"Wealth taxes" off the table in budget talks in Olympia
Washington legislative Democrats say they’ll give up on efforts to impose so-called “wealth taxes” in their effort to craft a two-year budget that balances.
The Northwest News Network reports the governor has made it clear he won’t sign a budget that includes a tax levied on stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other financial assets held by the state’s richest citizens.
Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen told N3 that budget writers may instead seek to expand the state capital gains tax. Pedersen says voters expressed their support for it last fall when they rejected a citizen initiative that sought to end the capital gains tax.
Washington House votes to revoke coroner jurisdiction over fetal deaths, repeal concealed birth crime
It’s up to Washington Governor Bob Ferguson to decide whether the state will remove county coroners’ and medical examiners’ jurisdiction over fetal remains from stillbirths, premature births and suspected abortions.
The bill that passed the state House Wednesday also repeals the state's crime of concealed birth.
Democrats like Rep. Lisa Parshley (R-Olympia) have said parents and families who have just lost a child are already suffering without a coroner’s scrutiny.
"If we throw criminal investigation into that trauma and grief without good reason, then we are harming that family further," she said during floor debate on Wednesday.
Many Republicans, like Ferry County Rep. Hunter Abell (R-Inchelium), argued the measure goes too far by totally repealing the crime of concealed birth.
"This crime only applies when the body of the dead baby is concealed with intent to hide the fact of the birth," he said, addressing the speaker pro tempore. "That's very different than an abortion, Mr. Speaker, and it's very different than a stillbirth.”
Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen (R-Puyallup) said Democrats haven’t shown a good reason to remove coroners’ authority to investigate fetal deaths.
“Women in this state are not being gone after in the way that's being portrayed by the proponents of this bill," she said on the House floor Wednesday. "That, in committee, we heard that that wasn't happening."
Parshley argued the recent revival of century-old abortion laws and other measures from the 1800s is proof enough that the state should proactively take this step.
"You and I have seen a federal entity pull out an 1890 law and [use] it currently," she said during debate. "So it's not out of the realm that a 1909 law in Washington could be pulled and used at this point in our history.”
Wednesday's vote passed, 58-39. The bill passed the state Senate in February.
Governor Bob Ferguson has less than a week to sign it, veto it or let it pass into law without his signature.
West Coast governors: We will defend our climate policies against Trump attack
After dismantling most federal action on the global climate, the Trump administration now aims to attack state and local policies that fight climate change as well.
An executive order signed by President Trump on Tuesday directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to look for state and local laws that address climate change or environmental justice and to “take all appropriate action” to stop enforcement of any that are illegal.
“My Administration is committed to unleashing American energy, especially through the removal of all illegitimate impediments to the identification, development, siting, production, investment in, or use of domestic energy resources,” the order states.
While some Republicans and industry groups welcomed the order, Democratic leaders including Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson say they will defend their states’ climate actions.
Trump’s order singles out policies such as the cap-and-trade systems for limiting carbon emissions that states including Washington and California have adopted.
Through a spokesperson, Gov. Ferguson declined to be interviewed but issued a brief statement.
“I am confident we will be able to preserve this and other important laws protecting our climate and investments in clean energy from this latest attack by the Trump administration,” he said in an emailed statement.
“California’s efforts to cut harmful pollution won’t be derailed by a glorified press release masquerading as an executive order,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a press release.
“The science is clear. Climate change is real and our state programs are critical to protecting our environment for generations to come,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) said in a statement provided to Oregon Public Broadcasting. “I will continue to fight for the longstanding values of Oregonians.”
At least one Republican lawmaker in Washington state praised the president’s move.
“President Trump’s executive action is a critical step toward reining in extreme, unconstitutional and costly climate policies like Washington’s cap-and-trade scheme,” Republican state Sen. Phil Fortunato, of Auburn, said in a press release.
In an interview, Fortunato said he hoped the executive order would draw attention to the cost of Washington state’s “stupid” environmental policies. He also denied the scientific fact that carbon dioxide emissions have raised the planet’s temperature with disastrous consequences.
“Do you believe CO2 is the villain?” Fortunato asked. “I don't think so.”
Seattle attorney Jan Hasselman with the nonprofit Earthjustice said executive orders are “nothing more than a tweet in long form.”
“This president doesn't have a plan. He doesn't have a strategy. He's just blustering,” Hasselman said. “We here in Washington are proud of our climate laws, and we're going to fight to protect them if we have to.”
