The Washington state Senate on Thursday approved a proposal to cap annual rent increases, putting the contentious policy just a few steps closer to becoming law.

The “rent stabilization” policy, House Bill 1217, passed 29-20 with one Democrat, Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, voting against it.

The bill would cap yearly rental increases at 10% plus inflation, for renters in apartments, and 5%, for mobile homeowners. It also sets some limits on move-in and late fees and security deposits for mobile homeowners.

This is the first time such a proposal has passed the chamber. The policy has faced significant pushback in recent years from moderate Democrats and Republicans who say it could discourage new development and raise rents. Thursday’s debate highlighted that division.

Several Democrats joined with Republicans to approve amendments to increase the cap and exempt more landlords from the law – changes that bill supporters say will lessen protections for many renters across the state.

Before Thursday, the proposal capped rent increases at 7% each year. An amendment to increase that to 10% plus inflation passed the chamber 25-24, splitting Democrats.

Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, offered the amendment. She said a low cap could have lasting effects on the state’s rental market, where rents are too expensive for working- class people to afford.

“A 7% cap is dangerous,” she said. “I hope I’m wrong.”

Backers of the original version of the bill argued against the amendment.

“I’m disappointed at this point of the changes that were made here that I think strip far too many people of the protections that we could have afforded them,” said bill sponsor Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-Seattle.

Another major change made to the bill Thursday would exempt single-family homes not owned by corporations from the new policy. Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, offered the amendment, saying he hoped it would keep small property owners in business.

“Let mom-and-pop landlords keep their homes and serve those families,” said Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, who owns three rental properties.

Alvarado said that the single-family home exemption will result in fewer families protected from large rent increases. She said about 30% of rentals in Washington are single-family homes.

Many of the provisions for mobile homeowners who rent the land where they live remained untouched Thursday.

For those homeowners, move-in and security deposit fees cannot equal more than one month’s rent, and late fees cannot exceed more than 2% of rent for the first late month, 3% during the second late month and 5% during the third.

The bill also leaves in a requirement that the state study the housing market, tenant stability and social vulnerability within 10 years of the bill becoming law. 

Under the policy, rent caps will expire July 1, 2040. Until then, any tenant or the attorney general’s office can sue a property owner they believe to be in violation of the law.

The bill now heads back to the state House of Representatives, which must approve the final changes. It’s unclear how they will feel about the updated version of the bill.

“They sent us a different bill,” Alvarado told reporters. “There will be a lot more conversations.”

If the two chambers can reach an agreement by the end of session on April 27, the bill will head to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk.

Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Tuesday he will not sign either proposed budget released last week by legislative Democrats, saying the plans rely too heavily on a “wealth tax” on the state’s highest earners. Ferguson called the tax “untested” and “difficult to implement.”

House and Senate Democrats each released proposals for how to fund government services for the next four years. To fill an estimated $15 billion shortfall, both proposals rely on a slate of new tax proposals, including a tax on individuals with more than $50 million in stocks, bonds and other financial assets.

Ferguson said Democrats are proposing “far too much” in new taxes and that a wealth tax is an unsustainable idea that may not hold up in court.

“If the Legislature wishes to complete our work on time, they need to immediately move the budget discussions in a significantly different direction on both of these issues,” he said.

Ferguson’s reservations about a wealth tax are not new. A week before he was inaugurated, Ferguson told reporters that he was skeptical of the idea. In his inaugural address, he said he would not sign a budget that requires “unrealistic revenue growth to balance.”

On Tuesday, he said he understands that lawmakers cannot balance the budget on cuts alone but would not commit to any new taxes. Democrats have also proposed new taxes on wealthy employers, and increased business and property taxes.

Ferguson said he is continuing to have conversations with lawmakers about how to move forward.

Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said she is confident that lawmakers and the governor will work together to complete a budget that puts the state on “strong financial footing for the future.”

“I appreciate the governor providing more clarity today on his vision for the operating budget and his commitment to a balanced approach – one that includes both new revenue and responsible, targeted reductions,” Robinson said in a statement. “This aligns with the thoughtful, forward-looking mindset that’s guided our process from the start.”

Ferguson said crafting a sustainable budget will be even more important with looming federal funding cuts that could cause uncertainty in the state’s financial future. He emphasized the importance of keeping the rainy-day fund – the state’s savings account – intact.

“Our budget situation is grim, but it may soon become dire,” he said.

House Democrats have proposed leaving the state’s $1.6 billion in reserves untouched, while Senate Democrats propose dipping into the fund and paying it back by 2027.

