to the Legislature for consideration: IL26-638 (protecting girls’ sports) and IL-26-001 (restoring parents’ rights).
Majority party Democrats chose not to hold public hearings on the initiatives and did not allow them to come to the House and Senate floors for votes. Republicans in the House and Senate held listening sessions on Feb. 3 so citizens could be heard. I was among who attended the listening sessions (see photo above).
If these two initiatives had come to the House floor, I would have voted for them.
Since no legislative action was taken, both initiatives will advance to the November ballot, and Washington voters will decide if they will pass or not.
Energy policy, rising costs and the work that mattered
One of my biggest concerns this session was the continued push for policies that would increase energy costs. Families across our district are already dealing with higher electricity bills. Farmers, manufacturers and small businesses are feeling those pressures even more. Yet we saw proposals that would have added new financial burdens to ratepayers.
That included House Bill 2373, which would have required utility customers to fund new subsidy programs, and House Bill 2275, a California-style wildfire cost recovery proposal that could have shifted significant costs onto electric customers. Those policies in practice show up as higher monthly bills. For many people, there is simply no room left for those increases. We successfully stopped these harmful proposals.
I also opposed House Bill 2515, which targeted data centers and risked driving family-wage jobs and investment out of rural communities like ours. That bill ultimately died in the Senate, protecting those opportunities in Eastern Washington.
We pushed back on measures that would have increased costs, created new liabilities and threatened jobs in rural Washington—including stopping the extreme “environmental crimes” measure, Senate Bill 5360, and helping defeat the “grocery tax” proposal in House Bill 1607. This work does not always make headlines, but it makes a difference for families across our district.
Read more about our successes in my newspaper opinion editorial.
Washington agriculture is under real pressure
I want to take a moment to speak directly about agriculture, because the challenges facing our farm economy are serious—and growing. Recent data and reporting confirm what many of us have been hearing across the district. Washington now ranks last in the nation in net farm income, with production costs outpacing returns. In 2024 alone, Washington farm income was negative $294.632 million. This is a staggering decline of more than $1.2 billion in lost farm revenue from 2023 to 2024.
Farmers are facing rising costs tied to fuel, fertilizer, electricity and labor—many of which are influenced by state policy decisions. We are also seeing the ripple effects across rural communities. Processing facilities have closed, jobs have been lost, and farmers are losing access to markets they depend on.
Agriculture is more than individual farms. It is an entire economic system that supports jobs, communities and food production here at home and around the world. I have written more about these challenges, including a recent letter the top state agriculture leaders sent to the governor. The data and impacts are sobering. Read my open letter here.
Investing in the 9th District
While there were many disagreements this session, the capital budget is one area where we were able to deliver meaningful results for our communities. The supplemental capital budget invests $890 million statewide, including more than $32.1 million for projects across the 9th Legislative District. As a member of the House Capital Budget Committee, I worked to ensure our rural communities were included in these investments. Projects in the 9th District include:
- Palouse school construction — $6 million
- Washington State University infrastructure and research — more than $8.9 million
- Eastern Washington University preservation and solar project — more than $11.1 million
- Reardan-Edwall School District track and field improvements — $1.87 million
- Garfield elementary and middle school improvements — $1.43 million
- Othello water supply and infrastructure projects — more than $1.6 million
- Adams County public safety building — $258,000
- Dayton community swimming pool — $275,000
- Albion community improvements and Whitman County fire assistance
These are real investments in our communities, and I am proud to have helped secure them.
Thank you for joining our telephone town hall
Rep. Joe Schmick and I were encouraged by the strong participation in our telephone town hall on Feb. 11. More than 5,200 people joined the call, and we had over 170 individuals who asked questions or shared comments. We appreciate the opportunity to hear directly from you.
Looking ahead
There is more work to do. During the interim, I will continue to meet with citizens, visit farms and work on solutions to help our communities navigate rising costs, regulatory challenges and economic uncertainty. Agriculture remains at the heart of the 9th District, and I will continue fighting to protect it.
Even though the legislative session has ended, I remain available to you. Please feel free to call, write or email my office any time. I am here to answer your questions and continue working on your behalf. Thank you again for the opportunity to serve you!
Sincerely,
Mary Dye
