This is my second update of the 2026 legislative session, and just two weeks in, things are already heating up in Olympia. As the session got underway, I spent the first week moving between committee hearings, a joint session with my House and Senate colleagues, and meetings with constituents and...

OLYMPIA… The Republican senators whose service-saving, no-new-taxes budget was rejected by Democrats earlier this year are reacting cautiously to the supplemental 2025-27 operating budget proposed today by Gov. Bob Ferguson. Sen. Chris Gildon of Puyallup, Senate Republican budget leader, said it’s essential for Ferguson to now avoid flip-flopping when legislative...

Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco and assistant Senate Republican budget leader, issued the following statement after a vote by the Senate Democrats completed the approval of the new 2025-27 state operating budget, on the last day of the 2025 legislative session. “Before this session, Senate Democrats revealed plans to spotlight so-called...