Ferguson said lawmakers must continue to focus on trimming spending. He released a plan last month for about $4 billion in proposed cuts on top of the $3 billion former Gov. Jay Inslee proposed in December. Most of those cuts were included in Democrats’ proposals.

If lawmakers want to finish the legislative session on time, they will need to reach a compromise with Ferguson by April 27. If they don’t finalize a budget by June 30, state funding will run out.

In their proposals to fund statewide construction and upgrades over the next two years, Washington lawmakers are prioritizing projects focused on housing, education and the environment. The capital budget proposals released Monday by the House and Senate each allocate about $7 billion in funding.

The capital budget is one of three state funding plans the Legislature must pass this year, along with the operating and transportation budgets. Democrats released those proposals last week. Lawmakers must pass a compromised version of each budget by April 27 if they want to end their session on time.

Both chambers’ proposals for capital projects are similar and have bipartisan support.

“I wanted this budget to meet the basic needs of Washingtonians in all parts of our great state and to be responsive to our state’s most essential infrastructure needs,” said lead Senate capital budget writer Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma. “I think this budget accomplishes that mission.”

The Senate’s plan sets aside $600 million over the next two years for the Housing Trust Fund, the state’s largest pot for affordable housing grants. Similarly, the House would allocate $598 million for this fund, with specific earmarks for mobile home restoration, homeownership projects, housing for people with developmental disabilities, farmworker housing, tribal housing and local projects across the state.

In total, both proposals set aside more than $700 million over the next two years for housing and homelessness programs. That includes money for youth shelters, improvements to transitional housing for veterans and housing around transit.

"At a time when other state budgets are facing pressure and shortfalls, the capital budget stands out as a bright spot,” said Rep. Mike Steele, R-Chelan, top Republican on the House Capital Budget Committee. 

Both budgets would make significant investments in the state’s natural resources through fish hatcheries, state park renovations and clean water supply projects. The proposals each set aside $2.2 billion in this area.

The Senate plan would change how the state pays to remove barriers like culverts that impede fish migration, specifically salmon and steelhead. Culverts carry streams under state highways but can block fish passages.

State officials are currently in mediation with western Washington tribes after delays and rising costs pushed back the state’s plan to remove these barriers across the state. The Department of Transportation says it likely needs another $5 billion to complete work to meet the state’s legal obligation to remove fish barriers.

Currently, the state pays for these projects through the transportation budget, but that funding faces a deficit over the next two years. To ensure the state can pay, capital budget writers in the Senate propose a $5 billion bond to be repaid over time from a share of taxes on public utilities.

The House, on the other hand, proposes continuing to fund this work in the transportation budget.

Both proposals invest heavily in schools, with the Senate and the House each setting aside more than $1 billion to support school construction, modernizing small district and tribal schools, classroom air-quality projects and seismic safety grants.

The capital budget would also fund expansions for behavioral health facilities, grants for early learning centers, stadium improvements ahead of the World Cup and restoration of historic buildings and museums.

The Sound Transit Board of Directors voted unanimously Thursday to hire King County Executive Dow Constantine as the agency’s new CEO.  

Constantine has served as county executive since 2009, but announced last November that he would not seek a fifth term. A member of Sound Transit’s board for 15 years, he played an important role in supporting the 2016 voter-approved authorization of Link light rail’s third phase of expansion.  

The county executive was chosen from a pool of 60 applicants. He will be paid a base salary of $450,000 along with performance bonuses and other benefits.  

“Much of my service as an elected official has been devoted to building the world-class transit system our region has long needed and creating vibrant, transit-connected communities throughout Central Puget Sound,” said Constantine in a statement released after the vote. “I can think of nothing I would rather do than lead this agency into the future, and I thank the Board for their vote of confidence.” 

Constantine takes the helm of an agency beset by delays, cost overruns and maintenance struggles as it works to complete its second phase of light-rail expansion and finish planning the third expansion, which will complete the “spine” of rail from Everett to Tacoma and build the West Seattle-to-Ballard line.  

Frequent electrical issues and breakdowns in the past year have resulted in lengthy delays for light-rail riders. Light-rail expansion is behind schedule and estimated costs of completion have ballooned by billions of dollars.  

“The new CEO really is going to be facing a number of challenges,” said Dave Somers, board chair and Snohomish County Executive during Thursday’s meeting. “The person best able to do that is someone who’s well-grounded, well-versed in the agency, the region, the partners, the communities and really the issues. And Dow really, at the end of the day, rose to the top.” 

