Sen. Chris Gildon reacts to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s cost-cutting ideas.
LISTEN: Reaction to Gov. Ferguson’s budget plan
Democrats want to raise taxes. We want to implement savings and efficiencies. What does Gov. Ferguson want?
The new governor held a press conference Thursday to share “savings and efficiencies” he’d like to see incorporated into the budget. Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, is the Senate Republican budget lead. He issued a radio release and the following statement in response:
Republican budget leader welcomes Ferguson’s savings suggestions
OLYMPIA… Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup and budget leader for Senate Republicans, said he appreciates the spending-reduction ideas offered by Gov. Bob Ferguson today and offered this statement in response:
“The governor has vowed to come up with spending reductions, and I appreciate that he has delivered these savings ideas less than halfway into our session. This allows budget writers to consider them while there is still time. Notably, this is a full month sooner than the former governor managed when he first took office.
“Governor Ferguson views the budget shortfall at $15 billion, which was somewhat surprising. According to non-partisan Senate budget staff, the true gap is $6.7 billion if the priority is to maintain current government levels next year. However, I understand how he arrives at this figure; it really boils down to priorities, and a prime example of that is his allocation of $4 billion for state-worker pay raises.
“Some of the cost-saving ideas, particularly the proposal for state-employee furloughs, are concerning. This plan sends a message to taxpayers: public servants will receive higher pay using $4 billion more of your tax dollars, and in return, you will receive 12 fewer days of service from them each year for two years. I doubt the people of our state will see this as a fair deal.
“Overall, if Republicans were to write a new operating budget, we would likely incorporate many of the governor’s cost-savings suggestions. However, we believe there are additional opportunities beyond what he offered today, and we would be glad to share those with the governor as we identify them. He knows, as Republicans do, that new taxes should be a last resort. We will do what we can to help him stand by that belief.”
Learn more about:
- Senate Republicans’ budget principles,
- How we ended up with a shortfall,
- Our suggestions to $ave Washington.
Bill status: What could still die before cutoff?
Tomorrow is fiscal cutoff, which means that all bills now before the House and the Senate budget committees must make it out by the end of the day if they are to be considered further – or else they are seen as “dead” for the year. In the Senate, the fiscal committees are Ways and Means (operating/capital budgets) and Transportation (as the name implies… the transportation budget).
Several key bills that have received hearings in those committees will move to the next step in the legislative process. Some will not. Below are some of the bad bills that we hope die by tomorrow’s fiscal cutoff.
For any that survive, we will keep you posted about their progress. If they make it to the House for consideration, you may get another chance to testify against them.
- SJR 8200: Amends the state Constitution to allow increases in property taxes through school bonds by removing the 60% vote needed and lowering it to a simple majority (94% con testimony in committee) (Cortes)
- SB 5041: Provides taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits for striking workers (Riccelli)
- SB 5626: Provides unemployment benefits for undocumented workers in a way that easily allows fraud (Saldana)
- SB 5098: Prohibits possession of weapons in certain locations (Valdez)
- SB 5099: Tightens restrictions on firearms dealers and makes the State Patrol responsible for licensure (Lovick)
- SB 5123: Adds protected classes to the nondiscrimination provisions that apply to Washington’s public schools (Nobles)
- SB 5179: Allows OSPI to go after schools/officials who don’t comply with legislative mandates (Wilson, C.)
- SB 5205: Unconstitutional bill — Violates freedom of religion by targeting the hiring practices of private, faith-based universities (Conway)
- SB 5266 – “Youth Hope Act” – Eliminates the 20-yr waiting period for individuals sentenced as juveniles to petition for release, even when convicted of violent crimes (Frame)
- SB 5321: Provides the abortion pill to students at public higher education institutions (Nobles)
- SB 5382: The “Initiative Killer” – Threatens signature gatherers for initiatives with fines and jail time if certain requirements aren’t met, prevents people who don’t have addresses or who use post-office boxes from signing initiative petitions (Valdez)
- SB 5578: Burdens small businesses by increasing the minimum wage to $25 (Saldana)
- SB 5584: Creates the position of independent prosecutor within the governor’s office (Dhingra)
- SB 5726 / HB 1921: “Road Usage Charge” (RUC) – Taxes drivers 2.6 cents per mile for every mile driven, plus 10% of that total (Ramos / Fey)
Stay cozy! Wood stove bill dies — for this year
OLYMPIA – The state Department of Ecology is backing off for the year on a proposal to regulate wood-burning stoves sold in Washington state and duplicate standards already imposed by federal regulation, said Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy.
Short was notified by Ecology Thursday evening that it will not pursue Senate Bill 5174. The measure was approved by the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee last week and was awaiting a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
“This is great news for the people of Washington, especially areas like mine where so many people rely on woodstoves and pellet stoves to heat their homes,” Short said. “I am sure it is a relief as well for stove manufacturers in Washington and elsewhere. The cost of compliance would have driven many of them out of this market. Consumers would have had fewer choices and higher costs. And none of this would have made the air any cleaner, because if would have given people an incentive to keep using older, less-efficient stoves rather than clean new ones.”
Read Sen. Short’s full statement.
Floor action kicks into high gear next week
While the Senate has passed many bills over the past couple of weeks, the coming week will be packed with even more floor action. Senators will spend all day, every day debating and voting on proposed legislation that the majority allows to move forward.
Not all of the bills that made it out of committee will make it to the floor for consideration. The ones that do are destined to pass – with or without Republican support. This makes the debates critical to the legislative process because they are the only way the voice of opposition will be heard.
You may watch the debates live on Washington’s TVW, which is our state’s version of C-SPAN. You may also find them in TVW’s archives if you want to go back and watch a debate you missed.
Follow our social media accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram to see clips of important Republican floor speeches. @WashingtonSRC
