Editorial: A look at what got done and what didn’t in Olympia

Published 11:26 am Wednesday, March 18, 2026

By The Herald Editorial Board

For a short 60-day session, which concluded March 12, the Washington state Legislature exceeded expectations — not always for the good if you asked many Republicans in the chambers’ minorities — with adoption of consequential bills, including passage of a “millionaires tax” that promises a fairer state tax package and needed revenue in the coming years.

There were also bills that did not advance — as happens each session regardless of length — that should be reconsidered and given opportunity for floor votes in years to come.

What got done

• The budget: Over the objections of all Republicans and some from their own party, Democrats in House and Senate adopted a $79.4 billion operating budget addendum to last year’s two-year budget that runs through the first half of 2027. It’s a patch job that leaves most with varying degrees of dissatisfaction, but those decisions were forced into state lawmakers’ hands largely by the outside influences of inflation and the abdication of federal responsibility for health and social service programs following passage of congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill last year.

The budget still leaves a $878 million gap for the Legislature to address next year, and it relied on one-time maneuvers, the scaling back of tax breaks, cuts to child care and early learning funding, and a substantial scrounging of $880 million from the state’s rainy day fund. Yet, the Senate won the argument over raiding the state’s Climate Commitment Act fund — intended for pollution reduction and climate resilience spending — that the House and governor had coveted.

• The ‘millionaires tax’: Again over the objections of all Republicans and eight Democrats, House and Senate voted to send a 9.9 percent tax for income over $1 million to Gov. Bob Ferguson, who proposed the new revenue source before the start of the session, but prodded lawmakers into changes until he was satisfied in the session’s final days. The earliest the tax is expected to bring in revenue — estimated around $3 billion each year — is 2029, but that depends on expected legal challenges and a possible public vote.

Among future beneficiaries for that $3 billion in addition to the general fund, is an expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit from a current 350,000 state families to 810,000 households. Consumers will see the tax removed for personal hygiene products, including diapers, as well as over-the-counter medications.

The tax will go a long way toward a necessary adjustment to the state’s package of taxes that for years had made Washington last among states for tax fairness because of its regressive nature, which relies heavily on sales taxes and property taxes. The new income tax, which will be paid by an estimated 20,000 of the state’s highest-paid residents, should improve the equity of state taxes and fairly assess those who have benefited greatly from what Washington state provides in livability and economic advantages. Surely, most of those who will pay the tax recognize the advantages of living in this state include more than their bottom line.

What else?

There were other accomplishments as well, including:

• Passage of legislation that adds necessary guidance on the use by cities of license plate reader cameras, commonly called Flock cameras, for a leading company in the field. Police departments will be limited to use of the cameras for matching plates to lists of stolen vehicles, missing or endangered people and vehicles registered to those with felony warrants and misdemeanors. That’s an important win for personal privacy rights that still allows the cameras’ use as a law enforcement tool.

• Passage of a bill that bars all law enforcement, including federal agents, from wearing face masks while interacting with the public, with exceptions for personal protective equipment, bike and motorcycle helmets and head and facial coverings for religious purposes. The public’s trust of law enforcement requires that officers can be identified.

• Passage of bill that sets eligibility criteria for sheriffs and police chiefs to standards already routinely expected of law enforcement officers. Assurance of basic standards builds public trust.

• Passage of requirements for the state Department of Social and Health Services that will streamline reviews and reduce redundant information requests for those offering supported living services for some 4,700 state residents living with developmental disabilities and dependent on the care of nursing and support professionals. It’s a model for legislation that should be considered for other of the state’s oversight agencies.

What didn’t, but should

Among legislation that deserves further consideration:

• Senate Bill 5067, sponsored by Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, would have lowered the legal limit for drivers’ blood alcohol concentration (BAC) from .08 to .05, joining Utah as the only state but numerous countries and Canadian provinces with the reduced limit. In Utah, the state Traffic Safety Commission has noted, its lower BAC has not resulted in a loss of business for restaurants and bars. Instead the law has made drivers pay more attention to their alcohol consumption and make other arrangements when drinking. The bill passed the Senate, but didn’t advance in the House.

• House Bill 2421 would have set a deadline of 2035 for the end of the use of a chemical, 6PPD, in the production of automotive tires that has been confirmed as lethal to coho salmon when tire dust ends up in lakes, streams and rivers from stormwater. Enough advancement of at least one alternative should make the 2035 deadline workable.

• House Bill 2401, moving forward an earlier proposal, would establish a commission for boys and men, recognizing the struggles many face in education, mental and physical health and financial accomplishment, serving as a source of research as well as support in terms of mentorship and resources. Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, sponsored the bill and got hearings before two House committees.

• Senate Bill 5400, sponsored by Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, sought to levy a 1.22 excise tax on major social media platforms and search engines to support a grant program that would have provided funding for journalists throughout the state at newspapers, online publications, radio and TV stations, addressing the growth of “news deserts.” This year the bill would have used a portion of its revenue to support the Murrow News Fellowship, which provided funding to support 16 journalists throughout the state. That program, overseen by WSU’s Murrow School of Communication, also lost funding support this year in the state budget, but it and Report for America are joining in a $10 million fundraising campaign to restart its efforts in 2027.

A version of this editorial was produced and originally printed by The Everett Herald, a sister newspaper of this publication.