As lawmakers gear up to return to Olympia for the short legislative session that’s scheduled to run from Jan. 12 to March 12, Spokane business groups, government boards and elected officials have been preparing their wishlists.
However, just as the city of Spokane and Spokane County had to figure out how to address budget deficits this fall, Washington’s budget writers will need to figure out how to fill gaps midway through the state’s 2025-27 biennial budget after tax revenue came up hundreds of millions of dollars short this year.
Still, that’s not preventing local electeds from pitching some significant state investment. From help hiring more public defenders to comply with state case load standards (a $15 million-per-year request from Spokane County to slash the number of cases per defender by two-thirds) to ensuring the state doesn’t delay the North Spokane Corridor, which secured $1.5 billion earlier this year to finish the freeway by 2030, Spokane has a laundry list of legislative requests.
CLIMATE, SALES TAX AND FREEWAY FUNDING
Last week, Greater Spokane Inc., or GSI, presented its legislative priorities, which include empowering business growth by ensuring climate policies are aligned and feasible to adhere to, protecting infrastructure investments, strengthening Washington’s workforce pipeline, addressing the state’s expanded sales tax on services, and maintaining health care access…