Tag Archives: operating budget

NEWSLETTER: Democrats turn sheriffs into political pawns

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Community means teamwork, and in a county that experiences floods from time to time, we unfortunately know just how true that is.

At the Packwood Improvement Club meeting last week, it was a time to pause and recognize the many people and organizations who stepped forward when rising waters disrupted lives and threatened homes.

Volunteers opened the community center to shelter neighbors who could not return home. Members of Search and Rescue, the sheriff’s office, and local fire departments worked tirelessly to save lives and property. Local businesses and organizations also stepped in, including the Packwood Inn, and groups such as the Salvation Army, United Way, and Red Cross quickly mobilized support for families in need. Local, County, and State agencies played their parts, as well.

What stood out most that evening was not any single act of service, but the collective spirit of the community. When those who helped were invited to come forward, many individuals stepped up more than once, reflecting the many hats they wear in service to their neighbors.

It was a powerful reminder that during difficult times, our greatest strength is the willingness of ordinary people to help one another.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who played a role—both those recognized that evening and the many others who quietly contributed behind the scenes. Lewis County often faces catastrophic flood events. I am always humbled by the selfless actions of our community members who are always ready to do what is necessary to help their neighbors recover.

On a practical note, I am pleased to report that the state transportation budget provides $45 million for city and county flood response statewide and Lewis County will receive some of that funding. The federal government will reimburse the state for 80% of that funding.

If you have any questions or comments, email me or call my office at (360) 786-7638.

Sincerely,

John Braun

Democrats turn sheriffs into political pawns

One of the worst bills to pass this session puts county sheriffs in the position of being political pawns for the governor.

You can demand that Gov. Ferguson veto SB 5974.

Senate Bill 5974 gives a governor-appointed board the power to decertify and remove the sheriffs we elect — without a vote of the people.

The sheriff who is elected is the sheriff who should serve.

A process already exists to remove a sheriff in between elections. This bill is not only unnecessary, it’s undemocratic and dangerous.

Sheriffs are sworn to uphold state law, but also federal law and the United States Constitution. The Supremacy Clause in the constitution means that federal law takes priority over state law.

If a sheriff followed federal law and cooperated with I.C.E. agents who are arresting and detaining undocumented immigrants, they would violate our Washington’s sanctuary state laws — and the governor’s agenda.

The sheriff could then be decertified and removed, even though they met their sworn duty.

Unfortunately, SB 5974 is not the only bill Democrats sponsored this year to undermine the will of the people, which is a disturbing trend that Republicans continue to fight.

Final numbers for the 2026 Supplemental Operating Budget

Spending in a biennium exceeds $80 billion for the first time
Equals an 11.4% spending increase for the 2025-27 biennium compared to 2023-25
Relies heavily on one-time money: Drains our unrestricted reserves by $2.3 billion, including $880 million from the rainy-day fund
Assumes spending in the budget will only grow at 2.2% each biennium even though Democrats have historically grown spending by 15% per biennium
Suspends reality by assuming that $766 million of appropriated money will NOT be spent
If the revenue assumptions fall through, we will end up with another deficit up to $10 billion
K-12 funding drops to 42.2% of the budget, lower than at the time of the 2012 McCleary ruling
Education takes a larger cut in policy funding than other areas
Tied to the unconstitutional income tax that could be overturned by the state Supreme Court
The largest cost increase is driven by the harm to Washington residents caused by mismanaged state agencies, such as the Department of Children, Youth and Families
Despite complaining about the regressivity of Washington’s tax system, this budget provides NO direct help for taxpayers

The 2026 Legislative Session in a nutshell

Watch my last weekly update for this session.

REPUBLICAN IMPACT

Killed Terrible Legislation:

SB 5312: Sex Offender Leniency

Would have shortened the length of time pedophiles caught during an online “net nanny” sting would have to remain on the sex offender registry.

SB 5926: Reducing Daycare Transparency

Would have hidden the personal information of daycare providers. Although it was sponsored before the Minnesota daycare fraud scandal broke, it would have made it easier for people to commit the same fraud here in Washington.

SB 5942: Reducing Oversight of the Department of Youth, Children and Families

Would have removed the oversight duties of the DCYF Oversight Board. This agency is responsible for the well-being and safety of the most vulnerable children and adults, and it is riddled with mismanagement that results in injuries and deaths. It’s also responsible for the state’s largest lawsuit payouts. An organization like that needs more oversight, not less.

SB 5945: Weakening the “Three Strikes” Law

Would have removed any “strikes” committed as a juvenile from the three strikes that automatically land an offender in prison for life. These are violent crimes such as murder, rape, assault with a deadly weapon. It’s irrelevant if they were committed by an offender before the age of 18. They are the first step in a violent pattern of behavior that should result in life behind bars.

SB 5973 / 5382: Initiative Killers

Would have imposed several restrictions on the process of collecting signatures for citizen initiatives, undermining direct Democracy.