Transit advocates were divided by Constantine’s nomination. Kirk Hovenkotter, executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition, and Alex Hudson, executive director of Commute Seattle both testified in support of Constantine at Thursday’s board meeting.  

“Executive Constantine has been one of the Puget Sound region’s greatest champions for transit. He led the passage at the ballot of the country’s second-largest transit expansion. We are excited to work with Executive Constantine in this role to address the challenges ahead and deliver great transit to this region,” said Hovenkotter in a statement after Constantine’s nomination was announced Monday.  

Others, including representatives from Seattle Subway and the advocacy group Seattle Transit Riders Union, criticized the pick. They alleged that the hiring process was not sufficiently transparent and that Constantine had an unfair advantage since he personally nominated half of the 18-member board of directors and is himself a board member. 

In their final comments before the vote, nearly every board member defended the hiring process along with celebrating Constantine’s qualifications for the role.  

Constantine will begin as CEO in April. His term as county executive runs through the end of this year.  

Once he resigns from that post, Constantine will pick one of his staff to serve as interim executive until the County Council appoints someone to fill the seat until voters elect a new county executive in November. 

PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger and NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher are scheduled to testify to at a hearing of the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on Wednesday at 7 a.m. PT. 

The testimony comes amid criticism from Republicans in Congress about news coverage from the outlets, and calls for federal funding cuts for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

You can watch this live stream of the testimony from the PBS NewsHour YouTube page: 

PBS NewsHour will also have further coverage of the hearing on its website. 

Washington’s economic future is uncertain, a financial forecast released Tuesday shows. The projection from the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council reflects lower-than-expected state tax collections over the next four years, possible federal funding cuts and the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs.

Tax collections will be up about $54 million through June of this year, according to the forecast. But in the budget cycle ending in 2027, the state can expect about $479 million less revenue than anticipated in a forecast from last November. Revenue is expected to fall another $420 million between June 2027 and 2029.

State economists blame the declining revenue on reduced consumer spending and lower income. The federal government’s actions add another layer of uncertainty, said Dave Reich, executive director of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. “We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen,” he told the Council Tuesday. “We’re in a changed world.”

The dip in state revenue is not surprising to state budget writers, but it won’t make their job this legislative session any easier.

Lawmakers already face as much as a $15 billion shortfall over the next four years, due to lower-than-anticipated revenue and costly new programs planned to go into effect over the next few years. Because Washington requires lawmakers to balance budgets four years out, they’ll need to find a way to close that gap.

Senate Ways and Means Chair June Robinson (D-Everett) said Tuesday’s forecast was expected. “While it doesn’t change the broader fiscal challenges we face, it reinforces the need for a balanced and sustainable approach as we finalize the 2025-27 operating budget,” she said in a statement.

In total, the revenue forecast gives lawmakers nearly $71 billion to work with when writing their budget for the next two years. Between 2027 and 2029, the state can expect about $76.4 billion in revenue.

Democratic lawmakers will release their budget proposals early next week and will have until April 27 to finalize them.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have already released their budget proposal, which includes no new taxes and focuses on trimming spending.

“Legislative budget writers should take heed and show restraint going forward, especially with the uncertainty about actions at the federal level that could affect our situation,” Republican budget leader Sen. Chris Gildon (R-Puyallup) said in a statement.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown sued the Adams County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, alleging it broke state law by aiding the federal government in immigration enforcement. 

Brown argues the county is violating a 2019 state law called the “Keep Washington Working Act,” which prohibits local law enforcement from aiding the federal government in arresting or deporting undocumented immigrants. That includes asking someone about their immigration status unless it is relevant to the investigation and arresting someone solely because of their immigration status. 

According to the lawsuit, Adams County has held people in custody based only on their immigration status, helping federal immigration agents question people in custody and routinely sharing residents’ confidential personal information.  

“Washington has the right and the responsibility to decide for itself how to use its own resources to keep residents safe and the economy strong,” Brown wrote in the lawsuit.  

Brown argues that Washington’s law protects undocumented people who may be reluctant to call police to report crimes for fear that they could be deported. 

His lawsuit is the second in recent months against the county over its failure to follow this state law.  

Brown alleges that Adams County has consistently violated the law since 2022 but has been working with the state in recent years on a good-faith settlement. 

But after President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, those talks stopped, according to Brown. 

The lawsuit, filed in Spokane County Superior Court, is the latest legal battle between Brown and the actions of the Trump administration. 

