By Shauna Sowersby / CascadePBS.org
The new year is coming, and with it a new cohort of Washington state lawmakers preparing for their first legislative session, which begins Jan. 13.
This year’s freshman class includes more than a dozen legislators joining state government in what has been predicted by some to be a “tough” session as the state braces for a $10 billion to $12 billion shortfall over the next four years. They will also be tackling numerous other issues Washingtonians are facing, like housing affordability, increased child care costs, floundering K-12 budgets, public safety and an increase in the general cost of living.
Cascade PBS spoke with multiple lawmakers about their priorities for the upcoming session. Here’s what’s on their minds:
Budget
Incoming Rep. Adam Bernbaum, a Democrat from the 24th Legislative District, which encompasses most of the Olympic Peninsula including Ocean Shores, Neah Bay and Port Angeles, said the budget is on the front of his mind as he heads toward Olympia.
“There is a huge hole in the budget this year, so my No. 1 priority is making sure that we pass a balanced budget and my district doesn’t get left behind,” Bernbaum said.
Bernbaum represents the most rural Democratic areas in the state, he noted, so his priorities also include repairing roads and marinas, funding rural hospitals and affordable housing on the peninsula.
The budget is at the top of the list for new Republican lawmakers as well. Republican Rep. Brian Burnett represents the 12th Legislative District, which encompasses parts of Snohomish and King counties and all of Chelan County and was redrawn in 2024 following a judge’s order. He told Cascade PBS he believes his first session will largely be about reworking the budget.
“I think it’s going to be really financially driven, and I think it’s going to be very challenging on that,” Burnett said. “How do you maintain it, right? And not create new taxes? Are there programs that need to be cut completely? Are there programs that need to be dialed back? Prioritization is always huge.”
Burnett said his No. 1 priority this session will be to work to ensure no new taxes are passed, which he said would have a big impact on the middle class and small-business owners. Burnett, a former sheriff, also noted he will prioritize public safety this upcoming year, as well as housing issues.
Gov. Jay Inslee has already called on state agencies to make cuts; his budget director has cited reasons for the expected budget shortfall such as rising costs, more demand for public services and unexpectedly low tax collections, according to the Washington State Standard.
Housing affordability
Still, many other struggles face lawmakers at the statehouse next year.
Housing affordability was by far one of the most-mentioned issues by incoming lawmakers Cascade PBS was able to interview for this article, including incoming Democratic Rep. Natasha Hill from the 3rd Legislative District, which encompasses most of Spokane.
“Housing is such a big issue right now and we have to make that a focus, of making sure we keep people housed, and we need to build more housing in order to meet the demand that we have,” she said. “So that’s definitely a priority.”
In a historic move this election, Hill, an attorney, became the first Black woman to represent her district. She added that some of her other priorities this session include affordable child care and maintaining labor benefits, such as retirement and access to medical treatment.
Incoming Democratic Rep. Adison Richards from the 26th Legislative District, encompassing parts of the southeastern Kitsap Peninsula, noted he believes so much more can be done from a policy perspective on issues like housing, health care and child care.
“And in my mind, rather than just throwing more money at the problem, we can actually work on the regulatory side,” Richards said. “And I think it’s going to be especially important to do policy from that standpoint, especially, again, with it being a tight budget year.”
Richards said some of his top priorities include pushing back on new tax proposals, working to make the government more responsive, and addressing the cost of living. Additionally, he said public safety was a major issue for him going into this session, and he is working on trying to get more police officers in his district.
Emergency preparedness
For some new lawmakers, some of the focus this session will be a bit more personal.
Democratic Rep.-elect Victoria Hunt will represent the 5th Legislative District, which stretches from North Bend to Enumclaw and includes Issaquah, where she lives. After the recent bomb cyclone caused considerable damage and power outages in parts of Western Washington, Hunt noted that even during her time as an Issaquah City Council member she wanted to focus on preparing communities for emergencies and natural disasters.
“And so I think at the state level, emergency preparedness and resilience of our communities is going to continue to also be something that I want to work on,” she said.
Her top priorities for this upcoming year include cost-of-living issues and housing affordability, but she said that K-12 education tops her list. Hunt, who also holds a Ph.D. in ecology, said she also wants to work on maintaining clean air and water for Washington communities, and noted she was supportive of the state’s Climate Commitment Act.
Public safety
Republicans were quicker to note their prioritization of public safety in the upcoming session.
Incoming Republican Rep. Hunter Abell from the 7th Legislative District, which encompasses all of Douglas, Ferry, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, and Stevens counties in the northeastern corner of the state, said his top priority is addressing public safety, particularly the fentanyl crisis. His time as an attorney and experience as a prosecutor and defense counsel led him to see the “havoc” that drugs can wreak on families and communities, and he hopes the Legislature can provide bipartisan support to increase public safety.
“It doesn’t care whether you’re Republican or Democrat, or care about your skin color, your socioeconomic background, it just really is devastating and it has a body count,” Abell said. “And I think there are a number of steps that the state can take to help address this issue.”
Abell hopes Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson will make good on campaign promises to increase funding to support law enforcement. He is also very focused on amending parts of the Growth Management Act that hinder efforts to build more housing in his district. Additionally, he noted he will be working on bills related to apex predator management, like wolves.
Abell’s Republican seatmate in the 7th is Rep.-elect Andrew Engell, who would also like to see bipartisan support on public safety issues, one of his top priorities. Although he’s still working on what that would look like, he believes the answer to moving the needle on public safety is finding common-sense policies both parties can agree on.
Another top issue for Engell is housing affordability, and he also noted the importance of finding common ground on wolf management in the district.
“Almost all of the people who do not want to let the wolves be managed in our area don’t live here,” Engell said. “And so, there’s this feeling, and I think it’s real that people in Seattle feel entitled to tell us how we live our lives over here — even though those rules have no effect whatsoever on people in Seattle. They still feel the right to tell us what we can and can’t do in our backyards. That gets people really frustrated.”
Not all new lawmakers who were contacted responded to a request for an interview by Cascade PBS.
After the most recent election, the Washington Legislature is now more diverse than it ever has been, according to a recent report by Cascade PBS.
The 105-day session will end in late April. Lawmakers can begin pre-filing bills on Dec. 2 ahead of the legislative session.
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