Incoming Insurance Commissioner Kuderer makes contingencies for ACA cuts
President-elect Donald Trump has said he doesn't necessarily plan to do away with the Affordable Care Act, still known to some as Obama Care.
But Washington's next insurance commissioner, Patty Kuderer, doesn't believe him. She thinks Trump will go back on his word.
"Do you remember when he first came in in 2016?" she said to KUOW public radio. "He was going to repeal and replace Obamacare, right? I don't even think he knew what it was. Or how it functioned. Or how many people were impacted by it. And I don't think this is any different.
"I don't view him as a responsible human being; I think this is more of the destructive mode."
If the incoming Trump Administration does make cuts to the Affordable Care Act, Kuderer said she would support new state revenue streams to pay for state funded health programs.
Those could include a wealth tax, like the one proposed by outgoing Governor Jay Inslee in his budget, or closing certain tax exemptions.
Kuderer takes office next year in mid-January, replacing Mike Kreidler. She'll be the first new insurance commissioner in more than two decades.
WA considers ivy, holly restrictions
Some holiday decorations have become unpopular in Washington. State officials are even proposing to ban the sale of one of them.
Holly and ivy are traditional decorations. In the Pacific Northwest, they’re also aggressive invasive species.
The Washington Department of Agriculture is proposing to ban the sale or transport of English ivy and its cousin, Atlantic ivy.
The agency wants to add 19 species to its quarantine list. State officials say no proposal has generated as much interest as ivy.
Hundreds of people have written in support of a ban. Ivy can strangle trees and smother wildflowers. It’s one of the continent’s most successful plant invaders. Oregon banned its sale 15 years ago, but ivy is still sold in nurseries in Washington.
Meanwhile, a state board is looking at labeling English holly a noxious weed. That proposal has stalled due to opposition from holly farmers.
2024 WA pear crop cut down by changing weather
After seeing this year’s pear crop reduced by one-third, Northwest pear growers are hoping for better results in 2025.
John DeVaney, President of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, said 80% of the nation’s pears are grown in Washington, about a third of which are exported to Canada, Mexico and Asia.
"The northwest pear crop averages 15 million 44-pound boxes a year," he told SPR News. "That’s usually stable; although, this last fall was one of the smallest in decades due to cold weather in early ’24 that reduced the size of the harvest in north-central Washington, the Wenatchee Valley area."
Aside from the weather, DeVaney said Northwest fruit growers are also concerned that climate change could reduce water resources for their crops.
Child care and early learning central to debate over how to close WA budget gap
Child care and early learning advocates are taking some hope from Governor Jay Inslee’s budget proposal.
According to reporting by the Washington State Standard, instead of deep cuts to education funding, Inslee’s plan would delay the expansion of some expensive programs and subsidies set to take effect next year.
That includes the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program which was planned to become an entitlement for families at a certain income level in the 2026-27 school year.
The program provides child care and other support services for 3- and 4-year-olds and younger children in some locations.
To save money throughout the next four years, Inslee proposes delaying the expansion to the 2030-31 school year.
Inslee also proposed delaying a planned expansion of early learning programs and subsidized child care to 2031.
Doing both would save the state more than $260 million through 2027.
The delays don’t mean cuts to families currently using the programs.
But they do mean a longer wait for future families who might have been eligible starting next year, leading to mixed reactions from child care leaders.
Advocates say it could be much worse, especially given a budget deficit of at least $10 billion to $12 billion.
Inslee’s plan would boost child care slots, provider rates and money for early learning facilities.
What’s clear though is that without additional revenue or shifting substantial dollars from somewhere else in the budget, the state will likely have to make much deeper cuts than what Inslee proposed.
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Reporting contributed by Libby Denkmann, John Ryan, Tom Lee and Laurel Demkovich. Edited by Owen Henderson.