Fought the Income Tax:

Republicans led a grassroots call to action for people to sign in against the income tax when it was heard in committee in both the House and the Senate. More than 100,000 people signed in CON, making the income tax the most unpopular bill in state history.

Senate and House Republicans offered amendments to ensure the tax would only ever apply to millionaires, which Democrats rejected. In a first for the Washington State Legislature, House Republicans also waged a 24-hour floor fight against the bill. Of the 75 amendments offered on the bill that night, 51 were Republican. Debate on the bill began the evening of March 9 and continued nonstop until the evening of March 10. As a result, what might otherwise have occurred only in the dark of night instead played out through the light of day.

Listened to the People:

The people of Washington sent two initiatives to the Legislature for consideration. IL26-001 would restore school notification requirements in the Parents’ Bill of Rights. IL26-638 would prohibit biological boys from competing in girls’ sports. Democrats refused to schedule either initiative for a public hearing, denying their constitutional duty to prioritize initiatives to the Legislature. Instead, Republicans in the Senate and House held two listening sessions where people were able to give comment. After March 12, both initiatives become ballot measures and the people will get a chance to vote on them in November.

DEMOCRAT DAMAGE

Passed an unconstitutional income tax after voters have rejected the idea 10 times. The 9.9% tax applies to everyone, with a $1 million deduction that can be eliminated as soon as next session. The tax can’t be overturned by referendum and none of it is earmarked for education or health care. In fact, despite the governor saying he supports it because it provides free lunch for all K-12 students, the bill doesn’t actually pay for that.

Passed an $80 billion operating budget that relies on $114 million in new taxes, on top of the $12.3 billion state and local tax increase last year. It only balances if $801 million in appropriated money isn’t spent spending only grows by 2.2% per biennium (even though it’s grown by more than 15% every biennium since Democrats took control of the Senate). If those things fall through, we’ll have another deficit of $10 billion.

Refused to give either initiative to the Legislature a public hearing, ignoring their constitutional duty to give them priority over all other legislative business.

Banned law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings, even though they refuse to ban protestors from doing the same. The bill aims to prevent I.C.E. agents operating in Washington from hiding their faces, even though we have no jurisdiction over federal officers.

Ignored the crisis conditions at our juvenile rehabilitation centers, allowing the dangerous overcrowding that results in riots, assaults and other violent activity to continue.

Ignored the moral and fiscal costs of child fatalities and near-fatalities from exposure to fentanyl and from poor case management at the Department of Children, Youth and Families. House Democrats again refused to hear my bill adding fentanyl to the child endangerment statute, despite strong bipartisan support in the Senate.

NEWSLETTER: An expensive end to the legislative session — A $77.9 billion operating budget and billions in taxes

Watch my sine die interview with TVW’s The Impact

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The regular 2025 legislative session wrapped up yesterday, on schedule – although a “special” session can’t be ruled out if the governor takes issue with the new budget.

At times, this session felt even longer than 105 days, especially when fighting against the majority’s determination to approve bad policies that will negatively affect people across the state.

Being in the minority, it’s easy to get frustrated by the limits on our ability to advance bills that are important to our constituents. Sometimes, our successes have to come in the form of stopping bad legislation.

This year, we saw the majority attempt to increase taxes by $21 billion and, despite a with a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, increase spending in an unsustainable way. That same uncontrolled spending is what created the shortfall in the first place – something the Seattle Times and other media outlets conceded.

Thanks to tens of thousands of Washingtonians rising up to oppose a bill that would have resulted in the largest property-tax hike in state history, the 1% annual cap for property-tax increases without voter approval remains in place.

This doesn’t prevent local governments or the state from trying to raise your property taxes to cover increased expenses, but they will have to ask the voters for permission at the ballot box. That’s how it should be. Government shouldn’t be able to increase your property taxes by 4%, 5% or even 10% without your approval.

Unfortunately, the majority did lift a different cap on local school levies, which will ultimately widen the education gap between kids who live in districts with higher property values and those in areas with lower property values. Rural districts and the Latino community will suffer most.

Once again, a child’s ZIP code will affect the quality of their education – and no one should tolerate such discrimination. This means the state will likely end up back in court, being sued again (as it has been twice before) for an unconstitutional overreliance on local levies to fund K-12 education.

I’ll continue the fight against education inequity and will keep you informed on how this develops.

It continues to be an honor to serve as your Senator and fight for our shared priorities.

The 2026 session doesn’t begin until January, but you may email me at john.braun@leg.wa.gov during the interim with questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

John Braun

20th district projects in the capital budget

The state’s capital budget pays for various construction and improvement projects around the state — everything from school construction to historic restoration. The following projects in our district received funding.

Green Hill School security improvements: $4.5 million

Cascade Community Health: $541,000

Improvement to the 4-H barn at the SW Washington Fairgrounds: $767,000

City of Centralia nitrates solution project: $5 million

Austin Point recreation plan: $521,000

Downtown La Center improvements: $400,000

Pioneer Street slope stabilization: $1.5 million

Chehalis River raw water main replacement: $1.75 million

Rose Way extension: $752,000

LG Borst Park ball field lights: $1.1 million

Toutle River fish collection facility matching funds: $6.5 million

Republican wins

The following is not a full list of all the positive things Republicans accomplished this session, but it gives you a good idea of what we were up against.

