Veto or sign? WA governor keeps everyone guessing on tax and budget bills
Will Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson sign or veto a pile of tax bills and a state budget dependent on them? It's anyone's guess.
Lawmakers, lobbyists and business leaders are all watching to see what the governor does. Ferguson, just four months on the job, is aware of the acute interest and seems determined to keep folks in suspense right up until Tuesday.
That's the appointed deadline for him to act — or not act — on a new two-year operating budget and the pieces of a $9.4 billion tax package on which it is balanced, as well as a multibillion-dollar transportation revenue bill containing a 6-cent increase in the state's gas tax.
'You'll hear on Tuesday,' Ferguson said as he walked through a parking lot at Saint Martin's University in Lacey. 'It's a work in progress. Each day, we make some decisions and delay others. Some are a little more complicated, so we'll keep talking.'
Pressed on whether lawmakers should be planning to return in summer to deal with his decisions, Ferguson smiled. 'I can't give anything away. I want to keep people guessing,' he said.
The Standard caught up with the first-term Democrat after he addressed 250 people at the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting.
Ferguson didn't provide them any clues either, saying only that he's busy going through 'the many bills that need to be signed or vetoed' and has until Tuesday 'to essentially sign the budget or make any vetoes I think are appropriate.'
Ferguson didn't delve into specific budget decisions except to laud the Legislature for putting his requested $100 million law enforcement hiring grant program in the spending plan. But he did tell the crowd he was surprised it 'took so much work' to get it through.
It's not to the finish line. Those dollars are in House Bill 2015, which he's yet to sign.
He warned, as he has before, spending cuts are made throughout the budget and some taxes are needed to help overcome a shortfall he pegged at $16 billion over four years.
'There are going to be increased taxes,' he said. 'There was no way to cut your way out of a $16 billion shortfall. So there's going to have to be a balance there.'
With tax hikes on the horizon, he acknowledged, 'It is becoming unaffordable for a lot of Washingtonians.'
'Anything that the government does that makes life less affordable is a concern,' he said. 'Philosophically speaking, these are your dollars and my job is to spend them as efficiently as possible.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Boston Globe
a few seconds ago
- Boston Globe
Trump's tariffs are making money. That may make them hard to quit.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!' Trump said on social media shortly after a weak jobs report showed signs of strain in the labor market. Advertisement Over time, analysts expect that the tariffs, if left in place, could be worth more than $2 trillion in additional revenue over the next decade. Economists overwhelmingly hope that doesn't happen and the United States abandons the new trade barriers. But some acknowledge that such a substantial stream of revenue could end up being hard to quit. Advertisement 'I think this is addictive,' said Joao Gomes, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. 'I think a source of revenue is very hard to turn away from when the debt and deficit are what they are.' The Port of Baltimore on June 30, 2025. ALYSSA SCHUKAR/NYT Trump has long fantasized about replacing taxes on income with tariffs. He often refers fondly to American fiscal policy in the late 19th century, when there was no income tax and the government relied on tariffs, citing that as a model for the future. And while income and payroll taxes remain by far the most important sources of government revenue, the combination of Trump's tariffs and the latest Republican tax cut does, on the margin, move the United States away from taxing earnings and toward taxing goods. Such a shift is expected to be regressive, meaning that rich Americans will fare better than poorer Americans under the change. That's because cutting taxes on income does, in general, provide the biggest benefit to richer Americans who earn the most income. The recent Republican cut to income taxes and the social safety net is perhaps the most regressive piece of major legislation in decades. Placing new taxes on imported products, however, is expected to raise the cost of everyday goods. Lower-income Americans spend more of their earnings on those more expensive goods, meaning the tariffs amount to a larger tax increase for them compared with richer Americans. Tariffs have begun to bleed into consumer prices, with many companies saying they will have to start raising prices as a result of added costs. And analysts expect the tariffs to weigh on the performance of the economy overall, which in turn could reduce the amount of traditional income tax revenue the government collects every year. Advertisement 'Is there a better way to raise that amount of revenue? The economic answer is: Yes, there is a better way, there are more efficient ways,' said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab and a former Biden administration official. 'But it's really a political question.' Workers welded steel components together at a Thomas Built Buses plant in High Point, N.C., on July 21, 2025. TRAVIS DOVE/NYT Tedeschi said that future leaders in Washington, whether Republican or Democrat, may be hesitant to roll back the tariffs if that would mean a further addition to the federal debt load, which is already raising alarms on Wall Street. And replacing the tariff revenue with another type of tax increase would require Congress to act, while the tariffs would be a legacy decision made by a previous president. 