On Tuesday, the press pelted Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson with pointed questions about how $9.4 billion in new taxes over four years would impact the cost of living in Washington. Acknowledging he had “emphasized affordability” in his campaign for governor, he quickly pivoted to a common refrain he’s made: that he did not know last year he would be “inheriting” a Gordian knot of a budget predicament.
Those excuses end now. With his signature on the state’s $78 billion two-year operating budget, he is complicit in imposing the largest tax increase in state history. In addition to increases to business and occupation taxes and the capital gains tax, he also wholeheartedly embraced a rushed new Christmas tree of a sales tax on services that will hurt consumers, businesses, nonprofits and the economy.
He took office with legislators alleging a $16 billion budget shortfall, which included the more than $3 billion in state employee contracts outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee had negotiated as recently as October.
This “was not the way I wanted to start as governor,” Ferguson said.
Though he had proposed limited furloughs for state workers to assist with the dire circumstances, state employees were the big winners, keeping their 5% increase over four years.
Meanwhile, the budget cut assistance for foster kids, college bound students, financial aid and walloped hospitals not only with higher taxes but also cuts.
Not vetoing Senate Bill 5814 and requiring legislators to do better in a special session is now part of his legacy. Watch the fallout unfold.
Going forward, Ferguson must take a firmer hand in setting priorities for the state’s budget and policies.
He must act to tackle urgent problems facing Washington. Foremost is the prospect of a disappointing revenue forecast, due in June, that could rip a new hole in the budget. And federal cuts to Medicaid or other programs may be in the offing. Ferguson wisely condemned a move by Senate Democrats to raid the rainy day fund this year. But the financial storm clouds will persist.
Finally, the governor has committed to leaning in to the K-12 education system — the state’s paramount duty. That includes finding solutions to bolster lagging student achievement and reforming the sclerotic way K-12 is funded.
The governor has yet to reveal fully his leadership playbook. It’s hard not to find some cognitive dissonance in a man who announced he was “not here to defend government,” but “to reform it,” at his January inaugural address, while signing into law Tuesday billions of dollars in new taxes.
So what will Ferguson make his signature issue? Mike McClanahan, host of TVW’s “The Impact,” posed that very question to the first-year governor in a brief interview on the last day of the legislative session in April. He named three things: hiring more cops; making the state more affordable, especially on housing; and reducing red tape to make state government more effective and responsive to residents.
“As a government, we need to work for the people in a more efficient way,” Ferguson said.
The Legislature indeed plugged in $100 million in grant funding in this year’s budget for cops at his insistence. But on his other “signature” issues, he emerged from the session with not much to show for them, unless you count priorities lawmakers already intended (such as a record $600 million for the state’s housing trust fund).
But whatever he chooses to focus on, the destiny of Washington is now largely in Ferguson’s hands. Its successes and failures rest on his shoulders.
Gov. Ferguson, the buck now stops with you.
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