Today's headlines:
- West Plains cities look to voters to approve an aquifer protection district as concerns over PFAS contamination continue.
- Idaho Gov. Little signs new budget cuts after previously opposing them.
- Coeur d'Alene Rep. Barbieri leads charge to hide ethics investigations into Idaho lawmakers.
- Tesla loses Washington loophole as Rivian, Lucid score direct deals.
- Spokane Public Schools and Parks Dept. announce first slate of projects funded by voter-approved ballot measures.
Plus, with Washington’s legislative session over, Olympia reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan joins to break down what the so-called "millionaires’ tax" will—and won’t—do, as well as what it means for the state budget, if it goes into effect.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Eliza Billingham, James Dawson, Doug Nadvornick, Sarah Mizes-Tan and Owen Henderson.
Owen Henderson hosts and produces the show.
TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
On today’s show, several Spokane County towns dealing with groundwater contamination from so-called “forever chemicals” are going to their residents to ask for extra money to protect the aquifer beneath them.
Plus, despite his administration’s public opposition to further budget cuts, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a legislative package that slashes even more spending by state agencies.
And, with Washington’s legislative session over, we’ll break down what the so-called millionaires’ tax will—and won’t—do and what it means for the state budget, if it goes into effect.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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Cities in the West Plains will decide if they want to put money towards protecting the aquifer underneath them.
SPR’s Eliza Billingham reports.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: Groundwater has been top of mind for Cheney, Medical Lake, and Airway Heights residents ever since they found out Fairchild Air Force Base had accidentally contaminated some of it with “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.
Now, Spokane County is asking those jurisdictions if they’d let citizens vote this August on whether to create a West Plains aquifer protection area.
An APA would mean property owners pay a small fee—15 dollars a year for most—to fund dedicated staff, water monitoring, education and conservation efforts.
Airway Heights and Cheney have already unanimously supported the resolution to add the question to the ballot.
Cheney councilmember Jacquelyn Belock is especially supportive of the effort.
JACQUELYN BELOCK: “We are seeing increases in PFAS contaminations across the West Plains. So it would be quite proactive of us to go after any sort of funding we can so that when it does inevitably show up in our other wells–because it inevitably is going to–we already have the filtration and the stuff in place to be able to handle it and mitigate it.”
EB: Fairchild would not be included in the APA. It’s illegal to impose a fee on a federal parcel without its agreement, and the county doesn’t think it can get the air force base’s agreement in time.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
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OH: Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a package of further budget cuts to state agencies Monday evening.
As James Dawson reports, that’s after his administration opposed them over the past several weeks.
JAMES DAWSON: The bill includes Little’s 3% holdbacks implemented last summer, plus a further 1% cut to most state agencies. That totals about $130 million.
In a statement, the governor said the cuts deliver an efficient and effective budget for taxpayers.
Little’s staff sent a list to the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee early this session, urging them to exclude several agencies from further cuts.
JFAC eventually exempted more spending reductions to Medicaid, K-12 education and state police, among others.
Legislators are still working through next year’s spending plans, though momentum has stalled after the Senate rejected the health and welfare budget last week.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
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OH: Idaho lawmakers could make investigations into their own ethics violations secret.
Coeur d’Alene Republican Rep. Vito Barbieri’s proposal would no longer require the House ethics committee to hold a public hearing if they find merit to a complaint.
It would also no longer allow documents and evidence to be released to the public if a complaint is substantiated.
Barbieri says these proceedings should be worked out behind closed doors.
VITO BARBIERI: “These things can be resolved simply by putting the parties together, fixing the misunderstanding and then allowing one or the other to apologize and say, ‘Yeah, it’s OK. Everything’s OK. My mistake. No foul.’”
OH: Opponents like southwest Idaho Republican Rep. Dan Garner say elected officials take the job knowing their lives will be subject to public scrutiny.
DAN GARNER: “What we do when we’re here at the capitol deserves to be in the light where people see how we conduct ourselves and what we do.”
OH: The proposal cleared its committee hearing by one vote and now heads to the House floor.
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A big change is coming in the electric car market in Washington state.
KUOW’s Scott Greenstone has more.
SCOTT GREENSTONE: There are two places you can buy an electric car in Washington right now: a locally-owned dealership, or a TESLA dealership.
That’s a sweetheart exemption Tesla got in 2014, when it was America’s main electric car maker.
But state Sen. Marko Liias, a Democrat, says Washingtonians want to have other options.
MARKO LIIAS: “Obviously Rivian and Lucid appear to be, you know, breaking into the market. Certainly Rivian and Washington has a lot of popularity. I see them. Every day that I drive around.”
SG: Those Rivians aren’t currently sold in Washington dealerships. Their buyers had to go to Oregon or buy them online.
That will change when a new law Liias sponsored takes effect in 90 days: Rivian and Lucid will be able to sell at their own dealerships in Washington.
I'm Scott Greenstone in Seattle.
