Gov. Ferguson approves $78 billion spending plan with new taxes

The Department of Natural Resources announced a six-month pause on timber harvest from some mature forests on Friday.

Limiting timber sales from such forests, also known as legacy forests, was a central campaign promise of the new Commissioner of Public Lands, Dave Upthegrove. Legacy forests are mature forests that have naturally regrown after logging activity or other disturbances, such as fire or landslides.

During the pause, DNR plans to identify and map the characteristics of the forests the agency manages in order to comply with its policy to conserve 10% to 15% of structurally complex forests. 

A key function of the DNR is to sell timber from public lands to generate revenue for rural communities to cover things such as education.

Environmental groups have expressed concern about harvesting from legacy forests, stating that they are essential in storing carbon and maintaining the area's biodiversity. Removing trees from such forests would negatively impact species and plants in the area. Advocacy groups have urged the DNR to implement more regulations regarding timber harvests on public lands. 

“Forests define Washington — they are vital to our habitats, to our communities, and our economy,” Upthegrove said. “I want to ensure that our forests will continue to work sustainably for the people of Washington for generations to come. The timeout will help us make that a reality.”

Once the criteria to exclude forests critical to carbon storage and habitat biodiversity is established, DNR said it will resume some of the paused sales.

Monday morning, former President Donald Trump will officially return to the office as the transfer of power from the Joe Biden administration takes place. Trump becomes only the second American president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. 

You can watch streaming live coverage of the event starting at 7:30 a.m. PT on the PBS NewsHour website and on its YouTube page. We will also carry the coverage locally on Cascade PBS, with the coverage slated to end at 1:00 p.m. PT. The actual swearing-in ceremony is expected to start at 9:00 a.m. PT. PBS NewsHour has this more detailed schedule of the expected events of the day. 

The Cascade PBS newsroom will be following any local developments related to the inauguration, as well as the implications of policies from the new administration. Many Washington politicians, including Governor Bob Ferguson, have said they plan to hold the administration accountable if necessary. Ferguson told Cascade PBS his approach will be to “work with the Trump administration when we can, and we will stand up to the Trump administration when they’re harming Washingtonians and exceeding their lawful authority.” 

The Seattle City Council narrowed the field of 20 qualified candidates vying to fill the vacant District 2 seat to six finalists on Friday.  

Former Councilmember Tammy Morales, who represented southeast Seattle from the Chinatown-International District through Rainier Beach, retired from the Council on Jan. 6 with three years remaining in her term.  

Whoever is appointed to fill the D2 vacancy will serve in the role through November. Seattle voters will elect a Councilmember this fall to finish the remainder of Morales’ term through December 2027.  

Each Councilmember was allowed to nominate one finalist but not required to do so.  

Councilmember Maritza Rivera nominated Mark Solomon, a crime prevention coordinator at the Seattle Police Department. He ran and lost against Morales for the D2 Council position in 2019 and was a finalist for last year’s Council vacancy appointment.   

Councilmember Rob Saka nominated Chukundi Salisbury, a sustainability and environmental engagement manager with Seattle Parks and Recreation. Saka said he’s looking for a “caretaker” for the appointment who will focus on governing and not seek election in November, which Salisbury stated is his plan.  

Councilmember Dan Strauss nominated Adonis Ducksworth, a senior transportation policy manager for Mayor Bruce Harrell and former deputy chief of staff at the Seattle Department of Transportation.  

Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth nominated Thaddaeus Gregory, a land-use lawyer with Van Ness Feldman. The Councilmember cited Gregory’s land-use expertise since the appointee will lead the Land Use Committee.  

Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck nominated Edward Lin, who has worked as an attorney with the Seattle City Attorney’s Office since 2017.   

Council President Sara Nelson nominated Hong Chhuor, a nonprofit communications professional with Friends of the Children – Seattle, who previously worked for Plymouth Housing and El Centro de la Raza. Nelson picked Chhuor in part because of his experience on the board of Friends of Little Saigon, explaining that one of the most common concerns she hears from D2 residents are about public safety problems in the Chinatown-International District.  

In contrast to Saka, Nelson said she wants a candidate who will run to stay in office this fall, arguing that the decisions the appointee makes will have long-term ramifications and campaigning will require them to meet with and be accountable to district residents.  