'Congress may not be excited about taking such a politically risky vote when they didn't have to vote on tariffs in the first place,' Tedeschi said. Some in Washington are already starting to think about how they could spend the tariff revenue. Trump recently floated the possibility of sending Americans a cash rebate for the tariffs, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., recently introduced legislation to send $600 to many Americans. 'We have so much money coming in, we're thinking about a little rebate, but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt,' Trump said last month of the tariffs. Democrats, once they return to power, may face a similar temptation to use the tariff revenue to fund a new social program, especially if raising taxes in Congress proves as challenging as it has in the past. As it is, Democrats have been divided over tariffs. Maintaining the status quo may be an easier political option than changing trade policy. Advertisement 'That's a hefty chunk of change,' Tyson Brody, a Democratic strategist, said of the tariffs. 'The way that Democrats are starting to think about it is not that 'these will be impossible to withdraw.' It's: 'Oh, look, there's now going to be a large pot of money to use and reprogram.'' Of course, the tariffs could prove unpopular, and future elected officials may want to take steps that could lower consumer prices. At the same time, the amount of revenue the tariffs generate could decline over time if companies do, in fact, end up bringing back more of their operations to the United States, reducing the number of goods that face the import tax. 'This is clearly not an efficient way to gather revenue,' said Alex Jacquez, a former Biden official and the chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal group. 'And I don't think it would be a long-term progressive priority as a way to simply collect revenue.' This article originally appeared in


Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Trade representative backs Trump's punitive approach to global tariffs
A Brazilian official told POLITICO last week that the country's legal system is entirely separate from its executive branch, and that its government could only stop the trial with the help of a sweeping amnesty law. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who prosecutors allege was to be poisoned in a coup plot agreed to by Bolsonaro, has flatly refused U.S. demands. But Trump is standing by Bolsonaro and drawing connections to his own entanglements with the U.S. legal system. 'This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about!' he charged on Truth Social in July. 'It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the 'HOTTEST' in the World! The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President.' Greer on Sunday said Trump's tariffs on Brazil had full legal backing under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This is true, he said, even though the U.S. has long enjoyed a trade surplus with the South American country. 'The president of the United States, historically, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, they have used IEEPA to impose sanctions for all kinds of geopolitical reasons in all kinds of countries,' he told Brennan. 'Sometimes it's countrywide, sometimes it's specific to certain, you know, individuals and often foreign leaders and foreign officials. So, this is not way outside the market.'

Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
These states could redraw their House maps before the 2026 elections
WASHINGTON - Texas Republicans are moving forward with an effort to redraw the state's congressional map to be more favorable for the GOP, prompting states around the country to consider whether they too should revisit their district lines ahead of next year's midterm elections. The White House is encouraging at least one other state - Missouri - to join Texas in redistricting, while Democrats in California, New York and elsewhere are weighing how to respond if Texas lawmakers do finalize a new map. If Texas Republicans meet their own goal, the House GOP could be poised to win up to five additional seats just from the Lone Star State next year, which could be an important buffer as the party seeks to hold on to its slim majority. Some Democratic leaders have argued that they need to respond in kind. "We will fight them politically. We will fight them governmentally. We will fight them in court. We will fight them in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Texas and beyond," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday at a news conference in the Lone Star State, flanked by Texas Democrats. Here's a rundown of the states that are considering redrawing their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 elections or that have been mentioned as potential spots for mid-decade redistricting: Texas Texas Republicans unveiled a draft map Wednesday that would shift several districts currently held by Democrats near the state's major cities and in South Texas. Such changes would bring more Republican-leaning voters into Democratic Rep. Julie Elizabeth Johnson's district northeast of Dallas and condense Democratic-leaning voters into just two districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez's South Texas districts, which both went for Donald Trump last fall, would become more Republican-leaning. And the map would also dismantle a