Forecast for Olympia: Major storm coming in January.
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Big new taxes kicked in Wednesday across Washington state, and guess what? We’re already broke.
Olympia learned last week that the $77.9 billion budget approved in April already is in deficit. That’s in spite of the biggest tax increase in the history of the state, a staggering $14.1 billion in new taxes. Despite this new money, the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council projects that Washington will run $421 million short during the current budget cycle, which started July 1 and runs for two years.
And the state’s budget troubles won’t end there. State economists are projecting more red ink in 2027-29, giving Washington a total deficit of $1.2 billion.
Any way you look at it, this year’s budget bill was a tremendous accomplishment. I don’t think things have ever collapsed quite this fast.
As of Oct. 1, business and occupations taxes have been increased, and we have sales taxes on professional services where we never had them before. Capital gains and estate tax rates were increased in July, but the blow has yet to land because the bill comes payable next year. Another round of tax hikes comes Jan. 1, including surcharges on business tax rates and new authority for school districts to raise local levies. There’s even going to be a stiff new 95-percent tax on stop-smoking products. So much for encouraging smokers to quit.
I know it’s hard keeping this straight. You can find a handy timeline of these new taxes here.
And still this won’t be enough. The economists say we’ll still be in the red. What is truly impressive about this is that the state got into this mess with no help from anyone or anything. There was no Wall Street crash, no national recession. The Legislature’s majority party did this all by itself.
Among other things, our colleagues used one-time COVID money to give raises and create new programs requiring ongoing funding. Over five years they spent the state into a hole, until they reached the point this year where they either had to cut spending or enact a huge increase in taxes. Unfortunately, our majority-party colleagues had the votes and they took the easy way out. They raised your taxes and failed to address the underlying problem, a state government that spends too much. Because they did nothing to correct their course, we are going to be back in the same boat again next year, raising taxes again.
This year’s budget bill was approved on a largely party-line vote, favored by legislative Democrats and opposed by all Republicans. Yet for the last several weeks, our governor has been playing a blame game, telling us our problems are the fault of that fellow in the White House. When our governor starts pointing fingers this early, you know next session is going to be dire.
But I think he is being too modest. Our problems were made right here in this Washington, and I certainly hope everyone responsible for this debacle gets the credit they deserve.
Town hall set for Nov. 15
To be held at CenterPlace Regional Event Center
As the Washington Legislature gears up for the 2026 legislative session, I’ll be holding a town hall meeting in Spokane Valley on Saturday, Nov. 15. We’ll be talking about this year’s tax increases and the prospects for even more tax increases next year. We’ll address important issues, like — are there any taxes we haven’t already increased? Everything else that might come before the Legislature is fair game, too. Bring your questions.
The event starts at 10 a.m. Nov. 15 at the CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Pl., Spokane Valley. I’ll tell you more about this town hall as the date approaches. I hope you can make it!
Travis Decker manhunt finally ends, after state law sets up tragedy
State couldn’t take kids away because of ‘imminent harm’ requirement
Travis Decker. Photo: Chelan County Sheriff.
One of our state’s longest-ever manhunts ended last month as law enforcement authorities located the remains of Travis Decker on a hillside near Leavenworth. Authorities spent three months searching the rugged forests near the crest of the Cascades after the bodies of his three young daughters were found at a nearby campground with zip-ties around their wrists and plastic bags over their heads. Among the agencies assisting in the hunt was the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department, which provided air support. Ultimately, Decker’s remains were found just three-quarters of a mile away, though his cause of death has yet to be determined.
Decker murdered the girls during a scheduled three-hour visitation made possible by the state’s Keeping Families Together Act, which ties the state’s hands in removing children from unfit parents.
In this tragic case, Decker’s former wife became alarmed at his deteriorating mental condition. He had lost his home and was living out of his car. His ex persuaded a court to revoke unsupervised overnight visits. Decker was undeterred. He picked up his girls for a scheduled afternoon visit and never returned.
These deaths, entirely preventable, call attention to a state policy based on dogma and nonsense that is dooming vulnerable children to misery and worse. I wish I could say this is an isolated case. Repeal of this law needs to be a top priority for the Legislature in 2026.
The Keeping Families Together Act was among the spate of laws passed by majority Democrats in 2021 following the George Floyd riots. Like other laws passed at the time eliminating drug enforcement and defunding the police, this one was driven by social justice concerns. The idea was that people of color are “over-represented” in state-agency interventions, and that people are just too judgmental about drug addiction, homelessness, poverty and mental illness.
Under this law, the Department of Children, Youth and Families can remove children from their families only when harm appears imminent. An issue like a terrible home environment or hard-drugs-in-the-house is no longer sufficient. The agency boasts that removals are down 28 percent, and the Decker case shows what’s wrong with that.
There was a forest of red flags. Decker refused to sign the new “parenting plan” ordered by the court and blew off court-mandated counseling for mental health, domestic violence and anger management. This should have set off alarms, but because harm was not deemed “imminent,” none of this was sufficient to bring Child Protective Services into the picture.
The only good thing about this case is that it was so horrific we cannot avoid talking about it next session. We have seen a steady increase in suspicious child deaths and near-death incidents since the law was changed, from 28 cases in 2020 to 27 in just the first quarter of this year.
And what about the second quarter? DCYF has decided to hold off on announcing the statistics, which means we are unlikely to see any improvement. I am among several lawmakers calling for the agency to release current figures.
The agency tells us drugs are to blame for this increase in deaths. About a third of these cases involve kids who accidentally ingest their parents’ drugs, usually fentanyl. Yet DCYF attributes no harm to a state law that forces children to remain in homes where hard drugs are being used. Part of the problem is the reluctance of current legislative leadership to hold addicts accountable for their behavior. Proposals to criminalize exposing children to fentanyl have been shot down session after session.
As lead Republican on the Senate Human Services Committee, I look forward to working with members who believe children’s protection should come first. We need to consider parental drug use, mental health, conditions within the home – and whether there is a home in the first place. There were so many red flags in the Decker case that any reasonably competent effort on the part of authorities would have been able to prevent this tragedy.
At the very least, we should amend the law to make clear that failure to comply with court orders can cost parents their visitation rights. And we should rightly be concerned with an agency that tells us it “remains committed” to reducing the number of children it places in foster care, even after a terrible case like this one.
Thanks for reading,
Leonard Christian
4th Legislative District
Contact me!
If you have a comment about state government, or a concern with a state agency, I hope you will reach out to my office. My most important duty is to serve you.
Mailing address: Post Office Box 40404, Olympia, WA 98504
Email: Leonard.Christian@leg.wa.gov
Phone: (360) 786-7606
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