Washington state Senate and House Democrats held news conferences to announce operations and transportation budget proposals on Monday, March 24.
Republicans quickly condemned the budget proposals on social media and in their own news conference the following day, Tuesday, March 25, led by Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, and House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn.
The state budget is split into three categories: operations, transportation and capital. Capital budget proposals will be presented next week.
The budget proposals presented a full picture of the Democrats’ plans for new taxation and potential cuts. The cuts proposed by Democrats in both houses would save the state more than $6 billion over four years while the rest of the larger than $15 billion state budget deficit would be addressed with new taxes.
Democrats say the taxes would primarily be on wealthy individuals and businesses, but higher property taxes are proposed across the board
“Washingtonians have asked us loud and clear to look for reductions and write a balanced budget that both makes reductions as well as makes investments and adds to revenue,” Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said. “We worked to distribute the cuts thoughtfully across the budget and aim to limit the harm.”
Republican criticisms centered on the new taxes Democrats wish to impose in a wide range of settings, raising the limit to property tax increases and some frustrations with cuts to higher education, health care and other support programs.
“The deal that was suggested yesterday I think at the House Democratic availability that this will be a decision by local governments is not accurate. This increase in property tax is taken right in both the Senate and the House budget,” Braun said. “They take advantage of this raising the cap directly, and we have every reason to assume many local governments will take this higher rate and it will result in billions of dollars in new property taxes in our state.”
Stokesbary and Braun called the Democrats’ proposed taxes on business, such as the business and occupation surcharge tax on businesses with more than $250 million in taxable income, an innovation tax. They rebuked efforts to allow the state and localities to increase property tax revenue by more than 1% yearly and critiqued the proposed allocations for public safety and law enforcement.
“The senate Democratic budget does not fund additional law enforcement, something that Gov. Ferguson has vowed to veto if not included,” Braun said. “Now, they’ve taken off the 3% limit and raised it to inflation plus population, which the average would be about 4.5% but could be higher than 8% given recent years, so this is a big deal. Very hard hit directly to homeowners and renters around the state.”
Gov. Bob Ferguson stated in his inauguration speech earlier this year that he would not sign a budget that did not allocate $100 million for hiring new officers and funding law enforcement, noting that Washington has the lowest number of officers per capita in the country.
The budget proposal from Senate Democrats has no additional funding for law enforcement, and the House Democrats proposal sets aside $50 million for law enforcement and $50 million for community investment over four years to address public safety.
Braun recognized the importance of funding earmarked for K-12 and special education, but he voiced concerns at where the money is coming from.
“I’m certainly happy with some of the funding that shows up for K-12 for materials, supplies, operating costs and for special education, but to do it based on these very punitive taxes to the state's economy simply assures that future years will not have funding available for K-12,” Braun said. “It may look good in the near term, but it’s not solving the problem. It's not living within our means, and it's the wrong direction for Washington.”
The Senate budget proposal also includes more money for juvenile rehabilitation facilities, including Green Hill School in Chehalis, which the Senate Democrats hope will support policy bills sponsored by Braun and others and solve issues of overcrowding and safety in the facilities.
“In tandem with the budget investments, we think that will be what the agency needs to stabilize Green Hill School," Sen. Noel Frame, D-Greenwood, said. “It’s supposed to be a rehabilitative setting, and we want to make sure that it is rehabilitative.”
