Washington State Standard

10/13/2025

Washington’s innovative paid family and medical leave program could be hundreds of millions of dollars in the red within a few years, unless the Legislature acts.

This could mean reduced benefits or increased payments by the employers and employees who fund the program, which lets Washingtonians take paid time off work for serious health issues or to care for a family member or a new child.

The program’s actuary says paid family and medical leave could face a more than $350 million deficit in 2029.

The state sets a premium rate annually for how much employers and employees need to pay into the program. This year, 0.92% of Washington workers’ paychecks go toward it. Next year, that’s projected to increase to 1.13%, though the rate will be finalized at the end of this month.

The problem is that state law caps premiums for the paid leave program at 1.2%. The state is projected to reach that cap in 2027 and stay there. That plateau means the program likely won’t be able to keep up with rising claims for benefits and increased payments as wages grow.

The program has been steadily growing since its launch in 2020. From July 1, 2024, to June 30, over 320,000 applications were submitted for paid leave, up 15% from the previous year, according to a report this month. Over 240,000 Washingtonians received more than $2 billion in total benefits, a year-over-year increase of about $300 million.

Washington’s paid family and medical leave program could be hundreds of millions of dollars in the red within a few years.

10/10/2025

A Sequim-based security company is suing to pause a new state sales tax on its services that took effect last week.

Security Services Northwest wants the state’s tax on security services blocked until Jan. 1, arguing its implementation moved too quickly and violated due process. The company filed the 6-page lawsuit Sept. 30 in Thurston County Superior Court, with the state, the Department of Revenue and agency director Drew Shirk named as defendants.

A Department of Revenue spokesperson declined to comment on the complaint, other than to say the agency “is reviewing the lawsuit with legal counsel.”

The law in question expanded taxes on a number of services and is expected to fuel $1.1 billion in the two-year budget that began July 1, and over $2.6 billion over four years. Hundreds of millions of dollars will also flow to local governments, as they get a share of state sales tax proceeds.

Other services covered by the tax law include live presentations, information technology and temporary staffing.

The levy on investigation, security and armored car services makes up $127 million of the anticipated four-year collections, according to the Department of Revenue.

Washington's new sales tax on services faces a second lawsuit that could undercut the state's moves to bring in millions of dollars.

10/10/2025

Washington mothers and their babies will have access to food benefits through the end of the month, even though the federal government remains shut down, the state’s Department of Health said Thursday.

Last week, state officials said the Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, had just one to two weeks’ worth of funding to keep feeding low-income Washingtonians. The Department of Health encouraged enrollees to continue using their benefits as usual.

The newfound money is coming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the state, the Department of Health said. But it was not immediately clear how much money the federal government was providing, or where it was being funneled from.

The Trump administration has said in recent days that it would use revenue from tariffs to keep the program running while the government is shut down. The White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture didn’t respond to requests for comment late Thursday, with email autoreplies from spokespeople saying that the shutdown was disrupting reply times.

Even with the additional funding, Washington has seen the temporary closure of a WIC clinic, at Tri-Cities Community Health, said Nicole Flateboe, executive director of Nutrition First, the state’s WIC association. Two other clinics temporarily closed and then reopened. Another could close in a couple weeks. Yet another furloughed staff and stopped taking new clients.

Washington mothers and their babies have access to food benefits through the end of October, even though the government remains shut down.

10/09/2025

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson celebrated the state’s award of a $715 million contract for three hybrid electric ferries in July as a milestone in his drive to improve the nation’s largest ferry system.

But under that contract, Washington State Ferries riders will wait a year longer than planned for a new plug-in vessel to bring some relief to the stressed-out system.

That’s because in exchange for a bid that was hundreds of millions of dollars less than a local competitor, the Florida-based firm Ferguson selected will have until 2030 to deliver the first of the three ferries.

Washington State Ferries urgently needs new boats to improve its reliability and restore service to pre-pandemic levels. This is the first time in more than 50 years that Washington has turned to an out-of-state shipbuilder to procure new car ferries.

The state specified, as part of the bid terms, that the first boat arrive in 2029. But the final ferry construction contract shows Eastern Shipbuilding got changes to deliver the first boat in August 2030, the second boat by August 2031, and a third the following year.

Washington State Ferries riders will wait a year longer than planned for a new plug-in vessel to bring some relief to the stressed-out system.

