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Washington State Standard, Olympia, WA (2026)

01/14/2026

Gov. Bob Ferguson on Tuesday celebrated the “heart and spirit” in Washington communities ravaged by flooding in December, then pumped up fellow Democrats with calls for taxing millionaires and standing up to federal immigration agents whose actions he deemed “unjust.”

In his second address to the Legislature, Ferguson avoided the sticky topic of a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. He focused instead on the lives upended by the storms and those on the front lines of the response. He then hit on topics resonating strongly in the ranks of Democratic lawmakers.

“When the story of this historic flood is written, it will recognize that when history paid us an unexpected visit in December of 2025, the people and this state stepped up and faced the challenge head-on,” the first-term Democrat said in a half-hour speech delivered in the House chamber. “It’s that heart and spirit of our people that allows me to report today that the state of our state remains strong.”

Democrats applauded his proposals to put more money into maintaining the state’s transportation system, building more ferries, constructing affordable housing and sustaining early learning education with philanthropic help from billionaire Steve Ballmer.

They rose and roared with approval of Ferguson’s embrace of taxing the income of millionaire earners. They did so again when he said he wanted to see a bill barring federal immigration agents from shielding their identities when operating in the state. He called for that bill to be delivered to his desk “immediately so I can sign it into law.”

These reactions were a far cry from 2025. Last year, many Democrats, who hold majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, grimaced throughout much of the new governor’s reform-minded inaugural speech.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson called for an income tax on millionaires and a ban on federal immigration agents hiding their faces with masks.

01/14/2026

A ban on police face coverings has been one of the most talked about policy proposals in the first two days of Washington’s legislative session, with lead lawmakers and the governor lining up in support.

Senate Bill 5855, which covers local, state and federal law enforcement, stems from fears of masked federal agents carrying out immigration raids and arrests across the country.

The bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Javier Valdez, D-Seattle, said he thinks “it will make our marginalized immigrant communities feel safer” and build trust between the public and police.

Last week, for example, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reportedly arrested three people and pulled them into an unmarked van, according to The Seattle Times.

The House speaker and Senate majority leader both cited the bill as a priority, and Gov. Bob Ferguson called it out in his State of the State address on Tuesday.

“As an American, I never thought I would see federal agents in masks jumping out of unmarked cars and grabbing people off our streets,” Ferguson said during the speech. “Let’s get that legislation to my desk immediately.”

A ban on police face coverings has been one of the most talked about proposals in the first two days of Washington’s legislative session.

01/13/2026

Last month’s heavy flooding inflicted at least $40 million to $50 million of damage on Washington’s highways, state transportation officials estimated to lawmakers Monday.

The state Department of Transportation has responded to dozens of locations due to flooding, officials told lawmakers. The state has signed 16 contracts for emergency repairs. A few more are still to come.

The cost figures the agency provided are preliminary.

“We’re still compiling costs, so it is a range at this point,” Steve Roark, the agency’s Olympic region administrator, told the House Transportation Committee.

It’s unclear how much federal funding will be available to cover those costs. Gov. Bob Ferguson will ask President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration to open up funding.

Last month’s heavy flooding inflicted at least $40 million to $50 million of damage on Washington’s highways.

01/13/2026

With the banging of gavels, the Washington state Legislature opened its sprint of a 60-day session Monday in Olympia.

The proceedings were more ceremony than substance, as the state’s 98 representatives and 49 senators began their work.

Anticipating fiery disagreements over the next two months, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, a Democrat who presides over the Senate, pleaded for “grace and respect” among lawmakers.

In the year of the country’s 250th anniversary, Heck focused on promises the nation’s founders made about what the United States would be.

“All the work to sustain democracy, all the sacrifices required for democracy, would ultimately be worthwhile. We are confident that will become self-evident at the end of our 60 days together,” Heck told senators. “So let’s get started.”

In the other chamber, it didn’t take long for the first disagreement...

Follow along for updates on the opening day of the Washington state Legislature's 2026 session on Jan. 12.

01/12/2026

Washington state lawmakers begin a 60-day session today, in which a fiscal reckoning, flood recovery, and their own reelections loom large.

They departed Olympia last spring, fingers crossed that a colossus of budget problems had been defeated with a one-two punch of spending cuts and new taxes. It was not.

