Washington’s former attorney general is the state’s new chief executive.
Bob Ferguson takes over the helm from Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee, who was the longest-serving current governor in the nation, serving 12 years.
Ferguson and state lawmakers are grappling with a gaping $12 billion state budget deficit over the next four years.
Ferguson recently announced $4 billion in proposed budget cuts along with $1.3 billion worth of new programs that he wants to see in the 2025-27 biennial budget.
“That’s across-the-board cuts for state agencies, about 6% because we’ve got a big shortfall. At the same time, though, we need to make the right kind of investments. One of those investments that I’m proposing is additional resources to hire more police officers. Washington ranks last per capita across the country in the number of law enforcement officers we have. That’s not good enough. We need to change that,” Ferguson said.
Republican legislative leaders contend that the shortfall could be fixed solely by budget reductions with no new taxes.
In contrast, Democratic state leaders say some reductions can be made, but some new, yet-to-be-determined taxes are inevitable.
Democrats control both the state House and Senate.
