Author Archives: ericcampbell

‘No’ on Senate budgets that would raise your taxes

Click here to view my remarks in support of the no-new-taxes, no-cuts budget proposal offered today in the Senate chamber.

Dear Neighbor,

I don’t know why the Senate majority chose today to have us vote on the operating and transportation budgets, but I’d guess it is because both contain tax increases. Maybe they were hoping people would be busy on a Saturday and not paying as much attention.

Let me help call attention to what happened, by sharing the news release I issued today about the budget votes. It tells the story. And keep reading for how you can make your voice heard about the tax proposals themselves.

OLYMPIA, March 29… The record $21 billion in new and higher taxes included in the state Senate’s new operating budget and the gas-tax increase in its new transportation budget kept Sen. Perry Dozier from supporting either plan today.

“Both budgets have their merits, but I can’t overlook the fact that they would also add significantly to a cost of living in our state that is already too high. We can and should do better.

“I’m especially disappointed and concerned that the Democrats’ budget is based partly on tripling the growth rate of state and local property taxes. That contradicts what we’ve been hearing for months, about how the Democrats want to ‘make the wealthy pay what they owe.’ A property-tax increase hits every landowner regardless of their income, and is bad for renters too,” said Dozier, R-Waitsburg.

“We brought the Republican operating-budget proposal to the Senate floor as a common-sense alternative for our Democratic colleagues to consider. It spends less than the amount of revenue coming in, it wouldn’t raise a single tax or cut a single service, and it wouldn’t drain the state’s rainy-day fund. And still, the Democrats said no and went with their plan instead, even though it is the complete opposite of ours in all of those ways.”

The Republican “$ave Washington” plan failed on a 30-19 party-line vote. Senate Democrats then adopted their larger $78.5 billion proposal with a partisan 28-21 vote.

Prior to the final vote, Dozier reminded his Senate colleagues how the Democrat budget is balanced in part by cuts to higher-education funding which will mean tuition increases at the state-run colleges and universities, and other cuts to financial assistance.

“One of the most popular things the Legislature has done in the past decade was to cut tuition, then put a cap on it so students and their families could know what was coming,” he said, referring to a 2015 Republican-led reform that reduced tuition for the first time in state history. “It’s unconscionable for the Democrats to now break the tuition cap when they’re also raising taxes by $21 billion.”

On top of the tuition increase, Dozier explained, the Democrats’ budget cuts support for child care, cuts the state fair fund by 50%, increases hunting and fishing license fees by nearly 40% and hikes the cost of a Discover Pass by 50% — again, at the same time that it would raise taxes by $21 billion.

“I don’t know why the Democrats are so determined to raise taxes when the budget we proposed is proof that tax increases are completely unnecessary.

The state gas tax has been 49.4 cents per gallon since 2016. Dozier said he understands the need for more transportation money, but the proposed 6-cent increase in the Senate transportation package is more complicated than it sounds.

“If the Climate Commitment Act had been repealed in November, that hidden gas tax would be gone, and Washington’s gas prices would be closer to Idaho and Oregon. And if the Democrats weren’t also raising property taxes and so much more in the operating budget, a bump in the gas tax would look different. But this budget also indexes the gas tax, so it would automatically increase each year. All of that together is just too much,” Dozier said.

He said the third of the Senate budget proposals, the capital budget, will be released Monday. Dozier is assistant Republican leader for that budget, which allocates funds for public construction and other capital projects and is generally the most bipartisan of the spending plans legislators must adopt.

 

Let me recap the Democrat tax proposals that will cost the most:

  • SB 5798, which would remove the 1% cap on the annual growth rate of state and local property tax rate, and instead allow your property-tax rate to increase based on inflation plus population growth. That could average 4.5% per year based on recent history, but go as high as 8%.
  • SB 5797, called a “wealth” tax by the majority, is actually a new kind of property tax. Instead of taxing people for owning land, it would tax people for simply owning a certain volume of stocks, bonds and other intangible assets. Republicans see it as also discouraging the innovation that is at the heart of Washington’s high-tech sector.
  • SB 5796, which would basically mimic the payroll tax already being imposed by the city of Seattle. This new tax would be applied to nearly 5,300 Washington employers: the tech industry, professional services, finance, real estate and health care. My understanding is that it also would hit some public-sector employers, like universities and larger school districts.

