Today's headlines:
- Washington Democrats' "millionaires' tax" heads to the Senate floor this week.
- Idaho's budget writers passed a spending plan that makes 5% budget reductions, but agency directors, legislators and the governor say they may go too far.
- Open pit mining has exposed over 100 acres of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer in Spokane County. Upstream, Kootenai County is considering code amendments aimed at keeping its only source of drinking water underground.
- Spokane residents could help WA Cares test run its claim acceptance process—and be some of the first people to get their benefits.
- Washington wildfires are making it increasingly difficult for home owners to find insurance.
Plus, we walk through what the special election results from last week mean for some districts in eastern Washington. Newport and East Valley School Districts both asked voters to approve bonds that would've repaired old—and in some cases, crumbling—school buildings. But both failed. Reporters Monica Carrillo-Casas and Elena Perry share what they're hearing from district officials.
- - -
SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting contributed by Sarah Mizes-Tan, Owen Henderson, Eliza Billingham, Doug Nadvornick, Bellamy Pailthorp, and Monica Carrillo-Casas.
Today's show is hosted and produced by Owen Henderson with digital support from Eliza Billingham.
- - -
TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Monday, February 16, 2026.
On today’s show, Washington Democrats’ so-called “millionaires’ tax” is heading to the state Senate floor this week.
And part of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer is currently open to the air because of mining in Spokane County. Some Kootenai County residents want to make sure that can’t happen on their side of the state line.
Plus, we break down what the special election results from last week mean for some districts in eastern Washington with two reporters who have been following the issues.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
A major change to Washington’s 90-plus-year-old tax code is headed to the Senate floor.
State Government reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan has this preview of the debate on what Democrats are calling a “millionaires’ tax”.
SARAH MIZES-TAN: Democrats say this bill is the biggest thing they can do to address the cost of living for Washingtonians this legislative session. It would take effect in 2029.
Some of the revenue would pay for a sales tax exemption on hygiene products, like antiperspirant and shampoo, and expanding tax breaks for working families and small businesses.
Most, though, would go to the general fund to balance the budget.
Senate Majority Leader Jaime Pedersen says it’s time to restructure Washington’s tax system.
JAMIE PEDERSEN: “We’re in a perpetual state of crisis because we have this very unusual tax system that is lacking any form of income tax and is overweighted on charging poor and middle class people.”
SMT: Republicans warn it could be the first step toward an across the board income tax.
In Olympia, I'm Sarah Mizes-Tan.
— — —
OH: Agency directors and the governor’s office are warning that the funding cuts passed by Idaho’s top budget committee could do lasting damage.
The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Friday passed a budget with five percent cuts for most agencies.
The plan slashes more than 106 million dollars from the upcoming fiscal year’s spending and eliminates about 280 full-time positions, some of which have been vacant for some time.
Idaho Falls Republican Senator Kevin Cook said the budget <quote> “has the potential to break the state” during JFAC’s Friday meeting.
Committee leaders say while the reductions may be painful, they’re necessary to balance Idaho’s projected budget deficit.
The cuts still need approval from both legislative houses and the governor’s signature to become law.
— — —
More than 100 acres of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer are currently exposed thanks to quarrying in Spokane County.
Aquifer advocates in Kootenai County are trying to make sure that doesn’t happen to the groundwater under them. SPR’s Eliza Billingham reports.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: The Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer is North Idaho and Eastern Washington’s only source of drinking water.
Central Pre-Mix’s quarry near Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley exposed 67 acres of it.
Another of their sites off Broadway Avenue looks like a lake, but it’s groundwater. It’s reportedly being stocked with fish.
Same goes for 6-acres of water that are commonly referred to as “Lawrence B Stone Lake,” which now has a boat dock.
These properties are listed in the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board Aggregate Quarry Risk Analysis. They are all legal.
North Kootenai Water and Sewer District’s chief operating officer Suzanne Scheidt says they put the aquifer at risk. She used them as examples of what’s also legally permissible in Kootenai County.
SUZANNE SCHEIDT: “We’re just very concerned that we have a regulatory gap.”
EB: Scheidt suggested code amendments that would require quarries to have 50 feet of separation between their pit floor and the highest known aquifer water table elevation.
County staff are currently drafting those amendments to bring before the Planning Commission within the next two months.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
— — —
OH: Washington’s state-run long-term care program isn’t yet open to claims from the general public. But it will be this summer.
And it’s inviting Spokane County residents to help it prepare for an expected rush of applications. SPR’s Doug Nadvornick reports.
DOUG NADVORNICK: Washington residents, except those who have opted out, have paid a small percentage of their wages to WA Cares since July 2023.
Since then, the state has been stockpiling those contributions. The rollout of benefits will begin on July 1.
The state wants to practice its process of accepting claims and paying benefits. So it’s inviting a limited number of people from four counties, including Spokane, to apply now for benefits.
Spokane residents can do that directly at the WA Cares website or by contacting the Agency on Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington.
Applicants must be paying into the program and have a need for help with everyday activities, such as bathing or managing their medication.
The application deadline is the end of March. Residents can collect up to 36-thousand-500 dollars through the program over the course of their lifetimes.
Three western Washington counties, Lewis, Mason and Thurston, are the others participating in the pilot program.
I’m Doug Nadvornick reporting.
— — —
OH: The number of homeowners in Washington getting non-renewal notices from their insurance companies has more than doubled since 20-21.
The state insurance commissioner believes increased risk from wildfires is to blame.
More from KNKX reporter Bellamy Pailthorp.
BELLAMY PAILTHORP: State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer is promoting two bills this session to address the impacts of increased wildfire risk on homeowner policies.