Adams County recently hired lawyers from America First Legal, an organization founded by Trump aide Stephen Miller.  

In a press release last month, the organization claimed Washington’s 2019 law was “harmful, dangerous and illegal.”  

“Our nation’s immigration laws reflect the democratic will of the people, and it is outrageous that the State of Washington has been working to subvert it while at the same time facilitating the invasion of our country,” James Rogers, America First Legal senior counsel, said in a statement.

This article originally appeared in the Washington State Standard.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray will skip President Donald Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, saying in a statement he is “spitting in the face of the law.”

Murray, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, is the highest-ranking member of Congress to announce she’ll skip the president’s address, his first before Congress in his second term.

Murray said she instead plans to meet with constituents harmed by the Trump administration’s actions, including the firings of thousands of federal workers and the halting of federal funding. 

She said in a statement that “the state of the union might be great for corrupt billionaires like Elon Musk as Trump guts our foremost consumer protection agency, and even for dictators like Putin, who are cheering on the dismantling of USAID and the betrayal of our allies.

“But the rest of the country is in a state of emergency as Elon fires the experts responding to bird flu or managing our nuclear weapons stockpile, all while Republicans sprint to tear apart Medicaid and kick families off their health care to pass massive tax giveaways for billionaires,” Murray continued.

In his first six weeks in office, Trump has moved to drastically widen the power of the executive branch, drawing alarm bells from Democrats who argue his actions are unconstitutional as well as numerous court injunctions. The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and Trump’s alignment with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s war with Ukraine are among the causes for concern Murray alluded to. 

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy and Virginia Rep. Don Beyer are two other Democrats passing on the speech.

Other lawmakers hope to make a statement with their invited guests. Some are bringing fired federal workers or those affected by funding cuts Trump has proposed.

Dr. Paul Lange, a urologist who founded the Institute for Prostate Cancer Research at the University of Washington, will accompany Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell. 

His invitation is meant to speak to the importance of maintaining federal dollars for the National Institutes of Health. Trump wants to cut what are called “indirect costs” that help institutions pay for facilities and other behind-the-scenes work that supports research.

Cantwell’s office attributed declining prostate cancer death rates to the early detection tests he helped develop with the aid of federal funding.

Lange said a cure for prostate cancer is now “within reach.”

“But cuts to federal support for medical research would delay lifesaving advancements for all medical diseases including all forms of cancer,” Lange said in a statement.

 “Specifically, if President Trump’s administration cuts research funding for prostate cancer, the world’s dream of a cure will be impeded.  There are men currently in their 20s and 30s — men who could be saved by this cure — who will die instead.”

Rep. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, is bringing Ashley Jones, president of the Washington Association of Birth Centers. Randall, who represents the 6th Congressional District, said in a statement they would “make it clear to the President: Keep your hands off our health care.”

“Ashley and her team provide a vital resource to the people of Washington’s 6th, often serving as a bridge between our most rural neighbors and the vital pre- and post-natal health care they need,” Randall continued. “I will continue to fight back against this administration’s chaotic and cruel attacks on Washingtonians’ access to health care.”

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, will be joined by a Yakima County commissioner, Amanda McKinney. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, is bringing a local teacher. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, will attend without a guest. 

Other members of Washington’s delegation were expected to make announcements about their guests by Tuesday morning.

Trump’s speech, the first before Congress in his second term, is set for 6 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday.

The Washington State Standard originally published this story on March 3, 2025.

With just a few days remaining before the Feb. 11 special election, some of Seattle’s most prominent businesses are spending big to oppose a new tax to fund social housing.  

The People for Responsible Social Housing PAC has raised more than $434,000 and spent more than $515,000 opposing Proposition 1A and supporting Proposition 1B, according to data from the Washington Public Disclosure Commission. The bulk of the spending has been on campaign mailers along with other digital advertising.  

Microsoft and Amazon each contributed $100,000. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce gave $35,000 in cash and $5,400 through in-kind services. T-Mobile, timber company Weyerhaeuser, Puget Sound Energy, Alaska Airlines and the Seattle Kraken ownership group contributed $5,000-$20,000 as well.  

Voters must go through a two-step process to decide if and how to fund social housing, a form of mixed-income, publicly owned affordable housing. They must first vote Yes or No on whether to fund social housing at all. They then choose between Prop 1A or Prop 1B.  

If passed, Prop 1A would levy a 5% “excess compensation” tax on employer payroll expenses for each Seattle-based employee paid over $1 million in annual compensation. Employers would pay a 5% tax on any dollar over $1 million in total employee compensation.  