Adding to the difficulties: massive changes foisted upon states in the federal law dubbed “beautiful” by its Republican sponsors and “ugly” by its Democrat detractors.

Then came the havoc of December’s heavy rains and flooding. The financial toll for residents and public infrastructure is still being tallied. But it won’t be cheap. And it’s not clear yet that the Trump administration will step in with federal aid.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bob Ferguson came out last month in full support of an income tax on individuals earning over $1 million a year, setting up a major debate on tax policy.

Two controversial citizen initiatives are pending, but are dead on arrival in the Legislature and will likely go to voters in the fall.

Plus, policy debates are percolating on topics ranging from pennies to policing to pensions.

And it’s an election year. All 98 House seats and roughly half of the 49 Senate seats will be on ballots. Those sitting in them now know their votes in the next two months could determine if they will be back in 2027.

Here are four questions for which we don’t know the answers, yet.

Washington state lawmakers begin a 60-day session today, in which a fiscal reckoning, flood recovery, and their own reelections loom large.

01/10/2026

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson likely violated state laws by allowing his former top adviser, Mike Webb, to travel with him on a state plane to the Tri-Cities last summer, the state Executive Ethics Board ruled Friday.

In a unanimous vote, the board concluded there was “reasonable cause” to believe Ferguson ran afoul of Washington’s ethics laws by using state resources for the private benefit of a non-state employee.

Ferguson provided “a special privilege” to Webb by allowing him to travel on the Washington State Patrol aircraft, wrote agency executive director Kate Reynolds in her recommendation to the board.

Under the statute, the board will hold a hearing at which the governor can contest the charges either in person or through written testimony. The board will then decide whether a violation occurred and a penalty or other enforcement action is required.

A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond for comment.

Ferguson told the ethics board investigators last year that use of state resources was “de minimis in nature” and not for private gain, and he asked for the matter to be dismissed.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson likely violated state laws by allowing his former top adviser to travel with him on a state plane last summer.

01/09/2026

Democratic leaders in the Washington state Legislature said Friday they have no plans to hold hearings on two conservative-backed initiatives focused on parental rights of students in public schools and banning transgender athletes from playing girls’ sports.

Both Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, staked out this position in remarks to reporters. It creates a high likelihood that both of the initiatives will go before Washington voters on midterm ballots this November.

“I’m certain that we will not be passing either of those initiatives,” Pedersen said. “They’ll be up to the voters to decide.”

The political committee Let’s Go Washington said it turned in more than 400,000 signatures for each of the two initiatives last week. Brian Heywood, the hedge fund manager who leads the group, urged lawmakers to reconsider holding hearings.

“Not only would this be a blatant slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Democrat, Independent, and Republican voters who support the measures, it would be a clear sign that they don’t care about the abuses to children, families, and female athletes taking place in the state,” Heywood said in a statement.

Democratic leaders in the Washington state Legislature said Friday they have no plans to hold hearings on two conservative-backed initiatives.

01/09/2026

A who’s who from Washington state business and Democratic politics on Thursday extolled the virtues of alternative jet fuel and said the state would strive to become the nation’s leading enabler of greener flying.

The occasion was a splashy launch event in Snohomish County for a new state-funded eco-fuel development nonprofit, dubbed the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator.

The business accelerator debuted with $10 million in tax dollars approved by the Legislature, matched by another $10 million from an unidentified philanthropic donor. Those new commitments build on tens of millions of dollars the Legislature and Congress previously allocated. The earlier funding was meant to lure alternative fuel refiners to Washington state, supports a Washington State University research lab, and incentivizes green jet fuel use in the state.

Executives from Boeing, Amazon, Alaska Airlines and the Port of Seattle joined Gov. Bob Ferguson, state legislators and the president of WSU on stage at Boeing’s Future of Flight visitor center next to Paine Field.

“Collectively, we have the political will and the private partnerships to get big things done,” state Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-SeaTac, told the standing-room crowd.

Officials hope a new state-funded “accelerator” can tackle off-putting prices and other barriers to adoption of the fuel, which can reduce air travel emissions by 50-80%.

01/09/2026

Despite vows to restrict immigration authorities’ access to Washington state Department of Licensing information, the data sharing continued in a new form, researchers revealed Thursday.

