The Legislature needs problem solvers. The state budget is unsustainable and what lawmakers are spending isn’t yielding the results Washingtonians expect. The next legislative session must be an accountability agenda: trimming an out-of-control budget while scrutinizing programs to ensure they’re achieving their stated policy goals. Gov. Bob Ferguson has said as much.
Janice Zahn is exactly the kind of lawmaker voters should want to be part of what will be an arduous 2027 legislative session. Voters from the 41st Legislative District, including south Bellevue, Sammamish, Mercer Island and Newcastle, should send her back to Olympia.
As the Legislature’s only engineer, Zahn’s first term in the House of Representatives led reforms to contracting, bidding and bonding large public works projects, resulting in cost savings for taxpayers. She’s committed to frugal budget practices to help put Olympia back on track financially.
“We have to find ways for government to work smarter, and more efficiently and effectively,” the Democrat told the editorial board.
A member of the House Transportation Committee, Zahn is pursuing an infrastructure caucus to highlight the mounting needs of the state’s decaying network of bridges and highways.
While she voted for the state’s new income tax on high earners, Zahn expressed frustration at certain aspects. Among them Gov. Ferguson’s pledge to make school lunch free for all — that’s likely to the benefit of families that can afford it, at the cost of lower-income families.
“I think that may create additional inequities in our schools,” she said.
She is indeed clear-eyed about the budget difficulties of the upcoming session — still almost two years away from proceeds of the novel income tax, should it survive court and ballot challenges. The Legislature is likely walking into a multibillion-dollar budget hole.
“As painful as cuts are, that’s what we’ll have to do,” she said.
Zahn isn’t shy about speaking up, even when it might ruffle feathers in some corners of her own party. She critiqued Sound Transit, including the recent Ballard extension cuts and the agency’s push to have the Legislature approve 75-year bonding authority. Bonds should not be paid longer than the lifespan of the infrastructure, she said.
Zahn’s Republican opponent, Elle Nguyen, declined an online interview with the editorial board.
The editorial board endorsed Zahn two years ago, saying the former Bellevue City Council member “excels in such unsexy but crucial work.” That’s still true, and it’s still valuable. Voters have a clear choice in Zahn for the District 41, Position 1 race.