10/08/2025

TWIN FALLS – Now in its third year, the effort to rid Idaho’s Snake River of invasive quagga mussels is a near 24/7 operation taking place both on the water and in a nearby laboratory.

Since Sept. 30, a team of about 25 Idaho State Department of Agriculture staff members and another 15-20 contractors have been applying a copper-based chemical called Natrix to every nook and cranny of a 3.5-mile section of the Snake River, as well as injecting the chemical into some of the underwater pools of the Snake River.

Not only is the Snake River the longest river in Idaho and a source of irrigation and drinking water, but it is also a major tributary of the Columbia River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean.

State officials’ goals are to stop the mussels from spreading beyond the infested area into other parts of the river system and to completely eradicate all of the mussels that have been detected here so far.

“We’re throwing everything at it as if this is the last time we would ever have to, want to or be able to do a treatment,” Idaho State Department of Agriculture Deputy Director Lloyd Knight said.

Crews are injecting a section of the Snake River near Twin Falls with a copper chemical intended to kill invasive quagga mussels.

10/07/2025

States that routinely overpay or underpay food stamp recipients could now lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

This has Washington officials trying to improve the state’s already well below-average error rate in providing benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Ideas include increasing case reviews and establishing a new team focused on reducing mishaps.

The so-called “big, beautiful bill” that congressional Republicans passed in July is set to reduce federal spending on nutrition programs nationwide by an estimated $186 billion over 10 years.

This could cost over 130,000 enrollees their food benefits due to more stringent work requirements, according to state officials. And it stands to shift tens of millions in administrative costs from the federal government to the state.

But Washington could face many tens of millions more in new costs if it doesn’t address its error rate.

States that routinely overpay or underpay food stamp recipients could now lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

10/06/2025

A hammer-wielding 29-year-old Washington resident is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly breaking into the state Capitol building in Olympia Sunday night, setting fires and toppling two iconic busts outside the historic state reception room.

Gunnar McLean Schubert wreaked havoc for about 10 minutes before the Washington State Patrol arrested him without incident as he left the building, authorities said. He was booked into Thurston County jail and is facing charges of first-degree burglary, first-degree arson, and first-degree malicious mischief.

“It did not seem to be at all politically motivated. It appears to have been a person experiencing a mental health challenge,” said Chris Loftis, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol.

Shortly after 10 p.m., Schubert, a native of Auburn and a former minor league baseball player, used a hammer to smash a first-floor window of the suite of offices shared by several House Democrats, authorities said.

He proceeded to knock over county flags positioned in one corner of the rotunda, and, using lighter fluid, set the Columbia County flag on fire, Washington Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said in an interview.

On the third floor, officials said he broke a glass door to get into the reception room, where he burned a piano bench and attempted to set the carpet on fire. He also tipped over state and national flags and burned them, Heck said. Outside, he knocked over a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. and a much larger one of George Washington. Both had been put back in place by midday Monday.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/10/06/hammer-wielding-vandal-damages-wa-capitol-in-late-night-break-in-authorities-say/

10/06/2025

The number of students attending Washington State University appears to be stabilizing after dramatic declines following the COVID pandemic, despite those students paying the highest combination of tuition and mandatory fees among the state’s public colleges.

Still, the university is at a difficult crossroads. Enrollment is down nearly 20% over the past six years across all of the university’s campuses. State and federal cuts are adding to financial pressure, and more tuition hikes could be on the way.

The WSU Board of Regents held a meeting in mid-September in which they discussed enrollment trends, costs of attending the Pullman-based university and heard new President Elizabeth Cantwell’s plans to turn the school around.

“This is the beginning of what we are calling redesigning the WSU system for the future,” Cantwell told the regents on Sept. 18. “This process will take about a year.”

The number of students attending Washington State University appears to be stabilizing after dramatic declines following the COVID pandemic, despite those students paying the highest combination of tuition and mandatory fees among the state’s public colleges.

10/03/2025

The reversal of a decades-old U.S. Forest Service policy means that federal wildland firefighters can now mask up if they want to — something Washington’s state wildland firefighters have been able to do for the past five years.

Since 2020, the state Department of Natural Resources has made N95 respirators available upon request to wildland firefighters not engaged in directly attacking fires, a department spokesperson confirmed.