The University of Washington Center for Human Rights reports that federal immigration agents searched Department of Licensing data before stopping drivers at least nine times between August and November.

State officials say they cut off U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to this data in mid-November.

In a joint statement, the licensing department and Washington State Patrol said Gov. Bob Ferguson “stands prepared to take further action” in the face of the Trump administration’s escalating immigration enforcement tactics.

“But he will do so with reason and care,” the agencies said. “Governor Ferguson is committed to complying with applicable laws and finding the right balance in protecting individuals’ data without compromising legitimate law-enforcement investigations of criminal acts that are necessary to preserve public safety.”

The researchers say U.S. Customs and Border Protection still has access to the data, but the state argues that’s necessary for the agency’s work at the Canadian border and airports.

Despite vows to restrict immigration agents' access to Washington license information, the data sharing continued, researchers said Thursday.

01/08/2026

As part of its deportation efforts, the Trump administration has ordered states to hand over personal data from voter rolls, driver’s license records and programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.

At the same time, the administration is trying to consolidate the bits of personal data held across federal agencies, creating a single trove of information on people who live in the United States.

Many left-leaning states and cities are trying to protect their residents’ personal information amid the immigration crackdown. But a growing number of conservative lawmakers also want to curb the use of surveillance technologies, such as automated license plate readers, that can be used to identify and track people.

Conservative-led states such as Arkansas, Idaho and Montana enacted laws last year designed to protect the personal data collected through license plate readers and other means. They joined at least five left-leaning states — Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Washington — that specifically blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from accessing their driver’s license records.

In addition, Democratic-led cities in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Washington last year terminated their contracts with Flock Safety, the largest provider of license plate readers in the U.S.

The Trump administration’s goal is to create a “surveillance dragnet across the country,” said William Owen, communications director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a nonprofit that advocates for stronger privacy laws.

“We’re entering an increasingly dystopian era of high-tech surveillance,” Owen said.

Many left-leaning states and cities are trying to protect their residents’ personal information amid the immigration crackdown. But a growing number of conservative lawmakers also want to curb the use of surveillance technologies.

01/08/2026

Two years ago, Amanda McKinney, a Republican Yakima County commissioner, made a commercial endorsing Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse for re-election and assailing his GOP opponent who had the backing of then former President Donald Trump.

“I trust Dan,” she says in the 30-second television spot, adding that he has the “experience and clout to keep delivering for central Washington.”

Two weeks ago, McKinney, who is running to succeed the outgoing Newhouse, offered a different story at AmericaFest, an annual event hosted by Turning Point USA, the conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

She told the crowd that after “her congressman” voted to impeach Trump in 2021, “I knew that I needed to find a way to retire him. I took a couple years … understanding and finding a pathway to retire our sitting congressman.”

Video from her Dec. 21 appearance in Phoenix, Arizona, has been mashed together with snippets from the campaign ad into a meme that’s captured the attention of Republicans in the 4th Congressional District that Newhouse has represented since 2015.

“I’ve had a lot of Republicans ask me about it,” said Matt Brown, chair of the Yakima County Republican Party and political director for the state Republican Party. “They say it doesn’t make a lot of sense. She’s been in videos with Dan for years.”

Republican Amanda McKinney got President Donald Trump’s endorsement Tuesday in spite of her backing a congressman who voted to impeach Trump.

01/07/2026

Washington is set to receive $181 million in federal funding this year to boost rural health care amid drastic Medicaid cuts.

The hefty sum falls below what the Trump administration gave to some other states, and the rough average of $200 million to each. But the state is in the middle of the pack when it comes to funding per rural resident.

The return on Washington’s application for $1 billion over the next five years from the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program didn’t necessarily come as a shock.

“I don’t think anyone was surprised that we received less than 200,” said Jacqueline Barton True, the Washington State Hospital Association’s vice president of advocacy and rural health. “We certainly internally had operated under the impression that we weren’t going to get $200 million.”

To Elya Prystowsky, the executive director of the Rural Collaborative, the award was a “pleasant surprise.”

“I would have been happy if we got $100 million,” said Prystowsky, whose organization represents Washington’s rural hospitals. “So $181 million is $81 million of gravy, as far as I’m concerned.”

Washington is set to receive $181 million in federal funding this year to boost rural health care amid drastic Medicaid cuts.

Washington State Standard

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