Before 3 p.m. Monday, I encourage you to go online to the Ways and Means Committee sign-in page for these bills. You may state your comment on one or more by clicking here and following what should be a user-friendly process. Here’s where the link will take you:

If you would rather testify instead of simply supplying your position on this legislation, see the link below.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

My priorities (shared by Senate Republicans) are:

Here’s how to:

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Majority’s proposed tax hikes include one that would be terrible for tourism

Dear Neighbor,

The Senate’s majority Democrats will release their proposed operating budget Monday. The operating budget is the largest by far of the three budgets that will come out of this legislative session, and many of the things it funds are day-to-day priorities like K-12 education and services for our most vulnerable residents.

While we wait a little longer to see the spending choices in that budget, I’m already concerned about some of the moves the majority is making on the tax/revenue side — and not just the massive package of tax increases we saw from Senate Democrats on Thursday.

Senate Bill 5785, which would increase tuition by 5% on top of the 3% already expected, will come before our Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday afternoon for a public hearing. There is a very good chance it will take over first place as the bill generating the most public attention this session — which is measured by the number of people signing in online to either testify or register their opinion.

When I checked yesterday afternoon there were already close to 2,400 signed in, and 99.5% were opposed. No surprise there, as a tuition increase amounts to a tax hike. If you’d like to weigh in about SB 5785, click here to see the options.

Click the caption below to view my latest video report from the Capitol. It includes more information about the tuition situation as well as another tax increase that would be terrible for the tourism industry in our region.

Here’s one more budget-related item, specifically for the state employees residing in our district.

Democrats have proposed SB 5792 to cut the pay of state employees by 5% for the 2026 fiscal year (July 1 of this year through June 30 of next year). Add that in with the furloughs that have been proposed and here’s what you get: state employees would get see their pay cut for a year and be forced to take unpaid time off just so the majority can fund the $4 billion in pay raises negotiated by the former governor.

In contrast, our $ave Washington budget would not cut state workers’ pay, or require any furlough days — and in place of funding the costly pay raises, we would have the state-employee unions negotiate new agreements with Governor Ferguson, while giving each employee a $5,000 bonus in the meantime.

If you’re a state worker, I am interested in whether you would prefer the majority’s cut-furlough-raise approach or the Senate Republicans’ bonus-renegotiate approach. Let me know!

Also, while I say it in the video, I’ll also offer my gratitude here to the 200-plus people who registered for our virtual town hall meeting March 17. Because more of the questions we took were about housing than any other topic, the video below includes an update on the rent-control legislation that has come over from the House.

Click here to view my latest video report.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

 

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

A budget… already? With no new taxes?

Dear Neighbor,

If you’ve been hearing state government is in financial trouble and big tax increases are the only answer, I have good news. Even if you haven’t heard a word about Olympia’s budget situation… the news is still good.

This week the two senators who serve as the Senate Republican operating-budget team did something few thought was possible this session: They proposed a new state budget that balances without a single tax increase, and without slashing the services people care about most.

Normally we don’t see budget proposals until late March. By putting their plan on the table this week, Sen. Chris Gildon of Puyallup and Sen. Nikki Torres of Pasco served notice to the majority that the “tax increases are inevitable” message people have been hearing for months just isn’t true.

The same is true for the scare tactics we saw from House Democrats earlier this month, when they launched a campaign claiming, in so many words, that people will die unless taxes are increased.

Because the Senate Republican approach would effectively erase the budget shortfall while saving the people of our state from the harm of either huge tax increases or devastating spending cuts, this is being called the “$ave Washington” budget.

As Senator Torres put it, this new proposal has “completely transformed” the budget conversation here in at the Capitol, because anyone who takes the time to look will see it is a serious and viable proposal.

I invite you to visit the $ave Washington webpage and examine the budget proposal. You’ll find the slide presentation from the March 11 news conference, a balance sheet, and much more — which collectively show this is an honest, reasonable and sustainable plan. It’s just what our state needs at a time like this.

Capital-budget proposal nears completion

My first session as one of the writers of the Senate capital budget is going as expected. It reminds me of some of the work I did as a two-term Walla Walla County commissioner, but on a much larger scale both financially and geographically.

After studying the requests for funding in detail, it’s definitely a challenge to decide which will make it into this year’s Senate budget and which have to wait at least until 2026 for further consideration. But it’s like any other budget — there’s only so much money, and you have to prioritize.

