Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The 2025 Legislature has adjourned. We accomplished a lot this session — addressing our state budget deficit, increasing investments in education by $1 billion, especially special education and materials and operating costs, continuing our clean energy transition, protecting reproductive rights, shielding renters from extreme rent hikes, and cutting red tape to build more homes, especially near public transit.

I want to highlight one important change I was proud to make in our state budget: sponsoring SB 5794, which makes our tax system fairer by closing special interest tax loopholes and repealing ineffective tax preferences.

In my remarks on the Senate floor during debate on the wealth tax, I spoke about the corrosive effects of excessive wealth inequality and an uneven economy. Decades of tax policy have placed burdensome obstacles on millions of Americans’ path to a better life, while allowing the ultra-wealthy to avoid paying back into the social-mobility systems that made this country great.

There is nothing wrong with wealth and success themselves. But when loopholes let the ultra-wealthy avoid paying taxes, it defunds the institutions and supports that have historically helped people rise out of poverty and build a strong middle class. It’s time to fix our tax policy and ensure everyone contributes to a shared prosperity.

SB 5794 repeals several tax exemptions that non-partisan auditors found to be ineffective. Tax exemptions can be useful tools to incentivize good business practices, encourage growth, support small businesses, and spur needed development. As chair of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, I’ve seen firsthand how smart tax policy can make our state more effective, efficient, and accountable. But tax preferences that don’t contribute to the public good divert much-needed revenue from schools, health care, and social services. Experts agree it’s time to update our tax code.

Looking back at the 2025 session

This year, our primary focus was keeping Washington’s budget on a stable path without overly jeopardizing the investments, programs, projects, and services that make our state a great place to live and raise a family. We started the session with a significant deficit — driven by inflation, rising price, increased need among Washingtonians, an inefficient tax system that relies too heavily on working people, and fiscal uncertainty from a chaotic presidential administration.

While we had to delay or decrease funding for some programs, we prioritized expanding support in two key areas: securing more education funding for our 1.1 million students and continuing our efforts to build more housing.

SB 5263 takes a major step toward fully funding special education by removing the 16% cap that limited funding for special education services, even when more than 16% of students in a district required them. It also increases special education funding by about $700 million over the next four years.

We also increased funding for school district materials, supplies, and operating costs by $213 million over that same period, and SB 5192 gives districts greater flexibility in how they distribute state funding. HB 2049 increases the per-pupil levy limit gradually over several years, giving districts another tool to fully fund curriculum and extracurricular programs. These bills will help ensure students and educators have the resources needed to thrive. There is more work to do, but we are moving in the right direction.

On housing, we invested a record-setting $605 million for the Housing Trust Fund to support affordable housing construction. Overall, our capital budget allocates $782 million for housing and homelessness programs to keep Washington on track to build more affordable homes and reduce housing costs statewide.

We also took important steps to encourage affordable private sector homebuilding: limiting burdensome parking requirements near transit centers and for affordable, senior, and small scale housing; requiring denser zoning near major transit stops; and passing to modernize rules and cut red tape for housing developments in cities and urban growth areas, helping get projects finished and on the market faster.

As chair of the Local Government committee, I will continue crafting and advocating for policies that expand our housing supply and support new housing types. Some zoning and development rules have been a bit unbalanced and impeding efforts to building more homes as the population has risen. I am focused on leading the committee toward a smarter approach — removing barriers, encouraging diverse housing options red tape and crafting innovative housing development legislation and supporting local governments and homebuilders with the tools they need to meet demand. That’s how we’ll reduce costs for renters and homebuyers across Washington.

Stay involved!

Remember, your voice is integral to the lawmaking process. Do you have thoughts on the bills that passed this session or ideas for work we can do during the interim?

I look forward to learning more about your priorities; you can send me an email at Jesse.Salomon@leg.wa.gov or call 360-786-7662.