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OH: The first round of Spokane school and parks projects funded by the fall’s voter-approved ballot measures soon to be underway.
For the school district, project number one is a new Adams Elementary School.
Demolition of the nearly 120-year-old structure has begun. Construction on the new school will soon begin.
Superintendent Adam Swinyard says the district will also work with the Parks Department to build all-weather fields with lights at Shadle Park High School and two other sites.
ADAM SWINYARD: “We want every kid every day doing something outside of school. Investment in these projects is going to provide the infrastructure that we need to make that programming happen.”
OH: Parks Director Garrett Jones says his agency will renovate restrooms, playgrounds and sport courts in several locations.
The department’s first project will be building a new park at Meadowglen at the north end of Indian Trail this summer.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
Washington's legislative session wrapped in Olympia last week.
Despite being just 60 days, the session was packed. Lawmakers had a record-breaking 25-hour debate about the so-called millionaire's tax, but that's not the only thing legislators were working on.
Olympia correspondent Sarah Mizes-Tan has been reporting from the capital throughout it all, and she joins us now.
Welcome, Sarah. Thanks for being here.
SARAH MIZES-TAN: Thanks for having me.
OH: So let's get it out of the way. We'll start with the millionaire's tax. Washington currently does not have any income tax, but that's sort of about to change. Can you give us an overview about how many people it could affect, and what exactly the tax will do?
SMT: Sure. Just the baseline facts of it, this is a tax on income over a million dollars. So just to be clear, the first million that you make in Washington state, if you are lucky enough to make that first million, is not going to be subjected to this tax.
In very simplistic terms, we've been saying that it's about a dime for every dollar that you make over a million.
This is not a tax on assets. So if you have a million-dollar home, or if you sell one, you are not going to be subjected to this. If you are a pass-through entity, you won't be subjected to it.
Basically, if you are filing over a million dollars in household income, that is who is going to be affected by this.
It's estimated to generate about $3 billion annually from about 20,000 households across the state. So as proponents like to say, I think it's about, like, half of 1% of all Washingtonians.
OH: So it won't affect too many households, but that doesn't mean it passed without a fight. There were, as we mentioned, 25 hours of debate on this, and Republicans were not very happy with the end result. Tell us what happened during those long, overnight hours.
SMT: Yeah. So this was probably the biggest fight of this legislative session. Those opposed said it's unconstitutional, that it's a slippery slope towards an income tax on every Washingtonian.
And on the other side, Gov. Ferguson and more progressive folks were saying that it didn't give enough of the revenue back to regular Washingtonians. Quite a lot of the tax initially, and depending on how you look at it, still does go back to the state's general fund.
Ultimately, it passed through the House with some big changes that would earmark about a third of the tax's revenue for specific programs to give back to working Washingtonians, something Gov. Ferguson did support.
These changes include a carve out in revenue for free breakfast and lunch for all public school children, an expansion of the working families tax credit, and more sales tax breaks on not just hygiene products, but also diapers and over-the-counter meds.
OH: So what happens next? It seems like this is likely to face some legal challenges.
SMT: Definitely. So yeah, as many Republicans mentioned, depending on how you interpret Washington's state constitution, this tax could be seen as being in violation.
So Washington had a landmark case which deemed that income in Washington is property and that all property must be taxed uniformly. So I think it really depends on how this case is interpreted when it comes to this particular income tax.
Needless to say, though, there will likely be court challenges as soon as the governor signs it. Voters will also likely be seeing a ballot item relating to recalling this tax in November, so they will be able to weigh in then.
OH: Alongside this tax, passing a supplemental budget was a big point of contention. I think it's safe to say there are a lot of people disappointed on both sides of the aisle with the spending plans that did pass. So who were the biggest winners and losers, so to speak?
SMT: Overall, even Democratic leadership would admit that the budget that they passed for this supplemental budget year is absolutely going to be disappointing to a lot of people.
They said that they were dealing with a lot of budget challenges this year, inflation being one of them, rising legal costs from mounting lawsuits against the state being another, and the last one being program cuts from the federal government.
You could say maybe it was a win or maybe it's a sigh of relief for folks who are low income and folks who are non-citizens but in the country legally. The state will be stepping in to fill the gaps on things like food assistance and health care there. So those will not be cut in the budget.
I did hear from legislators that they felt that we might have a humanitarian crisis on our hands if they did make those cuts. So that's the reasoning behind those being saved.
What ended up getting the chop was essentially early education programming and specifically funding for a subsidy program for child care called the Working Connections Program.
Those two combined made up about a third of the budget cuts that happened. So some pretty intense cuts essentially for folks who are using child care subsidies and folks who have kids who attend transitional kindergarten in the state.
OH: Sarah Mizes-Tan covers Washington state government. Thank you so much for your time this morning and for your reporting all session.
SMT: Of course. Thanks for having me.
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OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Eliza Billingham, James Dawson, Doug Nadvornick, Sarah Mizes-Tan and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
