By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Quote of the week: “We understand it’s going to be a heck of a battle up there.”
That’s Chris Reykdal, the leader of Washington’s public school system, on the prospects of getting his request for nearly $2 billion for basic education into the state’s next two-year budget.
It’s a big ask given Washington is facing a third consecutive year of budget shortfalls. But he thinks his proposal should be a priority given the state’s constitutional duty to fund education.
His request is one of many from state agencies, including ones run by other statewide elected officials, that are due Monday. They’ve already started to trickle in, and are all posted online by the Office of Financial Management.
Ferguson’s proposal for the two-year budget will be released in mid-December. The Legislature will consider the spending plan when it convenes in January for a 105-day legislative session.
Gov. Bob Ferguson in a media availability after signing the budget in May 2025. To the right is his budget director, K.D. Chapman-See. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
The early asks include $146 million for the Department of Commerce to backfill cuts the Trump administration has made to federal permanent supportive housing funding. In its request to the governor’s budget office, the agency said the money is necessary to keep current projects running and prevent closures that would return tenants to homelessness. Federal changes could lead to more than 5,000 permanent housing beds being lost, according to state officials.
Due to the rapid increase in lawsuit payouts due to state government misconduct, the Department of Enterprise Services is looking for nearly $1.3 billion. This is on top of $1 billion in the budget this year to backfill the account that pays these costs. Still, its expected to be $345 million in the red by the end of this biennium, which ends June 30, 2027.
A request from the Department of Revenue seeks $91.6 million and the equivalent of 156 full-time employees to develop and deploy Washington’s new statewide income tax. This would be in addition to the $10.2 million and 55 employees funded in the state’s current spending plan.
“Without this funding, the agency will be unable to collect and enforce $3.1 billion” in estimated collections in the next budget cycle, department leaders wrote.
If the high-earners income tax survives challenges at the ballot and in the courts, it will take effect Jan. 1, 2028, with first payments due in 2029.
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State reaches tentative contract deals with two unions
After weeks of tense negotiations, two unions of state workers reached tentative agreements on their next two-year contracts late this week.
One is for the 42,000 general government workers from the Washington Federation of State Employees. The other is the Washington Public Employees Association, which covers 2,500 workers. The latter includes no across-the-board wage increases, according to a union official, and the two unions’ contracts tend to align on pay.
“A zero percent wage increase means another loss in purchasing power, continuing a trend we’ve seen for the last two decades,” said Amanda Hacker, the association’s president. “The result of this bargaining cycle is more of the same, and that simply isn’t sustainable.”
Both deals are subject to ratification by union membership.
More unions continue to negotiate with the state ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline to be included in the budget that will run from July 1, 2027, to June 30, 2029.
READ MORE: Two public sector unions reach tentative deals on new contracts | by Jerry Cornfield
Leaders ready despite mail ballot uncertainty
(Photo by Donna Gordon Blankinship/Washington State Standard)
Washington and other states continue to fight the Trump administration in court over the federal government’s push to restrict mail-in voting, which Washington relies on. But while their case is set to arrive before the U.S. Supreme Court, election officials here have drawn up contingency plans to ensure November’s pivotal midterm election runs smoothly.
For example, the state has a plan if voters can’t depend on the U.S. Postal Service. Not only can you print a replacement ballot on the same website where you can update your voter registration, you can also print a new ballot envelope and tape or glue it together. People who don’t have a computer attached to a printer at home, may need to print their ballot at a public library or vote in person at a county voting center in the days before Election Day. Your county elections office will post locations closer to the election.
“We have a very resilient system,” said Stuart Holmes, director of elections in the secretary of state’s office. “Election officials: We get it done.”
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has issued its latest threat to Washington’s chief election official, directing him to preserve records from the 2024 election. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs received the letter, which was sent to his colleagues in at least roughly 30 states that the Trump administration has been fighting in court for voter rolls. Failing to hold onto the documents “may constitute spoliation of evidence, which may subject you to civil and criminal sanctions,” wrote Eric Neff, the Department of Justice’s top voting rights attorney, in the letter to Hobbs.
Hobbs’ office said Thursday it was “reviewing the letter.”
READ MORE:
Amid uncertainty about mail-in ballots, WA leaders say they’re ready for what comes next | by Donna Gordon Blankinship
Trump plan to limit mail voting hinders Democrats more than GOP, analysis finds | by Jacob Fischler
Where’s the governor?
Last Sunday, Gov. Bob Ferguson celebrated the University of Washington’s defeat of Washington State University in the Apple Cup. The “proud Husky alum” is two-for-two in presenting the trophy to his alma mater. “What a game,” Ferguson posted on social media. “The Cougs showed up and played hard — they should be proud of their effort today.”
From there, his whereabouts were unknown.
From left to right Democratic Governors Tim Walz, Laura Kelly, Andy Beshear, Bob Ferguson and Matt Meyer speak to reporters and content creators at a conference in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by McKenna Horsley/Kentucky Lantern)
On Thursday, our colleagues at the Kentucky Lantern provided a partial answer: Ferguson was at the Omni Louisville Hotel for the two-day policy conference of the Democratic Governors Association.
We obtained a public record that shows Ferguson planned to be “absent” from Washington from Monday morning until Friday night.
We don’t know where he went or what he did at the beginning of the week. The governor’s office didn’t respond to our request for information and did not send out a public calendar this week. It’s been a month since we received one.
IN OTHER NEWS THIS WEEK…
An infusion of state aid will help restore a Spokane landfill ravaged by last month’s Old Trails Fire and reconstruct a Chelan County road washed out by last winter’s historic flooding.
A coalition of state attorneys general, including Washington’s, filed a pair of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s rollbacks of protections for endangered species.
A quarter-million Washingtonians who get their insurance through the state’s exchange under the Affordable Care Act face another year of double-digit rate increases.
Five races for seats on Washington’s state Supreme Court are set to get much more attention over the next two months.
A national waste management company faces over $1 million in Washington state fines for alleged mishandling of used oil, solvents and other toxic materials.
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