Councilmember Bob Kettle declined to nominate a finalist. Last year the Council also filled a vacancy left by Teresa Mosqueda’s election to King County Council. Kettle said that based on that experience, it’ll be better to have a smaller pool of finalists so the Council can get to know them better.  

Councilmember Cathy Moore was absent from the meeting.  

Voters will get a chance to hear directly from the finalists and ask questions at a public forum on Jan. 21 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Columbia City Theater. Seattle Channel will live-stream the forum as well.  

The Council will select the appointee at a special meeting on Jan. 27 at 9:30 a.m.

House Democrats introduced a new bill to bolster and broaden the state’s authority to inspect private detention facilities amid recent legal battles over the monitoring of the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma.

Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the updates are designed to expand a 2023 bill to include private detention facilities such as the Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility in Spokane County. Previous legislation applied only to the Tacoma immigration center, and the company that runs it sued the state claiming discrimination as the only site of its kind in the state. 

“The biggest thing is allowing inspections so we can have eyes in there and know what’s happening,” Ortiz-Self said, mentioning that she heard reports of a chicken pox outbreak but cannot know how it’s being handled without Department of Health access. “There’s that lack of transparency that’s paramount in all of this.”

Separately, a judge ruled on Thursday against GEO Group, the company operating the NWIPC, in another lawsuit. The decision from the Ninth Circuit Court found that the company violated state minimum wage laws when it paid detainees $1 per day, and requires GEO Group to pay nearly $20 million in back wages.

DOH and Labor & Industries attempted to inspect the Northwest ICE Processing Center after a bill passed in 2023 regulating private detention centers and codifying “routine, unannounced inspections.” Court records state that the facility administrator for NWIPC denied both agencies entry, and the issue ended up in court. DOH is still in litigation, but L&I gained access under a different statute. The inspection yielded no violations. 

Newly introduced House Bill 1232 includes defining abuse and neglect, escalating actions for failed inspections, outlining food and staffing requirements and granting the Department of Health access to inspect at any time. 

“There shouldn’t be any fear of letting our agencies in to make sure everything is working the way it’s supposed to if you’re following the law,” Ortiz-Self said. “Our concern has always been that: Why are you so afraid of transparency?” 

Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, who voted against the 2023 bill, said he believes managing NWIPC should be up to the federal government, arguing there are more pressing issues for the state to focus on. 

“These bills are less about these private detention facilities than it is about this political hot potato that is ICE and detention of people who are in the country illegally,” he said. 

The new bill is currently in committee. 

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, a Seattle-based human rights group, filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in federal court on Tuesday, alleging violations of the Freedom of Information Act.

The complaint, filed in the Western District of Washington, challenges ICE’s failure to turn over public records relating to sexual abuse incidents at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, which is run by the GEO Group, a private detention services company.

“We’ve received … sporadic reports over the years of instances of either physical abuse or sexual abuse at the facility,” said Aaron Korthuis, staff attorney for the NWIRP. “There was a more recent one that we heard about, and heard that it got reported to 911 – and that I think in particular spurred our desire to file a more comprehensive request for information at the facility, and that’s what led to the lawsuit.”

An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously indicated the agency does not discuss matters related to ongoing litigation. 

On Oct. 2, the NWIRP filed a public records request under FOIA in order to access an array of documents ensuring both ICE and GEO’s implementation and compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act. 

Some of these documents entail: audits regarding NWIPC conducted pursuant to the PREA; written reports on sexual abuse incidents; results and findings from GEO’s annual sexual abuse reviews at the facility; records of disciplinary actions taken in response to sexual assault allegations; and the outcomes of any sexual abuse allegations within the facility.

The lawsuit states that six days after the request was filed, ICE acknowledged it had received it – and said it would invoke a 10-day extension of FOIA’s 20-business-day requirement, meaning ICE’s response would have been due by Nov. 13.

Korthuis said the goal with this case is to empower those unable to legally advocate for themselves due to lack of immigration status, and “shed light on what people need to do if they’re trying to hold the agency accountable and learn what works, what their rights are, and what they can expect in that process.”

State and federal officials have officially signed off on an agreement changing the legal cleanup schedule at the Hanford nuclear reservation, which houses the most radioactively contaminated waste in the Western Hemisphere. 

