Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Leonard Christian’s subscribers April 25, 2025. To subscribe to Sen. Christian’s e-newsletters, click here.
The final battles of the 2025 legislative session are playing out on the House and Senate floors this weekend. House and Senate majorities are determined to pass the largest tax increase in the history of the state. The only thing standing in its way is the possibility of a budget veto from the governor and a special session.
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
With just two days to go in our 2025 legislative session, we can say only a few things for sure. One of them is that we will adjourn by Sunday. That’s because our state constitution says we have to. What we don’t know is whether we will be called right back into session to get things right.
Our majority-party colleagues certainly have made a mess of things. Today in Olympia, Democrats are moving forward with the final votes on the biggest tax increase in Washington history, a tax-and-fee package totaling a whopping $18.4 billion. Republicans have been voting no, of course, but we don’t have the votes to stop them. Some of these bills are so awful that a few Democrats have joined us in voting against them.
As of Friday morning, Republicans and the general public still haven’t seen the budget our colleagues hope to pass. But we can be sure that it will continue the reckless spending that got us into trouble this year, and that it will dig our hole deeper next year.
There is one other thing we can predict. When all is said and done, our colleagues will congratulate themselves for sticking it to the rich and to big business, when in fact the burden of these irresponsible tax increases will be passed on to people like you and me. The result will be higher costs for health care, housing, food, motor fuel and child care, while our economy stagnates.
What about that veto threat?
What we can’t predict are the next moves. There is one ray of hope for the people of Washington, and that is the possibility that our new governor will veto the budget and tell the Legislature to start over. Gov. Bob Ferguson shocked Olympia a few weeks ago when he admitted discomfort with the scale of the proposed tax increases. He said his own party should scale back its plans for new spending, trim unneeded programs and enact efficiencies. Only after that should it consider tax increases.
Budget-writers backed off, just a tad, but in many respects their new plan is worse, because it includes notorious Olympia accounting maneuvers that have caused serious problems for the state in the past, like shorting pension payments and taking money from the transportation budget. Ferguson has called this approach “risky,” but he hasn’t committed himself one way or another. If he does veto the budget, we either would remain in Olympia for a special session or return sometime in the next few weeks. This really is the state’s only hope. But counting on one of the most liberal governors the state has ever elected to take on his own party seems a longshot to me. Will the governor declare this disastrous tax-and-spending plan to be good enough for government work? Stay tuned.
New property tax plan sets state up for income tax
One major change to the tax plan in this final week of session is worthy of note. House and Senate Democrats abandoned one plan for massive property tax increases, then promptly came up with something even worse. Originally they proposed allowing taxes to increase at three times the current rate. Due to compounding this would quickly cause taxes to skyrocket. Public opposition set new records, with 43,680 people signing in as opposed.
The new plan retains the current limits on property tax increases, but it would allow school districts to raise more money with local property tax levies. This undoes the school financing reforms enacted by the Legislature at the insistence of the state Supreme Court in its 2012 McCleary decision. Already school districts are getting set to file another lawsuit. Our colleagues appear determined to set up another enormous problem for our state. Why on earth would they do this? Legislative rules forbid us from imputing a motive. But let us note that many on the left believe this is the best way to force a general income tax on the people of Washington, whether they want it or not.
You could cover it in chocolate – and this tax increase still would be hard to swallow
In this floor speech on SB 5814, I offer my view of this year’s tax package – a collection of taxes that slam the middle class and job creators statewide. Our majority colleagues have been trying to distract us from the central issue. They created a deficit with over-the-top spending. Their solution is to raise taxes still further so that they can keep right on doing the things that got us into trouble in the first place. Let me remind everyone, Republicans worked with the same numbers, and we found we can balance the budget without new taxes or harmful cuts if we just avoid new spending for non-emergency purposes. With just a little fiscal discipline, none of this $18.4 billion tax-and-fee increase is necessary.
House Dems ignore crisis in Juvenile Rehabilitation system
Dangerous conditions go uncorrected at state’s main facility for juvenile offenders
Green Hill School in Chehalis: A new state policy drives overcrowding as older, more dangerous juvenile offenders are forced to double-bunk. The result has been violence and disorder, and a facility unsafe for staff and offenders alike.
The thinking among our progressive friends is that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. But where our state’s Juvenile Rehabilitation system is concerned, their decision to ignore the chaos at Green Hill School for the sake of a political power play is best described as negligence.
The deteriorating conditions at our state’s main corrections facility for juvenile offenders are the predictable result of a policy our colleagues call “JR to 25.” They want to keep minors out of adult prisons even when they are convicted of serious crimes like murder, to shield them from the harmful influence of convicted adult felons. So now we leave them in the juvenile system until age 25. What our Democratic colleagues failed to realize was that this would change the makeup of our juvenile facilities. Now they are filled with offenders in their early twenties who have a greater tendency toward criminal behavior and violence.
As a result, at Green Hill last December, there were 243 juveniles crammed into a facility designed for 150. This overcrowding has helped create an increasingly unmanageable environment of violence, criminal gang activity, rampant drug use and frequent overdoses, making Green Hill unsafe for inmates and staff. The state is planning to refit an unused wing of the Stafford Creek Corrections Center near Aberdeen for juvenile offenders, but this is unlikely to resolve the serious management problems the JR to 25 policy has created.
Sensible proposal dies in political power play
This crisis in juvenile justice is a major concern for me, because I am the ranking Republican on the Senate Human Services Committee, which oversees our state’s Juvenile Rehabilitation system. The answer seems obvious, doesn’t it? We just need to repeal JR to 25 – or at least mitigate its harmful effect.
I introduced one such bill this session, SB 5260, allowing offenders sentenced to juvenile facilities to request transfer to adult prisons after age 18. Unfortunately, this bill was quashed in committee. Another bill came closer to passage. This was SB 5278, which would have transferred the most violent and dangerous juvenile offenders to adult prison after age 21 whenever juvenile facilities are overcrowded. This bill passed the Senate unanimously, with support from both parties, but it stalled in the House Rules Committee.
Unfortunately, House Democrats decided this emergency in our juvenile rehabilitation system created a splendid opportunity to advance their public safety agenda, including shorter sentences and earlier releases. If we Republicans wanted to pass SB 5278, our friends insisted that we also vote for SB 5296. This appalling stinkeroo of a bill would have reopened sentencing for everyone at Green Hill and other secure juvenile facilities, with the goal of transferring these violent and dangerous offenders to community custody, home monitoring and release.
Our side naturally balked, and the result of this hostage-taking is that both bills died. Thus a vitally important piece of legislation died so that our friends could make a political point. I think this illustrates the skewed thinking that dominates the Legislature these days. Even in an emergency, ideology comes first. Does someone need to die before the Legislature will acknowledge something needs to be done?
In the midst of session, Sen. Bill Ramos dies
Sen. Bill Ramos, D-Issaquah, was out jogging near his home after a long day in the Legislature Saturday when he was stricken by a heart attack and died. Ramos, 69, was vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. I worked with him for several years in the House on the state government committee, and we were among several House members who advanced to the Senate this year. His death helps put our conflicts in the state Legislature in perspective, and reminds us that despite our differences, we all work with the same goal, of making our state a better place. Please join me in praying for his family as they deal with this loss.
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
Leave a message on the Legislative Hotline: 1 (800) 562-6000