Watch Sen. Keith Wagoner give the Republican perspective after the governor’s State of the State speech today.
Can the majority live within its means?
As the governor delivered his annual State of the State address earlier this week, we were reminded that, just last year, he said he didn’t want to end up in the same financial situation this year that we faced then.
Yet, here we are with a deficit of over $1 billion. Worse yet, we’re in this hole after the governor signed the largest tax increase in Washington state history. Why? Because Democrats dramatically increased spending as well.
What’s the governor’s solution? More interference from state government. He just doesn’t get it.
“This isn’t something we’re going to fix with more government involvement, more taxes and more regulation. We need less taxes, less regulation and less government involvement if we’re going to get out of people’s way and let the economy flourish.”
-Senate Republican Leader John Braun
The governor tried to paint a rosy picture of the cost of living here in Washington, but Sen. Keith Wagoner, 39th Legislative District, more accurately described Washington’s current situation and how we got here in the Republican response.
Watch the Republican perspective
“In nearly every metric that matters, we’re failing our citizens,” Wagoner explained.
- The cost of eating out here is the highest in the nation.
- We’re the third worst state for housing affordability and the cost of gas.
- We’re the fourth worst for the cost of living.
- For rent affordability, we’re the fifth worst.
Sen. Mark Schoesler, Ritzville, pointed out that the governor also did not mention the struggles faced by those in the agriculture and forestry industries. Washington lost 3,700 farms in five years. The situation has gotten so bad that the Washington State Department of Agriculture warned about increases in farmer suicide.
What can you do about it? Show up. Get engaged in the process.
Learn what bills are before the Legislature. If you see one you care about, learn how to testify on it, either in person or remotely. You can even sign up online. You can also email your thoughts or make an appointment to talk to the sponsor of the bill or the chair of the committee that will hear testimony on the bill.
One other thing you can do is pass along this newsletter to friends and family, encouraging them to subscribe.
We all work for you, but we can’t do the job without you. The voice of the people is powerful and we encourage you to make it heard.
“Pie crust promise”: Senate Democrat’s comment undermines public trust
During the 2025 Legislative Session, the Legislature passed a citizen initiative to ban the state, counties, cities and other local jurisdictions from imposing an income tax. This was consistent with public sentiment — voters have rejected a proposed income tax 10 times.
It was also consistent with the Washington State Constitution, which prohibits an income tax that taxes different people at different rates.
“A income tax on anyone will become
an income tax on everyone.”
-Rep. Drew Stokesbary, 31st LD
During an interview on KUOW, the host asked a leading Senate Democrat about Democrats voting for that legislation, he called it a “pie crust promise” — easily made, easily broken.
“I wouldn’t take that super seriously.”
-Senate Democrat
Does this mean that any promise Democrats make to Washingtonians is easily made, easily broken? How can anyone trust the majority when leaders view the legislation they pass to be as fragile as pie crust?
If Democrats drop an unconstitutional income tax bill, Senate Republicans will fight it because we take the promises we make seriously. No pie crust promises from us.
But, the reality is that Democrats can pass an income tax even if we oppose it. You are the key to stopping it in its tracks.
A critical issue will be if they attempt to add an emergency clause to block you from repealing the tax with a referendum.
It is not an emergency. It will not be used for this budget.it won’t eliminate any “regressive” taxes. It’s just about getting more of your money.
Although Democrats will be dropping more bad bills this session, the following few are on our radar this week.
SB 5974 (Lovick): A sheriff certification requirement that disenfranchises voters, creates constitutional issues that will result in the subversion of local control and is the first step towards removing appointments of sheriffs to fill vacancies.
- Represents centralization of power over criminal justice enforcement that is an ongoing priority for Democrats.
- Will likely result in the removal of “constitutional sheriffs” who chose to follow the Washington State and United States Constitutions over unconstitutional dictates from the Washington State Legislature (Keep WA Working Act).
- The sheriff you elect should be the sheriff who serves. An unelected board should not be able to remove duly-elected sheriffs to fit the agenda pushed by the Democratic majority in the state Legislature.
- TESTIMONY ALERT: This bill was heard in committee on Jan. 15 and testimony opposing the bill was passionate. Nearly 13,000 people signed in against the bill. Watch the testimony for yourself.
Income tax. Deceptively labeled by the governor as the “Millionaire Tax,” this would be an unconstitutional graduated income tax — a concept Washington voters have rejected 10 times. No bill number yet.
- This is a tax that will eventually hit everyone. Even a leading House Democrat acknowledged that it will not stay limited to those making over a million dollars a year.
- Democrats talk about how Washington’s tax system unfairly targets the poor, but if regressivity was truly a concern, they would sponsor real tax relief such as repealing the sales tax. No such relief has been proposed.
- It’s not about “fairness,” it’s about “more-ness.” Right now, the Democrats could pass an income tax that would charge everyone in the state a uniform rate, but when asked recently why they don’t do that, the Speaker of the House replied that “it wouldn’t raise enough money.”
SB 5852 (Saldaña): Referred to by the sponsor as the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, this bill is aimed at putting employers in an impossible position under state law, forcing them to not comply with ICE’s inquiries about their employees. (Companion bill: HB 2105)
- Requires employers, within 72 hours of receiving notification of any inspections of I-9 immigration forms or worker records, to post a notice to each worker and the worker’s authorized representative.
- Penalizes employers: A first violation is $2,000 times the number of their Washington-based workers. Subsequent violations are double the previous violation or $10,000 times the number of Washington-based workers (whichever is greater).
- Also allows workers to sue employers if they feel they suffered harm from failure to comply with the requirements in this bill, allowing damages of up to 80 times the state minimum wage or the employee’s hourly wage per plaintiff, per violation.
- Employers will be put into the position of either breaking state law or complying with state law only to run afoul of federal law.
SB 5973 (Valdez) “Initiative Killer 2.0”: Prohibits initiative organizers from paying signature gatherers per signature, making the work less appealing and disincentivizing them from gathering as many as possible. Also requires organizers to prefile 1,000 signatures in support of the initiative before they can even begin collecting the necessary 400,000 signatures needed to certify the initiative. (Companion bill: HB 2259)
- Another assault on the Democratic process in Washington.
- Democrats claim voters gave them a mandate to push their agenda, but they reject the idea that voters issue additional mandates through their support of initiatives.
- This bill further undermines public trust.
- The Secretary of State’s office opposes this bill because its purpose is to facilitate the initiative process and uphold Democracy, while this bill does the opposite.
SB 6045 (Saldaña): Opens all of agriculture and agriculture-related business to collective bargaining. This would be another hit in Democrats’ war on farmers and rural Washington, whose business is dying off under the weight of regulation. It could be the death knell of agriculture in Washington. (Companion bill: HB 2409) According to the Senate Committee of Agriculture and Natural Resources:
- Washington ranked LAST in the nation for farmer take-home pay. They saw a net LOSS in 2024 of $295 million.
- Production costs are up 73%, exceeding revenue statewide. Costs are rising faster in Washington than anywhere else.
- Washington lost hundreds of farms last year due to overregulation that drives up the cost of farming.
- Farmers can’t raise the prices on their crops to cover higher overhead.