Officials say the agreement, signed last week, will accelerate the cleanup of the site’s nuclear waste while maintaining safety. The project has busted budgets and deadlines in recent decades.

Last April, after four years of negotiations, the feds and state came to a tentative agreement to a 35-year legal contract governing Hanford’s cleanup, which includes how to deal with 56 million gallons of radioactive fluids and sludges in 177 leak-prone underground tanks roughly seven miles from the Columbia River.

The U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology have spent the past eight months seeking public input and tweaking the tentative agreement.

In the early 1990s, state and federal officials decided Hanford tank waste should be mixed with glass flakes and melted together so the radioactive substances cannot escape for 10,000 years, a process called glassification. The original $4 billion glassification plant was supposed to be ready by 2009 and the work completed by 2019. The budget for glassification now is $17 billion and is expected to reach possibly $30 billion, according to various reports.

Currently, Hanford’s legal target calls for glassifying all wastes by 2052. DOE has internally moved those targets back to 2069,  according to a 2021 report by the Government Accountability Office. That date was not reflected in the changed legal agreement, but those deadlines could be changed in the future.

The new agreement keeps the previous timeline of starting to glassify less-radioactive tank wastes this year. Work on processing the 5 million to 6 million gallons of high-level wastes, which hold most of the radioactivity, is scheduled to start in 2033. However, the low-level waste glassification plant set to start operating this year can handle only roughly half of the wastes, which means a second plant will have to be built.

The finalized agreement also allows Hanford to use a new technology called grouting — mixing low-level wastes from 22 tanks within a type of cement. This technology has not yet been perfected with chemically complicated Hanford tank wastes. Other technologies and auxiliary plants are also covered in the new agreement. 

“More tank waste will get retrieved, treated, and disposed through 2040 and beyond. This is the best way to ensure surrounding communities and the Columbia River are protected,” said state ecology director Laura Watson in a press release.

 “This historic agreement … establishes an achievable plan for our Hanford tank waste mission for the next 15 years,” said DOE’s Hanford manager Brian Vance in the same news release.

Democratic staffers in the Washington state Legislature unanimously approved a two-year contract days before the start of the 2025 session, but the terms will not go into effect until this summer.

Legislative assistants, communications staff and policy analysts in both chambers began unionizing after winning the right to organize in 2022. Republican staffers were the first to approve a contract when they reached a deal in September. 

Democratic staffers, who are represented by the Washington Public Employees Association, had voted down a previous offer. 

“These agreements secure vital protections and improvements for current staff, and make significant progress towards a stronger, more supportive work environment,” WPEA President Amanda Hacker wrote in a statement on Jan. 10 announcing the agreement.

Josie Ellison, a communications specialist with the House Democratic Caucus, said support swung from 0% to 100% between September and January, largely due to protections the unit won in the grievance process that allow for arbitration over contract disputes.

“We feel really strongly that we need an external third party,” Ellison told Cascade PBS in an interview.

Ellison was surprised the sides reached a deal after staffers turned down the offer in the fall. The contract also includes a wage increase of 3% in 2025 and 2% in 2026, the same offer given to other state employee unions. The contract goes into effect July 1, 2025, after the session is set to end. 

“It’s a big relief,” Ellison said. “It’s a contract a year sooner than we thought.”

Democratic lawmakers in Olympia are once again pushing to cap the amount landlords can raise rents in Washington, a year after a similar effort fell short. 

On Thursday, state Rep. Emily Alvarado, a Seattle Democrat, prefiled House Bill 1217 — a “rent stabilization” proposal that would prevent landlords from raising rent by more than 7% annually for existing tenants. It would also limit various types of rental fees and require landlords to provide at least 180 days’ notice for rent increases over 3%.

During a news conference Friday morning, Alvarado and other progressive lawmakers described the proposal as a key step toward protecting renters and fighting homelessness in Washington. 

The bill is largely identical to the rent stabilization bill Alvarado sponsored last year, which passed the House but died after a contentious battle in the Senate. 

Alvarado and her progressive colleagues said they’re optimistic the proposal has a better shot at passing this year. Two Democrats who played a key role in blocking the bill on the Ways and Means Committee last year won’t be returning to the Senate this year.

“We have a good sense of stronger support in the Senate,” said state Rep. Nicole Macri, a Seattle Democrat who is co-sponsoring the new bill.  