Democratic-held seat in Houston and another that stretches from Austin to San Antonio. All told, the five redrawn seats would each have backed Trump by at least 10 points in last year's election, according to an analysis by Sabato's Crystal Ball. Under Texas' current map, Republicans hold 25 House seats to 12 for Democrats, with one vacancy following Democrat Sylvester Turner's death in March. Besides legal challenges, Democrats in the Texas Legislature are also weighing a plan to deny their Republican counterparts a quorum to pass a redrawn map by fleeing the state, The Texas Tribune reported. State lawmakers are in special session until Aug. 19, which is essentially their deadline to approve a new map. Missouri The White House has reportedly urged Republicans in Missouri to alter the state's House map, under which the party currently holds six of eight seats. GOP Rep. Eric Burlison told St. Louis Public Radio that Trump wants state lawmakers to target Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II's seat in the Kansas City area. That would be doable, according to Republican Rep. Jason Smith. "There's some crazy jagged edges - in St. Charles County, in Clay and Jackson County near Kansas City," Smith told Punchbowl News. "And so I think that you could have a more compact map." Gov. Mike Kehoe, who would need to call a special session to redraw the map, has said officials in the state were weighing their options. "I think it's safe to say that in Missouri, along with other states, we're always trying to make sure that we have as much Republican representation because we believe that's who we are," he said, according to Ozarks Public Radio. Florida Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also among the Republican governors talking up the prospects of mid-decade redistricting, in what could be an effort to squeeze in at least one more GOP-favored district in the Sunshine State. He said Wednesday that redistricting "was something that we're looking at very seriously," though he admitted he hadn't yet talked to any members of the GOP-controlled state Legislature about it. His comments come after the Florida Supreme Court recently upheld the state's current map, which DeSantis had pushed through and that dismantled a Black-majority seat in northern Florida. Republicans currently hold 20 of the state's 28 House seats. Indiana In GOP-controlled Indiana, Republicans currently hold seven of the state's nine House seats, and Punchbowl News reported that Trump's allies are hoping for a mid-decade redraw to pick up at least one of the Democratic seats. Rep. Frank Mrvan's right-trending 1st District in the state's northwest corner could be a target. But to attempt such a redraw, Republican Gov. Mike Braun, a former senator, would need to call the legislature in for a special session, which he hasn't yet said he's planning to do. The state may also need to enact a law to allow mid-decade redistricting, according to The Downballot. Politico Playbook reported this week that there appeared to be "little-to-no appetite for remapping" among Indiana Republicans. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has spoken openly about the prospects of redrawing his state's congressional lines in an effort to blunt the effects of the new Texas maps on the 2026 landscape. A retaliatory move wouldn't be as simple as what's playing out in Texas. Newsom and California Democrats would likely need to put the issue on the ballot to bypass the state's independent redistricting commission, which drew the current House map. Newsom said Thursday he is eyeing a November special election for voters to weigh in on any redrawn map that could help elect more Democrats in response to the efforts in Texas. "We will go to the people of this state in a transparent way and ask them to consider the new circumstances, to consider these new realities," Newsom said, according to CalMatters. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, told KCRA 3 that such a plan would be defendable in court. The regular session of the California Legislature ends Sept. 12, meaning state Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, have ample time to come up with a plan without a special session. California Democrats already hold a strong advantage in the state's House delegation under the commission-drawn map, holding 43 seats to Republicans' nine. Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed a willingness to run in more competitive seats if it would mean increasing the party's pickup opportunities under a new map. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has been open to a redraw of the state's congressional map to favor her party. "I won't sit by while Donald Trump and Texas Republicans try to steal our nation's future," she posted Wednesday on X in response to the release of the draft Texas map. New York Democrats currently hold 19 House seats to seven for the Republicans under a map that was approved by the Democratic-controlled state Legislature after making modest changes to lines drawn by New York's independent redistricting commission. Legislative Democrats unveiled a measure this week that would amend the state constitution to allow New York to redraw its district lines mid-decade if another state did so first. But the legislation has a long path to becoming law, NBC News reported. Lawmakers would need to approve the measure in two consecutive sessions before it went to voters as a ballot measure. That would likely mean that any new map wouldn't take effect until the 2028 elections. Maryland The eight-member House delegation in deep-blue Maryland is, unsurprisingly, dominated by Democrats, with Rep. Andy Harris holding the lone Republican seat on the state's Eastern Shore. Maryland House Majority Leader David Moon has said he is drafting legislation to allow the state to respond to Texas by attempting its own redrawing, The Baltimore Banner reported. But during the last round of redistricting after the 2020 census, a state judge rejected a Democratic effort to make Harris' district more competitive as a "product of extreme partisan gerrymandering" that violated the state constitution. The Maryland legislature isn't expected to meet again until next year, according to the Banner. Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker met with Texas Democrats last week and suggested a redraw could be in the cards for his state in reaction to what transpires in Austin. "So as far as I'm concerned, everything's on the table in reaction to that. But I'd like them to understand that if they're going to take this drastic action, then we also might take drastic action to respond," Pritzker said, according to WLS. But that could be complicated because the current Illinois map already advantages Democrats, who hold 14 of the state's 17 seats - though Thursday's announcement that longtime Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis will not seek reelection to his deep-blue Chicago-area seat could give the party an opportunity for some reconfiguration. Ohio Ohio was already set to see its congressional map redrawn this fall before the redistricting conversation went national. The Buckeye State is required under state law to redraw its lines before next year's elections, as its current map was crafted by the GOP-controlled Redistricting Commission without bipartisan support. Ohio Republicans hold major sway over the redistricting process. The GOP-led state legislature and the redistricting commission could each get a shot at redrawing the map with bipartisan support. But if bipartisanship proves elusive, Republicans would be able to pass a map on party lines, subject to certain restrictions. Ohio's House delegation currently includes 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Districts thought to be potential targets for Republicans include the ones represented by Democrats Marcy Kaptur, Emilia Sykes and Greg Landsman. Louisiana The Supreme Court punted on a decision on Louisiana's congressional map earlier this year and is set to rehear a challenge to the lines when it returns for its next term in the fall. That means it is possible there could be a third set of maps in three elections in the Bayou State by 2026. The map that the Supreme Court allowed to be used in 2024 created a second Black opportunity district. Democrat Cleo Fields won the seat and returned to the House nearly 30 years after his previous congressional stint. Wisconsin Opponents of Wisconsin's congressional map have launched more legal challenges since the state Supreme Court's liberal majority declined in June to hear a pair of lawsuits that called for a redrawing of district lines. Wisconsin Republicans hold a 6-2 advantage in House seats despite the state being a perennial battleground that sees some of the closest elections in the country. The current map, approved by the state high court's then-conservative majority in 2022, was submitted by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers under "least change" guidelines set by the court. The guidelines required mapmakers to hew as closely as possible to the previous map, which had been drawn by Republicans. Utah In Utah, there's ongoing litigation over whether the current district lines, put in place after the 2020 census, should have been drawn by an independent commission pursuant to a 2018 ballot initiative. Republicans control all four of the state's House seats after GOP state lawmakers split the Democratic-leaning Salt Lake City area between the four districts. Other states Several other states have earned mentions as places that could redraw their congressional lines, but prospects here appear remote. Kentucky and Kansas have lone Democratic representatives who could be targeted, and Republicans hold legislative supermajorities in both states. But the states' respective Democratic governors would be unlikely to call for a special session this year to redraw the maps. In New Jersey, where Democrats hold a governing trifecta, Gov. Phil Murphy is not ruling out a response to the action in Texas, but there seem to be no immediate plans to pursue efforts to target any of the Garden State's three Republican House members. The state may also be nearly out of time for voters to amend its Constitution and allow for mid-decade redistricting before the 2026 elections. Democrats in Washington state, where they also hold full control, have said mid-decade redistricting is almost certainly unlikely to happen, the Washington State Standard reported. Democrats already dominate the state's House delegation - holding eight of 10 seats, including one that Trump carried - under a map drawn up by a bipartisan redistricting commission. In Democratic-leaning Colorado, an independent redistricting commission, created by voter-approved 2018 constitutional amendments, drew the state's current map. The House delegation is currently evenly split between the parties, with four seats each. Former Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who is seeking a comeback in the competitive 8th District, has called on Gov. Jared Polis to take steps to scrap the redistricting commission in response to Texas. But such a move would face multiple hurdles, as Colorado Pols reported. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.