“We really welcome what the president did,” said Greg Lane with the Building Industry Association of Washington.
The construction-industry trade group has been trying to stop Washington state from restricting the use of natural gas in new buildings.
Voters approved a 2024 ballot initiative the association sponsored to block regulation of natural gas. Lane said the association will appeal a King County Superior Court ruling in March that the initiative violates the state constitution.
“We knew it was in the works, so we weren't surprised to see it,” Lane said of Trump’s order.
“We have a National Association of Home Builders as well, and they've been working with the administration and other partners on this,” Lane said.
He said the White House also had conversations on the upcoming executive order with industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Gas Association, of which Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy is a member.
The gas association did not respond to a request for comment.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government cannot simply block or undo state or local laws.
“This is core to the Constitution, that states and local governments have certain inherent powers that the federal government cannot just grab because it wants to,” attorney Amy Turner with Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law said.
“It's not just the federal government saying, ‘We don't like a law that the state has passed,’” Lane said. “They're going to have to come up with a legal justification for challenging it.”
While some critics dismissed the executive order as bluster or political theater, Turner said people should take it seriously.
“I think this is a dangerous warning of what's to come,” Turner said.
She said it could be a first step toward lawsuits or other federal attempts to overturn states’ climate policies.
“With this administration, we can't expect that they're going to act lawfully,” Turner said. “The administration is very willing to pull back federal funding or cancel grant awards based on its view of whether a particular entity is advancing the priorities the administration likes.”
The executive order gives Bondi 60 days to assemble a list of supposedly illegal state and local laws that “purport to address ‘climate change’ or involving ‘environmental, social, and governance’ initiatives, ‘environmental justice,’ carbon or ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes” and recommend measures to block them.
Simpson signs on to bill blocking the sale of public lands
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is putting his foot down when it comes to the federal government selling public lands.
This week, Simpson joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in cosponsoring the Public Lands in Public Hands Act, which would block the sale of most federally-owned lands.
Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke (R) has sponsored the legislation both this congressional session and the previous session, along with Reps. Troy Downing (R-MT) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM).
The proposal would ban the sale of most federal public lands, while still allowing some transactions for smaller parcels.
“Thank you to Rep. Simpson for making it clear that our cherished public lands are not for sale now and never will be,” said Conservation Voters for Idaho executive director Alexis Pickering.
CVI joined the Idaho Conservation League and the Idaho chapter of the Wilderness Society in cheering Simpson’s decision.
Some congressional Republicans have floated the idea of selling public lands through the budgeting process.
E&E News reports both chairmen of the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee have offered up the plans, but no hard decisions have been made.
“They’ve had multiple folks on the record state that they are looking at our federal and national public lands as a means to get some quick cash,” Pickering said in a phone interview Thursday.
Utah unsuccessfully sued to take ownership of 18.5 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in 2024.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January, but Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said his state is considering its options moving forward.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador (R) filed a brief supporting Utah’s case. Other state lawmakers and political candidates here have also floated the idea of taking these lands back from the feds, saying they belong to Idaho.
“Even though these lands exist within Idaho, that does not mean they’re Idaho lands. They never were,” Pickering said.
Dumping these lands into private hands, she said, would affect everything from hunting and fishing to the economy.
“That means that that impacts our ability to feed our families, right? It impacts our ability to get that fresh air, it impacts our tourism.”
Pickering encouraged the rest of Idaho’s delegation to join Simpson as the congressional session moves forward.
Spokane County, cities likely to get extra time for comp plan rewrite
Legislation that would give local governments in 10 Washington counties an extra six months to refresh their comprehensive plans is one signature away from becoming law.
The House yesterday approved a bill that applies to the local governments tabbed to approve their updated plans by June 2026. Those include Spokane and Walla Walla.
North Seattle Democrat Davina Duerr says the legislation is consistent with actions taken the past two years.
“We’ve asked a lot of our local governments this comprehensive plan round, from middle housing to 1220. We’ve given extensions to the 2024 and 2025 comprehensive plan cities and counties and so this merely extends that deadline for the remaining cities and counties," she said.
The Senate has already approved the bill. It now goes to the governor.
State law requires counties and the cities within them to update their plans and development regulations every 10 years.
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Reporting by Owen Henderson, John Ryan, James Dawson and Doug Nadvornick.