Macri also pointed to the results of a Cascade PBS/Elway poll released Thursday, which found that 68% of respondents favored limits on the amount that landlords can raise rent each year. 

At a legislative preview event on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader John Braun, a Republican from Centralia, argued that a cap on rent would disincentivize private development and ultimately worsen the housing shortage. He said his Republican colleagues would likely oppose the bill. 

“We may have a good short-term effect … but we will stop the building” of private development, Braun said. 

Alvarado said Friday that her bill takes a “balanced approach” that protects tenants while also encouraging more housing supply. She noted that residential construction would be exempted from the rent cap if it's less than 10 years old, and that landlords could still raise rent any amount between one tenant and the next.

Facing a $12 billion budget shortfall over the next four years, Governor-elect Bob Ferguson announced on Thursday a goal of $4 billion in budget cuts, along with $1.3 billion worth of new programs that he wants to see in the 2025-27 biennial budget.

The $12 billion predicted shortfall is likely the Legislature’s biggest problem in the upcoming 105-day session that begins Jan. 13.

“Washingtonians expect that we will increase revenue as a last resort,” Ferguson said. “I will not start contemplating additional revenue options until we have exhausted efforts to improve efficiency.”

At a Thursday press briefing, Republican legislative leaders contended that the shortfall can be fixed solely by budget cuts with no new taxes. Meanwhile, Democratic legislative leaders countered that some cuts can be made, but some new, yet-to-be-determined taxes are inevitable. Democrats control both the House and Senate.

Governors’ budget proposals are outlines of an individual governor’s suggestions and priorities. The Legislature has the power to set the budget, and the governor has the power to veto some or all of that document.

At the Thursday press briefing, Ferguson called for a cut across all state agencies, averaging about 6%, which would trim $4 billion from the shortfall. Not all agencies would individually have to cut 6%. Some might cut more and some might trim less, he said. 

This $4 billion would be in addition to roughly $3 billion in one-time savings and deferred expenses identified in outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed 2025-27 budget. Ferguson also proposes saving an additional $300 million by resolving disputes in a legal settlement with the tobacco industry. He also proposes eliminating another $75 million from the state’s regulatory and civil law enforcement agencies, including from the Attorney General’s Office. Ferguson is the outgoing Washington attorney general.

Meanwhile, Ferguson’s Thursday news release also listed $1.3 billion in new expenses.

That money includes $100 million in grants to local governments to increase the number of new well-trained law enforcement officers; $5 million to clear the backlog of approximately 15,000 cases at the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory; $600 million allocated to the state’s capital budget to build new homes, while reducing their costs to families; $20 million for ferry crew recruitment and retention; $480 million to guarantee school lunches for every Washington student and $100 million to expand child care eligibility for employees at small businesses.

This article was originally published by the Washington State Standard.

State Sen. Joe Nguyễn will be the new director of the Department of Commerce.

Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson last week announced Nguyễn’s appointment to lead the agency, which manages a budget of $7.9 billion and administers more than 100 programs in the areas of housing, energy, community and economic development, local government and business services.

Nguyễn will succeed Mike Fong, who was recently named Snohomish County’s executive director for economic development.

A White Center Democrat, Nguyễn represents the 34th Legislative District, which extends south from Seattle and includes Vashon Island. He was first elected to the state Senate in 2018 and reelected in 2022. In 2021 he challenged King County Executive Dow Constantine, a fellow Democrat, but lost.

Nguyễn is chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee, where he’s worked on implementing major climate policies, including the Climate Commitment Act, and artificial intelligence legislation. He also vice-chairs the Ways & Means Committee.

“Senator Nguyễn brings experienced leadership and a strong record on fighting to improve the lives of Washingtonians to this critical agency,” Ferguson said in a press release. “I know he will help ensure state government works better for the people.” 

Nguyễn is the second sitting lawmaker Ferguson has chosen for his cabinet: Last week, the incoming governor named Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, as the next leader of the Department of Children, Youth and Families.

Nguyễn’s appointment starts Jan. 15. His resignation from the Legislature will trigger a replacement process, with the King County Council giving final approval for another Democrat to take his seat. The legislative district he represents is a safe Democratic seat. He won reelection in 2022 with 86% of the vote.

The Washington State Standard originally published this article on Dec. 27, 2024.