By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
A several hundred-million-dollar-deficit remains for Washington lawmakers to deal with when they return to Olympia in January. And a multibillion-dollar deficit is expected over the two-year budget cycle. The latest forecast for state tax collections shows tax receipts up $22 million for the current budget that ends June 30, 2027, and $430 million higher in the next biennial spending cycle, due to the state’s new income tax grossing hundreds of millions of dollars more than prior projections.
Also in today’s edition…
• A commentary on training Washington’s future doctors.
• Idaho pushes to be home to a nuclear innovation campus.
• And, Oregon narrows protections for LGBTQ+ youth after a court ruling.
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By Jerry Cornfield
Friday’s forecast “makes the budget picture slightly worse” next year and “a little bit better” for the one after that, K.D. Chapman-See, director of the Office of Financial Management, said Friday. The lead Senate budget writer, Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, acknowledged revenues are up but far from enough.
“I think we need to find ways to reduce current spending so that we can balance in fiscal year 2028,” she said.
COMMENTARY
By Kristen Wyrick
As a doctor who helps train the next generation of Washington physicians, Kristen Wyrick sees what’s at stake every day: when patients wait too long to see a doctor, manageable health concerns can become much more serious. Washington faces a growing shortage of primary care doctors, especially in rural and underserved communities. Stronger partnerships between our state’s medical schools and community clinicians are one way to solve this challenge and help future doctors train in our communities.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright (center) visits Idaho National Laboratory with Idaho Gov. Brad Little (right) in December 2025. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Wood/U.S. Department of Energy)
By Clark Corbin
U.S. Department of Energy officials this summer announced that Idaho is one of five states selected as a finalist to host one a new nuclear innovation campus. If Idaho is selected as a host site, the federal government has said the state will have to accept shipments of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from other states. But Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, has said he will not jeopardize the health of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer or the health of Idahoans as he aims to bring the nuclear campus to his state.
By Shaanth Nanguneri
Oregon’s prospective foster and adoptive parents do not need to commit to affirming a child’s potential LGBTQ+ identity to serve as caregivers in the wake of a recent federal court ruling narrowing child welfare officials’ ability to determine inclusive placements. The Arizona-based conservative legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom celebrated the development, calling it “a win-win that protects constitutional rights and puts children’s interests first.”
ICYMI
Washington is fighting to limit its duty to protect vulnerable adults | by Kelsey Turner, InvestigateWest
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