She says both have bi-partisan support. The first requires insurance companies that are using ‘fire risk scores’ to disclose them—and if it affects homeowners negatively, to explain why.
PATTY KUDERER: “In other words, premium goes up — they are required to tell them not only what the score is, but how they can improve their score."
BP: Some of those measures might be as simple as moving a woodpile away from the house.
For more costly items, Kuderer is proposing a pilot program to provide grants to homeowners for retrofits.
PK: “If they take all the steps that the industry says they should be taking to keep their home safe from wildfire. They shouldn't get a non-renewal notice in the mail saying they're being non-renewed for wildfire.”
Several representatives from the insurance industry testified against the bills, cautioning that overly restrictive new regulations could drive costs up for policyholders.
I’m Bellamy Pailthorp, reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: Tuesday's special elections saw a number of school districts across eastern Washington pass levies, but some bond issues didn't fare quite so well.
I'm joined now by two journalists who've been following the ballot measures.
Monica Carrillo-Casas is the Rural Reporter and Murrow News Fellow for SPR News and for the Spokesman Review. Welcome, Monica.
MONICA CARRILLO-CASAS: Thank you for having me.
OH: Also from the Spokesman, we have Elena Perry, who covers education. Thank you for being here.
ELENA PERRY: Thanks for having me.
OH: So, Monica, we'll start with you. You've been following some ballot measures in rural districts like Newport, and just to back up a bit, why don't you tell us what the district put on the ballot in front of voters?
MCC: So, the Newport School District proposed an $8.8 million levy to help maintain funding for staff and maintain extracurricular activities.
One of the things that Superintendent Dave Smith had noted was that they hoped that this would help maintain staff because it can be hard to find substitute teachers in rural areas.
The proposed bond was $46.3 million, and this would essentially help upgrade the Newport High School, primarily the HVAC system, which they had issues with prior to the election happening, as well as replacing the roof and other maintenances across the school.
OH: Elena, another district that had a bond on the ballot this past week was East Valley here in the Spokane area.
What were they hoping to do with that money?
EP: Yeah, so East Valley proposed to voters a $220 million bond, which they were hoping they could use that revenue to replace both the high school and middle school in that school district.
They're both decades old, and the school district really wanted to replace the buildings to offer more, kind of, modern classes and modern programming in alignment with a lot of other schools in the area.
As an example, their cooking classroom was designed more for, like, home ec purposes and like home cooking, whereas they really wanted to offer more like culinary arts type style programming that doesn't really align with the space they have.
And the middle school, they really wanted to replace, make it a little bigger so that they could fit sixth graders in with the middle school, which is also kind of in alignment with most other districts in the area operate on a sixth through eighth grade middle school model.
OH: Lots of the levees in our listening area were passed, but these two bonds were two of the things that did not pass. So where do we go from here? We'll start with you, Monica.
MCC: The bond at Newport School District only received 46% of support, far from the 60% that they needed for it to pass.
I mean, weeks before the election happened, there was a heating coil that broke inside of one of the classrooms, causing it to flood, affecting neighboring rooms.
So this is definitely something that they will have to look into and look at their options and regroup of how they want to proceed.
OH: And what have you been hearing from the East Valley officials, Elena?
EP: Yeah, East Valley isn't really sure how they're going to proceed. They can put another bond measure or maybe another levy to finance construction on ballots in April.
But if they want to do that, they'll have to decide by February 27th, and that's the school board.
They could always do November or maybe next February. Lots of options, but we don't really know how they're going to proceed.
The schools are in pretty rough shape. Both the facilities are over 50 years old, and I know with the high school, there's the tile siding on the outside is known to just pop off.
And staff are worried about that, you know, falling on students as they're walking around campus.
The district is really concerned about rising construction costs and rising costs in all areas. So I think they were really hoping to get this money to replace these schools, which I think they see as an inevitability. They wanted to do it now while it's potentially cheaper than it would be in the future.
OH: Well, and speaking of cost burden, what I've seen and heard so far is that one of the big reasons that voters chose not to approve these was property taxes. How is that playing into school administrators' decisions to either bring another bond or not? We'll start with you, Monica.
MCC: Yeah. April Owens, the board chair of the school district, had mentioned that one of the concerns that she heard from people was having to pay more taxes, and especially in rural areas, I'm sure that can be a burden for a lot of people.
So it seems like they will definitely regroup with school officials, and I'm not too sure if they will look into community forums or including community members to ensure that everybody's on the same page.
OH: For East Valley, how is the current tax burden playing into this decision for school administrators?
EP: East Valley is kind of an interesting one because they haven't had a bond on the ballot in over a decade. It certainly would have meant a property tax increase for that community, and this is something that they haven't encountered in a while.
So it might have been kind of a more expensive pill to swallow or a harder pill to swallow for the community out there, and it certainly would have meant a tax increase. So I think that is definitely something that the district was considering.
In the context of the county, there's other school districts that go after bonds much more regularly, like Spokane Public Schools tries just about every six years, whereas, like I said with East Valley, it's been over a decade and that last one didn't pass.
So they don't currently have a bond that they're paying off, and passing a bond would have meant property taxes would have been on people's bills for like 23 years in East Valley's case.
So that is a long time to agree to an increase on your bill, so it certainly was a consideration for the district.
OH: Monica Carrillo-Casas covers rural issues for Spokane Public Radio as our Murrow News fellow and rural reporter.
And Elena Perry covers education at the Spokesman Review. Thank you both.
MCC: Thank you.
EP: Thank you.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Sarah Mizes-Tan, Eliza Billingham, Doug Nadvornick, Bellamy Pailthorp, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Elena Perry and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
