By Bill Lucia | Editor
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Quote of the week: “She absolutely said she’s interested in the role.”
That’s state House Speaker Laurie Jinkins referring to Rep. April Berg’s interest in taking over as speaker. The problem: Jinkins isn’t ready to give up the gavel.
“Presuming we still have a majority, I absolutely do plan to continue,” she told the Standard yesterday. Jinkins said Berg spoke with her last month and indicated that she planned to seek the post when Democrats select caucus leaders after the November election. Berg didn’t confirm or deny the conversation.
Jinkins, of Tacoma, was first elected to the House in 2010 and has served as speaker since 2020.
It’s not an easy task leading the 59-member caucus, which includes lawmakers with a wide range of views and built-in tension between dwindling moderates and ascendant progressives. Floor action in the past couple of sessions has often bogged down and stretched into the overnight hours in the House as Democrats hash out issues amongst themselves in lengthy closed-door caucus meetings. The speaker is responsible for assembling and advancing the majority’s agenda.
State Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, pictured during a committee hearing earlier this year, is eyeing the speakers’ gavel in 2027. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Berg represents the 44th District, which encompasses part of southeast Snohomish County. She was elected in 2020 and chairs the House Finance Committee, which handles tax legislation. She played a key role in guiding the new income tax on millionaire earners through the House and is a strong supporter of the policy. In recent years, she also led the charge on an unsuccessful bill that would have imposed a new tax on pricey real estate sales to raise money for affordable housing, just one example of the many tax policy debates she’s been deeply involved in.
At this point, it’s not clear why she wants the speakership or how her leadership style could differ from Jinkins. She also might not be Jinkins’ only challenger. It’s also rumored that Reps. Liz Berry of Seattle and Dariya Farivar of North Seattle could be interested, though neither has confirmed.
Read more: The brewing battle to be WA’s next House speaker By Jerry Cornfield
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A server room in a data center. (Photo by Getty Images)
By David Lightman
The future of data centers and their huge electricity needs has become a political flashpoint in places around the U.S., including here in Washington. The debate is also beginning to flare up in Congress, with a number of bills in play.
For example, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are pushing a plan to prevent consumers from having to pay increases in utility rates because of data centers.
And Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are sponsoring moratorium legislation. Their plan would block new artificial intelligence data centers until “strong national safeguards are in place” that ensure AI is safe and effective and that it will benefit workers. The government would also have to guarantee that AI does not increase electricity rates or harm the environment.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry group, says it’s eager to work with lawmakers and consumers, but argues that the facilities must get built.
“Data centers power modern life — from telehealth and digital classrooms to banking, air travel, financial transactions, and online shopping … this infrastructure is not optional; it is foundational,” said Cy McNeill, coalition senior director of federal affairs.
The industry is throwing around large amounts of cash on lobbying.
At the state level, expect lawmakers in Olympia to make another run next year at passing a package of data center regulations. Legislation like this had some momentum this year, but derailed amid industry opposition.
Where’s the governor?
Gov. Bob Ferguson makes an appearance in the 192-page “autopsy” report that the Democratic National Committee released this week about the party’s 2024 losses. The document is riddled with omissions and errors. DNC Chair Ken Martin disavowed the report upon releasing it, saying it didn’t meet his standards.
Where does Washington’s governor come in? The report says that by “running on a platform of housing affordability, reducing costs for families throughout the state, and improving public safety,” Ferguson was able to easily win in his 2024 race against former Republican Congressman Dave Reichert.
But it also says Ferguson underperformed in “Democratic strongholds” compared to Kamala Harris in her run for president. The report goes on to suggest that this is an indication “anti-Trump sentiment alone was insufficient to motivate voters.” Annotations in the report itself say there is “no evidence provided for these claims” and that public reporting and data contradict several of the underlying assumptions.
Katherine Bobman, a political consultant for Ferguson, said the report was difficult to respond to given the errors it contains and because the DNC had repudiated it. She also noted Ferguson defeated Reichert by 11 points and that Reichert “specifically tried to distance himself from Trump.” Bobman added, “To try and draw parallels between Vice President Harris' performance against the historically unpopular Trump to other Washington state races is simply not relevant.”
Schedule documents obtained through records requests show Ferguson has been in several budget meetings in the past couple of weeks. The governor’s office typically sends budget instructions to agencies in June, and work on the governor’s budget proposal ramps up through the latter part of the year.
The budget was also among the topics that Democratic legislative leaders discussed with Ferguson in a meeting on Thursday, according to Jinkins. There are big fiscal challenges on the horizon for next year’s session. They also talked about U.S. Supreme Court decisions and federal policies that could affect the state, Jinkins said.
Ferguson was hanging out recently with James Talarico, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Texas, posting about it on social media. Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove hosted a fundraiser in Seattle for Talarico last Friday.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Puget Sound Energy is adding a wind farm in Klickitat County to its clean energy portfolio, the latest move in the utility’s transition to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2030, as state law mandates.
Cuts that Republicans in the U.S. House are seeking to the nuclear cleanup at Washington’s Hanford site would go deeper than steep reductions the Trump administration proposed.
An original member of Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson’s executive leadership team, who played a key role in boosting the administration’s cooperation with tribes, resigned last month for a private sector job.
During the height of December’s severe flooding, Washington made $3.5 million available to those in need, but five months later, most of that funding has gone unused.
The Trump administration has launched an investigation into Washington state’s practice of housing transgender women in its women’s prison.
In an encouraging sign for road safety, traffic deaths in Washington fell significantly for the second year in a row in 2025, according to state data released Tuesday.
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