A Safer Washington

Secured $100 million to help law-enforcement agencies hire more officers
Stopped the lowering of penalties for sex offenders (SB 5312)
Prevented the state from having the power to decertify county sheriffs elected by the people (HB 1399)
Kept violent felons from petitioning for resentencing, and possibly release, after serving only 10 years in prison (SB 5269)
Preserved tighter restrictions against sex offenders caught in “net nanny” online stings (SB 5312)

An Affordable Washington

Protected taxpayers from an additional increase in taxes of $11 billion
Stopped the pay-per-mile tax (HB 1921/SB 5726)
Prevented a rate change that would allow the largest property-tax increase in state history (HB 2049, in its original form)
Made it easier to build housing through zoning reform (SB 5471)

A Better Future for Washington’s Kids

Protected new mothers receiving Medicaid by preserving 12 months of postpartum maternity care (HB 2041)
Prevented children from being exposed to a harmful, inappropriate far-left agenda in school (SB 5180)
Stopped childcare from becoming even more unaffordable by stopping even more unnecessary regulation (SB 5062)
Kept the majority from raising college tuition by $2,500

Special Mention

Stopped the majority from killing the citizens’ initiative process by putting unreasonable requirements on signature gatherers (SB 5382)

Democrat missteps

The majority made various mistakes this session — bad bills, tone-deaf comments, and a continuing drive to undermine parents’ rights. Here some of the most notable ones.

Causing and overstating the budget shortfall

The budget shortfall was never $12 billion, $15 billion, $18 billion or $21 billion. The true gap was never more than $8 billion, according to our nonpartisan budget staff, which had no incentive to inflate the numbers to support an argument for higher taxes. But the cause was clear – years of the majority’s reckless uncontrolled overspending.

Trying to raid the “rainy-day fund”

The “rainy-day” fund (formally called the Budget Stabilization Account) is not the Democrats’ slush fund. We need to protect it for a real “rainy day” caused by a recession or other disastrous event, not to fund new pet projects and programs.

Pursuing $21 billion in new and higher taxes

Our $ave Washington budget proved that we could pay for current government programs without raising a single tax. Even though the majority ended up imposed $9.6 billion in taxes, it’s less than half what they wanted.

Undermining parents’ rights

Democrats continued to interfere in the parent-child relationship, assume parents are the enemy and expose children to damaging ideas/content.

Failing to stand by women

The majority refused to allow the Senate to vote on a resolution honoring women in sports.

Worsening the education gap

By lifting the cap on school levies, the majority has set the state up for another court battle over overreliance on local levies, which creates an unconstitutional imbalance in the education opportunities available to kids in wealthy areas compared to kids in areas with lower property values.

Giving unemployment benefits to striking workers

Taxpayers are now on the hook to pay up to six weeks of unemployment benefits to workers who have chosen to go on strike. These benefits are supposed to go to workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own.

Senate Democrat budget proposal raises taxes and overspends – as predicted

OLYMPIA… Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, released the following statement in response to the $78.5 billion operating budget proposal announced today by Senate Democrats:

“The Senate Democrats’ budget does exactly what we expected — it raises taxes and overspends. Their plan adds $12.1 billion in new policy spending despite Washington already facing a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall. Instead of living within existing revenue, Democrats are pursuing unsustainable spending, leaving the state vulnerable. As the saying goes, ‘If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.’

“The proposal relies on more than $17 billion in new or higher taxes, including an increase in the amount state and local governments can raise property taxes annually without voter approval. Last year, Democrats wanted to triple the allowable growth rate from 1% to 3%, but didn’t succeed because of such strong opposition. But this proposal eliminates any cap. Property owners could face annual increases of 8% or more — year after year — with no recourse. This could force many homeowners and renters out of their homes.

“While the plan includes a 0.5% cut in the state sales tax, it’s too little to make an impact. The cut wouldn’t take effect until 2027, and Democrats could repeal it in 2026. Local governments could also increase their sales taxes, canceling out any savings for consumers. It’s no wonder House Democrats didn’t include this token cut in their own budget proposal.

“In addition to raising taxes, Senate Democrats are hiking fees that will dig even deeper into family budgets. They propose increasing college tuition by $3,000 per family and eliminating financial aid for around 17,000 students. They’re also doubling annual long-term care fees, adding $90 million in costs that will be passed on to private-pay residents, making their ‘Washington Cares’ program an even worse deal.

“One of the biggest disappointments is the failure to fund hiring grants for more law-enforcement officers, despite Democrats’ repeated claims about prioritizing public safety. Fortunately, Governor Ferguson has pledged to veto any budget that doesn’t include this funding. I hope he keeps that commitment if necessary.”