On Tuesday, May 20, Governor Ferguson signed Washington’s final budget for the 2025-27 biennium. With the $16 billion budget deficit at the forefront of all conversations, we fought this session to avoid recession-era cuts and forge a new path based on robust social supports and fair contributions from the ultra-wealthy.
The end of session revealed missed opportunities for common-sense choices such as a wealth tax that would have further minimized cuts to services. Governor Ferguson committed to vetoing any wealth tax, forcing legislators to find other approaches to balance the budget. While new sources of revenue raised $9.3 billion, that left $5.9 billion which the legislature made up for by reducing services and programs that Washingtonians rely on to meet their basic needs.
This session represented a strong defense from advocates who fought to protect the services that matter most to Washingtonians living on low incomes. Wins such as no cuts to the TANF Grant and a historic rent stabilization bill contrasted against major missed opportunities like delaying the Child Support Passthrough and halving Medicaid Dental reimbursement rates. This mixed bag demonstrates a ideological debate within the legislature about the path out of a significant budget deficit: who should bear the cost of balancing the budget? The legislature ended on a middle ground approach which raised significant revenue and continued to place disproportionate burden on families living on low incomes.
Below, check out Poverty Action’s breakdown of where the budget landed on some of our anti-poverty priorities:
