Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Leonard Christian’s subscribers Jan. 20, 2025. To subscribe to Sen. Christian’s e-newsletters, click here.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The Washington Legislature kicked off its 2025 session last week with pomp, ceremony, and inauguration of new members. Thanks to your support in last fall’s election, I have moved up to the state Senate after serving you these last two years in the Washington House of Representatives. I am looking forward to repaying this honor over the next four years as I represent you and the 4th Legislative District In the Legislature’s upper chamber.

Spending spree puts state government in a hole

Legislature faces a shortfall of more than $6 billion due to majority’s spending decisions

The central issue for the Legislature this year is the budget. Wild overspending by the majority party in previous sessions and a willful determination to bypass safeguards enacted by previous legislatures have put our state in a hole.

To give you an idea of the scope of this problem, state economists anticipate that tax collections will grow $5 billion over the next two years. But to continue all the programs and new spending approved by our colleagues over the last several years, we would need an additional $6 billion or more. On his way out the door, former Gov. Jay Inslee said we might even need as much as $16 billion when we consider the impact in future years. No doubt we are hearing enormous numbers like these as a negotiating tactic. Our colleagues insist the only answer is a whopping tax increase.

This shortfall is hardly a surprise. Anyone could have seen it coming. Time and again this has happened in our state Legislature. When the good times roll, our friends spend as if the money will keep coming forever. When recession hits, the state is caught short. The difference this time is that there is no recession, and this budget snafu is entirely the creation of the majority party. All it took to pull the rug out from under Olympia was a modest slowdown in economic growth.
Getting where we are today required many short-sighted decisions. State spending has doubled in a decade. Our friends took control of the full Legislature in 2018, built big new spending obligations with one-time money, passed big new taxes that could not be counted upon, and ducked rules enacted in previous years to prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again. They used accounting tricks to avoid making the full required deposits into the state Rainy Day Fund, for instance, and instead spent the money to create new obligations that would last forever.

We Republicans warned against it, but there is no satisfaction in saying ‘told you so,’ only dismay. An internal memo that was intended to be private reveals that our majority colleagues will propose massive new taxes by demonizing the wealthy. We know this will further slow down our economy, drive business to other states, and make it that much harder to pay for state government. The most sensible solution is to reverse some of the spending decisions of the last few years. This session we will be looking to build coalitions with responsible members of the majority party to bring our spending back into line.

Juvenile Rehabilitation becomes major issue

My assignments in the Senate include the committees on Transportation and on Health and Long-Term Care – and I am especially proud to report that I have been appointed to a key post as ranking Republican member on the Senate Human Services Committee. This puts me in a leading position on one of the year’s major issues, restoring our broken juvenile rehabilitation system.

Our system is under great stress, due in large part to a well-intended decision by our colleagues to keep youthful offenders out of adult prisons until age 25. This has caused severe overcrowding at juvenile facilities and has dramatically increased incarceration costs. I have joined with other senators in introducing reform legislation – you will hear more about the full picture in coming weeks. My proposals include:

• SB 5255, allowing juveniles to be detained pending disposition of their cases when they are alleged to have committed crimes involving firearms or stolen vehicles.
• SB 5256, requiring the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board to consider the testimony of crime victims in determining whether offenders have complied with “restorative justice” requirements.
• SB 5257, stiffening sentences for juvenile gun crimes, and
• SB 5260, the Youth Rehabilitation Pathways Act, permitting offenders sentenced to juvenile facilities between ages 18 and 25 to request transfer to Department of Corrections facilities.

Medical Emergency Marriage Act and other legislation

Another bill I will be telling you more about in weeks ahead is SB 5116, the Medical Emergency Marriage Act, which would allow county auditors to waive waiting periods for marriage licenses when death is imminent. This bill was prompted by a Spokane case in which an ailing man married his girlfriend in his hospital room mere hours before his death. Though the couple was able to marry in the nick of time and establish inheritance rights, the incident demonstrated that county officials need more flexibility.

Other bills I have introduced include SB 5172, which would allow fire districts to dissolve civil service requirements, and SB 5251, which would permit lodging taxes to be used for economic development projects.

Contact us!

Thank you for doing me the honor of returning me to Olympia. The inaugural ceremony and the oath of office that each of us took was a reminder of our responsibility to represent the people of our districts. My most important duty is to serve you.

If you are having a problem with a state agency or you have a thought about the direction of state government, I want to hear about it. I and my legislative assistant Austin Branstetter stand ready to assist.

My new quarters are in the Irv Newhouse Building on the Capitol Campus in Olympia, Office 322. My mailing address is Post Office Box 40404, Olympia, WA, 98504. My email address is Leonard.Christian@leg.wa.gov, and my office telephone number is (360) 786-7606.

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Thanks for reading,

 

 

 

Sen. Leonard Christian
4th Legislative District