Washington State Standard

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Washington lawmakers and the governor Tuesday got the grim state revenue news they’ve been expecting.Estimates show tax ...
06/25/2025

Washington lawmakers and the governor Tuesday got the grim state revenue news they’ve been expecting.

Estimates show tax collections for the two-year operating budget that begins July 1 will be hundreds of millions of dollars less than what they assumed when they passed the budget that Gov. Bob Ferguson signed last month.

Revenues are lagging as consumers grow cautious and businesses retrench in response to the Trump Administration’s shifting approach on tariffs and trade. Many people are also tightening their spending while Congress ponders cuts to federal programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

The decline in receipts will force the state to draw down savings, but Ferguson isn’t summoning the Legislature into a special session to respond. At least not yet.

Washington lawmakers and the governor on Tuesday got the grim state revenue news they’ve been expecting: Tax collections are down again.

Washington state’s parole board this week will hear the case of one of the so-called “Hillside Stranglers” who murdered ...
06/24/2025

Washington state’s parole board this week will hear the case of one of the so-called “Hillside Stranglers” who murdered numerous women and girls, including two in Washington, in the late 1970s.

Anthony D’Amato and his cousin, Angelo Buono, were convicted of strangling five people to death in southern California. D’Amato, who was suspected of several other murders but never convicted, killed two more women by himself in the Bellingham area. D’Amato, now 74, changed his name from Kenneth Bianchi in 2023.

Washington’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board will consider parole for D’Amato on Wednesday. He’s currently held at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

Washington's parole board will hear the case of one of the “Hillside Stranglers” who killed a number of women and girls.

Washington state inspectors are way behind in their examinations of hospitals and fail to investigate when hospitals rep...
06/24/2025

Washington state inspectors are way behind in their examinations of hospitals and fail to investigate when hospitals report errors they made in caring for patients.

That’s the word from a preliminary report recently published by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee.

Nearly three-quarters of acute care hospital inspections were late, as of December, according to the committee. One facility hadn’t gotten a state inspection since early 2018.

What this lag means for health outcomes is unknown, the report says.

The check-ups involve registered nurses who focus on patient care and other inspectors who look at everything from staff training to cleanliness.

The audit also found delays in inspecting behavioral health hospitals, a backlog in uninvestigated complaints about hospitals and that state hospital data could be more accessible online. Many of the issues are driven by a lack of staff.

Washington inspectors are way behind in their examinations of hospitals and fail to investigate when hospitals report their own errors.

The Trump Administration moved Monday to join a legal fight to overturn a new Washington law requiring religious leaders...
06/23/2025

The Trump Administration moved Monday to join a legal fight to overturn a new Washington law requiring religious leaders to report child abuse or neglect even when it is disclosed in confession.

A motion filed in federal court by the Department of Justice argues the law, which takes effect next month, is unconstitutional because it “deprives Catholic priests of their fundamental right to freely exercise their religious beliefs, as guaranteed under the First Amendment.”

“The punishment for directly violating the sacramental seal of Confession is excommunication. A more direct burden on the exercise of religion would be difficult to imagine,” federal attorneys wrote in their motion to intervene in a case brought by Washington bishops last month.

That case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The Trump Administration moved Monday to join a legal fight to overturn a new Washington law requiring clergy to report child abuse.

Washington’s congressional delegation was divided along party lines in reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to ...
06/23/2025

Washington’s congressional delegation was divided along party lines in reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend.

Democrats largely criticized the president’s decision. They said he should’ve consulted Congress and suggested he’d put the U.S. at risk of getting drawn into another protracted conflict in the Middle East.

Washington’s two Republicans in the House applauded the move, pointing to Iran’s ambitions to build nuclear weapons.

Washington’s congressional delegation was divided along party lines in reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend. Democrats largely criticized the president’s decision. They said he should’ve consulted Congress and suggested he’d put...

Washington won’t receive federal aid to cover tens of millions of dollars in damage to public property caused by last fa...
06/20/2025

Washington won’t receive federal aid to cover tens of millions of dollars in damage to public property caused by last fall’s bomb cyclone.

The Trump administration denied the state’s request for federal disaster relief in April. Washington filed an appeal, but the administration rejected it Thursday.

The two-paragraph letter penned by a top Federal Emergency Management Agency official says a thorough review reaffirmed the original decision that federal aid “is not warranted.” No reasons are given.

“They still refuse to explain their outrageous decision,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “My team and I are working to exhaust every possible avenue to get additional support for our state’s recovery. We cannot count on the Trump Administration to uphold its responsibilities to Washingtonians.”

Last month, Washington’s entire congressional delegation sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to reconsider the April denial.

Washington won’t receive federal aid to cover tens of millions of dollars in damage to public property caused by last fall’s bomb cyclone.

