{"id":3160,"date":"2026-01-11T10:19:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/?p=3160"},"modified":"2026-01-26T10:21:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:21:51","slug":"wa-budget-woes-dominate-as-ferguson-lawmakers-begin-2026-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/01\/11\/wa-budget-woes-dominate-as-ferguson-lawmakers-begin-2026-session\/","title":{"rendered":"WA budget woes dominate as Ferguson, lawmakers begin 2026 session"},"content":{"rendered":"

OLYMPIA \u2014 Gov. Bob Ferguson\u2019s first year in office has been shaped by a state budget crisis that was years in the making, and yet somehow arrived abruptly.<\/p>\n

He and majority Democrats last year\u00a0grappled with an estimated $16 billion gap<\/a>\u00a0between state tax collections and planned spending. In response, they made cuts but\u00a0raised taxes to the tune of roughly $9 billion<\/a>\u00a0over four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OLYMPIA \u2014 Gov. Bob Ferguson\u2019s first year in office has been shaped by a state budget crisis that was years in the making, and yet somehow arrived abruptly. He and majority Democrats last year\u00a0grappled with an estimated $16 billion gap\u00a0between state tax collections and planned spending. In response, they made cuts but\u00a0raised taxes to the tune of roughly $9 billion\u00a0over four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":3161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWA budget woes dominate as Ferguson, lawmakers begin 2026 session - Sen. Jamie Pedersen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/01\/11\/wa-budget-woes-dominate-as-ferguson-lawmakers-begin-2026-session\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WA budget woes dominate as Ferguson, lawmakers begin 2026 session - Sen. Jamie Pedersen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OLYMPIA \u2014 Gov. Bob Ferguson\u2019s first year in office has been shaped by a state budget crisis that was years in the making, and yet somehow arrived abruptly. He and majority Democrats last year\u00a0grappled with an estimated $16 billion gap\u00a0between state tax collections and planned spending. In response, they made cuts but\u00a0raised taxes to the tune of roughly $9 billion\u00a0over four years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/01\/11\/wa-budget-woes-dominate-as-ferguson-lawmakers-begin-2026-session\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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