This lines up with the new guidance issued for federal wildland firefighters last month, allowing those not working directly on the fireline to wear an N95 mask if they want to.

Even with the state policy and new federal mask guidance, advocates for firefighters say there are still significant gaps in protecting firefighters from smoke and other toxins they encounter.

Even with the state policy and new federal mask guidance, advocates say there are still gaps in protecting firefighters from smoke.

10/02/2025

The Trump administration on Wednesday nixed funding for the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and several hundred other federally-subsidized clean energy projects in Democratic-led states.

Democratic politicians from Oregon and Washington state immediately cried foul and vowed to challenge what they called an “illegal” clawback of Congressionally-directed spending.

The tri-state Northwest hydrogen hub launched last year to funnel up to $1 billion in federal taxpayer funding to the region to kickstart production and use of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel. Private industry, truckmakers, transit and seaport partners were to bring large sums to the table in matching funds over the next eight to ten years.

But Trump administration officials voiced deep skepticism about climate and green energy initiatives championed by the previous Biden administration.

In a social media post Wednesday, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought celebrated the cancellation of nearly $8 billion in what he called “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda.”

A follow-up news release that went out under Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s name said that his agency determined the cancelled projects did “not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”

The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub attracted bipartisan support locally as a means to create new jobs and meet climate goals, particularly in sectors that are proving difficult to convert directly to clean electric power. Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray blasted the Trump administration in a statement for playing “some sort of sick political game” on the first day of the partial government shutdown.

The Trump administration on Wednesday nixed funding for the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and several hundred other federally-subsidized clean energy projects in Democratic-led states.

10/01/2025

Washington shoppers will pay 4 cents more per plastic grocery bag starting in January. But the bags themselves won’t get any thicker for at least another two years as lawmakers fine-tune the state’s single-use plastic bag restrictions.

The price increase is a part of a law passed in 2020 banning some thinner, single-use plastic bags statewide and creating regulations for retailers offering carryout bags to customers.

Approximately 80,000 Washington businesses are affected by the law, according to the state Department of Commerce.

Under the law, paper and plastic bags have to be made with 40% recycled content, and plastic bags must be 2.25 mils thick and marked as “reusable.” The standard thickness for plastic grocery bags was previously 0.5 mils.

Customers are required, under the law, to pay a fee for a paper or plastic bag. The revenue from bag fees stays with the retailer to help cover the costs of meeting the state requirements. The law also allows for single-use compostable bags, which don’t have a per-bag fee.

The law set the initial fee for both paper and plastic at 8 cents per bag, but pre-scheduled a price increase for plastic bags to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. Once in effect, plastic bags will cost 12 cents per bag, while the fee for paper bags will stay at 8 cents.

Washington shoppers will pay 4 cents more per plastic grocery bag starting in January as lawmakers revisit single-use bag restrictions.

10/01/2025

WASHINGTON — The federal government started shutting down early Wednesday after Congress failed to approve a funding bill before the beginning of the new fiscal year — resulting in widespread ramifications for hundreds of programs and giving the Trump administration an avenue to fire federal workers en masse.

The U.S. Senate was unable to advance two short-term government funding bills Tuesday when Democrats and Republicans deadlocked for the second time this month, with just hours to go before the midnight Tuesday shutdown deadline.

Senators voted 55-45 on Republicans’ bill that would fund the government for seven weeks and 47-53 on a Democratic stopgap proposal that would keep the lights on for a month and included several health care provisions that they said were needed for their support. Neither had the 60 votes needed to advance.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and Maine independent Sen. Angus King voted with GOP senators on their stopgap bill. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted against it.

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in a memo to departments and agencies Tuesday night after the Senate vote that “affected agencies should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.” Vought said federal employees should report for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake shutdown activities.

The consequences of a shutdown will be sweeping in the nation’s capital and across the country, where states are bracing for the impact. About 750,000 federal workers could be furloughed, leading to a $400 million impact a day, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported. All federal employees would go unpaid until the shutdown is over.

Additionally, the Trump administration plans to lay off thousands of federal employees, which would reshape the federal workforce. President Donald Trump again vowed Tuesday to undertake layoffs and a major government employee union filed suit in federal court in advance of such a move.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate failed to advance two short-term government funding bills Tuesday when Democrats and Republicans deadlocked for the second time this month, with just hours to go before a shutdown that appeared nearly certain to begin at midnight.