Summer in Washington is supposed to be a season of celebration: high school graduations, family road trips, long weekend...
06/20/2025

Summer in Washington is supposed to be a season of celebration: high school graduations, family road trips, long weekends at the lake. But traffic safety officials view it as the most dangerous time of year.

The 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day are statistically the deadliest stretch on Washington’s roads. This year, the state is expanding efforts to turn the tide on a post-pandemic spike in highway fatalities.

State officials say the vast majority of deadly crashes can be traced back to just four risky behaviors: impaired driving, speeding, distraction, and failure to wear a seat belt.

The 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day are statistically the deadliest stretch on Washington’s roads.

Last fall, thousands of businesses and charities received bills that appeared to be from the state of Washington.Many re...
06/19/2025

Last fall, thousands of businesses and charities received bills that appeared to be from the state of Washington.

Many recipients obliged, sending payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in response to the state’s “Corporations & Charities Division.”

While that agency exists within the secretary of state’s office, the letters were part of a fraud and money laundering scheme carried out by a former postal worker arrested this week, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Johnny Nguyen faces 11 counts of mail fraud and money laundering. The San Jose, California, man was arrested Tuesday in northern California.

Nguyen, 49, sent the letters with billing statements on fake Washington state government letterhead, according to the indictment. The notices said payment was required for business and nonprofit filing fees. One example tells a business it owes $230, well beyond what the state charges.

Authorities arrested a man this week accused of impersonating a Washington state agency to defraud hundreds of businesses and charities.

Travel on a Washington state ferry will cost more this fall and even more next spring.How much became a little clearer T...
06/18/2025

Travel on a Washington state ferry will cost more this fall and even more next spring.

How much became a little clearer Tuesday when a state transportation panel settled on a course to increase fares by 3% on Oct. 1 and another 3% on May 1, 2026.

The Washington State Transportation Commission also recommended hiking the summer season surcharge to 35% on all routes and, on a trial basis, extending the life of multi-ride passes to 120 days starting next May. They now expire after 90 days.

Public comment on the approach will be accepted online through Aug. 5. A virtual public hearing will be held Aug. 6, with the commission then voting on a final fare hike proposal.

Those increases would be in addition to actions taken earlier this year by state lawmakers and Gov. Bob Ferguson.

Travel on a Washington state ferry will soon cost more. Higher fares and new credit card fees are among changes that ferry riders face.

The Washington attorney general’s office on Tuesday urged a federal judge in Seattle to order the Trump administration t...
06/18/2025

The Washington attorney general’s office on Tuesday urged a federal judge in Seattle to order the Trump administration to reinstate funding to build out an electric vehicle charging network.

At issue in court Tuesday was the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, or NEVI, that came from the bipartisan infrastructure law former President Joe Biden signed in 2021.

The Federal Highway Administration had previously approved states’ plans for using the money calculated for each state based on a formula.

But in February, the agency rescinded approval of all those state plans, which took years to develop, and started to withhold funding. In a notice to states, federal officials said they had “decided to review the policies underlying the implementation of the NEVI Formula Program.”

The Trump administration maintains it will still disburse funding eventually.

Washington attorneys Tuesday urged a judge to order the Trump administration to reinstate funding to build out an EV charging network.

Washington state has seen lawsuit costs rise sharply in recent years, with expenses due to settlements and jury verdicts...
06/17/2025

Washington state has seen lawsuit costs rise sharply in recent years, with expenses due to settlements and jury verdicts topping $500 million in the past year alone.

These cases trace everything from negligence in investigating child abuse claims to wrongful termination and employment discrimination at state agencies to deaths in prison. The allegations and conduct date back as far as the 1950s.

Unlike many other states, Washington has no cap on the damages that can be paid out in these cases.

“FY 2023 was a record. FY 24 is a record,” said Scott Barbara, of the state attorney general’s office. “FY 25 is going to be bigger than FY 23 and FY 24 combined.”

As claims have skyrocketed, Washington state has paid out about half a billion dollars in the past year alone.

Few, if any, members of the Washington state Legislature have been allowed to climb to the top of the state Capitol dome...
06/17/2025

Few, if any, members of the Washington state Legislature have been allowed to climb to the top of the state Capitol dome this century.

That will soon change.

A provision in the new capital budget requires 10 legislators be given a guided tour of the upper reaches of the historic building during the fiscal year that starts July 1. Another 10 must get the same opportunity in the following year.

“It’s a happy day for the institution,” said state Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, who’s been on a mission to ease restrictions that have boxed lawmakers out of the dome. It’s not right, he said, that lawmakers “cannot visit all the places they oversee.”

Some state legislators will soon be able to again climb the steep, spiral staircase to the top of the state Capitol dome.

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