Dear friends and neighbors,

The two subjects I’ve received the most emails about from you this session are the chaos in the federal government and the plan for our state budget, especially when it comes to the many state employees living in our district. While we can’t solve the former in the near term, today we have major news about our state budget and state employees.

Earlier this week, both the House and the Senate laid out our budget proposals. While different, the core ideas reflect our Democratic values. We approve the state employee collective bargaining agreements, increase funding for K-12 education and our public schools, and make dramatic new tax reforms to ensure the wealthiest few and the biggest corporations pay their fair share. There’s more information online, with the full fiscal details here, but I want to share some specifics I know are important to our district.

More information for state employees

I’ve heard from so many state employees about your opposition to furloughs. I won’t sugarcoat it — the Senate budget proposes 13 furlough days, in the form of 8.67 hours of unpaid leave per month from July 2025 through June 2026. That’s less than the 24 days over two years proposed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, but I know it’s not news you want to hear. I want to make a few things clear about this.

First, the Senate proposal is just half of the story. In the House’s budget proposal, they don’t have furloughs. As budget writers spend the next five weeks negotiating and reconciling these two proposals, I’m going to be advocating with my colleagues that we adopt the House’s approach and that we don’t include furloughs in the final budget plan.

I don’t want furloughs to happen. The 22nd District has the highest concentration of public sector labor workforce in the state, and I am acutely aware of the work our state employees do and the value they bring to our communities. I was a state employee the last time they instituted furloughs, and I understand firsthand how difficult these pay cuts can be.

I’ve also been asked why furloughs are still being considered with the significant tax reforms we’re proposing that ask the wealthiest among us to pay more in taxes. This is a great question. We don’t want to double-down on our current unfair and antiquated tax code — we want new, better, more progressive options. But those new tax options won’t generate revenue right away, and we won’t see funds from our proposals until 2027. We need to balance the budget in the short term too, and that’s why furloughs are still being discussed.

The rest of the budget

With the progressive revenue bills we’re proposing, we are able to preserve funding for vital services and programs Washingtonians depend on. While I know many of you are not happy about the proposed furloughs, there are many positive elements in the budget.

  • We invest an additional $750 million per year in our public schools. For special education, we propose eliminating the cap on special education services, to ensure every student gets the extra support they need. We also increase funding for the “materials, supplies, and operating costs” of K-12 education to help them with the growing daily costs of keeping schools open and operational. Together, this is a massive investment in our paramount duty of supporting public schools and students across Washington.
  • With our pension updates, we’re able to provide an ongoing cost-of-living increase for retirees in the PERS 1 and TRS 1 pension programs.
  • We protect funding for core services, like food assistance to help our food banks and needy families. There is also increased aid for crime victims, and we maintain important services for the elderly and people with disabilities.
  • By having our operating, capital, and transportation budgets integrated more closely than ever, we’ve worked to ensure all three can provide the funding Washingtonians need. That means we were better able to balance the transportation budget and keep important infrastructure projects on track and make major investments in affordable housing construction in our capital budget.

The final budget still needs to be negotiated, agreed to, and voted on by session’s end on April 27. I hope you’ll continue to engage with us and advocate for the programs and investments most important to you.

In-person town hall next week

Representatives Beth Doglio, Lisa Parshley, and I will be holding an additional in-person town hall meeting next week to hear your input and answer your questions. It’ll be on the capitol campus, and I hope to see you there!

What: 22nd LD In-Person Town Hall

When: Wednesday, April 2nd 6:30 – 8:00pm

Where: John A. Cherberg Building, Senate Hearing Room 4

304 15th Ave SW, Olympia

Thanks so much for reading, and let’s stay in touch!

-Jess