The tax would generate an estimated $50 million a year that would go to the newly created Seattle Social Housing Developer to pay for construction of housing meant for lower-income to upper-middle-income residents. Higher-income residents would pay higher rents, which would help subsidize the lower rents paid by lower-income residents.  

Seattle voters approved the creation of the Seattle Social Housing Developer in the February 2023 election, which had been put on the ballot through a citizens’ initiative led by advocate group House Our Neighbors. The same group collected signatures to put the excess compensation tax to a vote this Feb. 11.  

The Let’s Build Social Housing PAC has raised more than $239,000 this year to support Prop 1A, with $125,000 from the Inatai Foundation and $60,000 from Participatory Budgeting Oregon. Labor unions IBEW Local 46 and UFCW 3000 contributed, along with advocacy orgs and nonprofits such as 350 Seattle and Washington Community Action Network. Almost half of the 2025 contributions came from individual donors. The PAC raised more than $353,000 in 2024 during the campaign to get 1A on the ballot, 87% of which came from individual contributors.  

In September, the Seattle City Council voted to place a competing measure on the ballot. 

Instead of creating a new tax, Prop 1B draws from the existing Jumpstart payroll tax. It also caps the income limits for social-housing residents at a lower level than outlined in the Seattle Social Housing Developer charter voters approved in 2023.   

Seattle’s Chamber of Commerce has led the campaign against creating a new business tax with Prop 1A. The Chamber has called into question the Social Housing Developer’s ability to handle $50 million a year in revenue, since the newly created organization currently has only one staff member and a volunteer board of directors. Up to 5% of revenue from either Prop 1A or Prop 1B could be used for the developer’s administrative costs, including staffing.  

New polling from the Northwest Progressive Institute, a left-leaning think tank, found that voters are nearly evenly split between Props 1A and 1B, with 33% preferring 1A, 31% preferring 1B and 17% not sure.  

Ballots must be returned before 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11. 

A federal judge in Seattle locked in an injunction Thursday that stops a Trump administration attempt to deny birthright citizenship to kids born in the United States to undocumented parents. 

Late last month, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour granted a temporary restraining order that lasted 14 days. Thursday’s injunction stops Trump’s executive order to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented parents until the case is resolved or a higher court overrules Coughenour.  

The judge slammed Trump’s executive order, saying it is obviously unconstitutional. “It’s become more apparent that the rule of law is an impediment to his goals,” Coughenour said.  

He said the only legal way to remove birthright citizenship is through changing the 14th Amendment. 

“This reminds the country that we don’t have a king. We have a president,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said after the hearing.  

State Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola told Coughenour at Thursday’s hearing that Trump is arguing that “some people who are born here are less than other.” The 14th Amendment’s purpose “is to protect our citizens from inflamed political passions,” added Matt Adams, an attorney for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the state’s ally in the litigation.  

Federal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign’s counter-argument is that birthright citizenship applies only to people subject to American legal jurisdiction, noting that tribes in the 19th century were not covered by the 14th Amendment, and had to have their citizenship nailed down in a law passed shortly afterwards. He argued that children of undocumented citizens fell into this category. 

“It’s a strange legal theory not supported by the Supreme Court,” Brown said. 

The 14th Amendment, which was created after the abolition of slavery following the Civil War, begins: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”  

The Migration Policy Institute, which advocates for immigration and integration policies, estimates that Washington had about 250,000 undocumented immigrants as of 2019. About 38% of those families have at least one U.S. citizen child under 18. The group did not have information about adult U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants. 

The Washington Post said it is unclear how many U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants are in the United States or are born each year. About 4.4 million U.S.-born children under 18 were estimated to be living with an undocumented parent in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew estimated that at least 1.3 million adults have parents who are undocumented, though it noted the method of data collection for that statistic was likely incomplete. 

Right now, there are two parallel challenges to Trump’s executive order. 

Washington is leading a coalition of Oregon, Arizona and Illinois in challenging the order in federal court in Seattle. The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is also part of this lawsuit, representing two expecting mothers — Honduran Cherly Norales and El Salvadoran Alicia Chavarria, both living in Seattle — and a proposed class including pregnant people in Washington who would be impacted by the president’s order. 

Eighteen other states are pursuing a similar lawsuit in federal court in Maryland. The U.S. District Court judge in Maryland, Judge Deborah Boardman, granted a similar injunction on Wednesday. The two lawsuits will proceed independently.