The capital budget has a reputation for being the most bipartisan of the three budgets we must adopt this year (operating and transportation are the others), and I can now vouch for that.

Sen. Mark Schoesler of Ritzville is the leader on the Senate Republican side, with me as assistant, and we’ve developed a constructive working relationship with our Democratic counterparts: Sen. Yasmin Trudeau of Tacoma, and Sen. Mike Chapman of Port Angeles.

As I explained above, we normally don’t see any of the budget proposals until late March. While no date has been set to roll out this year’s Senate capital budget, it is near completion, so we are definitely on track.

Sen. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick, is prime sponsor of a bill having to do with cost-of-living allowances for members of two state-run pension plans. I co-sponsored SB 5113 because the policy is sensible — but we weren’t allowed to vote on it. Another bill was brought before the Senate instead, which I couldn’t support.

The backstory about vote on COLA legislation

You know the expression about how there’s more than one way to skin a cat… well, there also can be more than one way to solve a public-policy issue.

When two or more solutions are proposed as legislation, but legislators are allowed to vote on just one of those bills, what happens? Here’s an example.

Senate Bill 5085 and SB 5113 both have to do with providing ongoing COLAs (cost-of-living allowances) for members of two state-run pension plans that had closed to new enrollments nearly 50 years ago.

The chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee is the lone sponsor of SB 5085. She allowed her bill to advance from her committee while “killing” SB 5113, a bill I sponsored along with several Democrats and Republicans. That also explains why only her bill came before the full Senate for a vote earlier this month.

Sometimes there isn’t enough difference between competing bills to matter — but not in this case. Here’s what I would say to someone who wonders about my vote: While I support the COLA part of SB 5085, the underlying policy in the bill I sponsored is better, and had been endorsed by the state Select Committee on Pension Policy.

SB 5085 still passed in the Senate, but it was on a party-line vote, which means I was far from alone in withholding my support.

What the heck is an ‘NTIB’?

I’ve mentioned before how the work we do in Olympia is guided by deadlines for taking action on legislation. The first deadline is for policy committees, the next is for budget committees, and the third is the deadline — or “cutoff” — to vote legislation forward from the house or chamber where it originated.

Wednesday was the deadline for the Senate to act on Senate bills, and the House to act on House bills. On Thursday we moved into the next phase, during which Senate policy committees consider bills passed by the House, and vice versa. The deadline for that is April 2.

As we know, there are often exceptions to a rule — or a deadline, in this case. When a bill is determined to be part of a budget package, usually because the policy in the bill is funded in the budget, it is labeled “Necessary To Implement the Budget.” As an NTIB bill, it is exempt from the usual deadlines.

House Bill 1334, which would triple the allowable annual growth rate of property taxes, is still before the House Finance Committee. It’s remained there since a public hearing on Feb. 11. But no one should assume it’s “dead” for the session.

The policy in the bill affects the state property tax (for schools) as well as local property taxes. I suspect that is more than enough to qualify it for an NTIB label that would keep the tax increase in play. I can’t be sure because the House Democrats get to make that decision — let’s wait for the House operating-budget proposal to come out, and see if it’s in the budget package.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

My priorities (shared by Senate Republicans) are:

Here’s how to:

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

What’s this about an increase in college tuition?

This past week I had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with a group from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. There were so many visitors that we brought them into the Senate Republican caucus room, which is where we meet to go over bills and amendments before the debates and voting in the Senate chamber.

Dear Neighbor,

There are three more days to go in one of the busier phases of our legislative session. The Senate and House of Representatives have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to take action on bills introduced by their respective members.

After that, the bills that received Senate approval will begin their journey through the House committees, and vice versa.

While I appreciate the technology that enables me to send reports like this from the Capitol, there are times that I have even more appreciation for the technology that allows “virtual” meetings.

One of those times will be 6 to 7 p.m. next Monday, when we will host a virtual town-hall meeting. Simply register to attend, at this link.

We’ll provide an update on the session, zeroing in on some of the bigger issues (like the budget situation and the majority side’s tax plans), and also listen to your opinions and concerns. Hope to see you there!

Look out, employers…

One of the bigger issues for Washington employers this session has to do with the ongoing effort by Democrats to give striking workers access to taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits.

UI benefits are meant for people who become unemployed through no fault of their own. I don’t believe striking workers should qualify, but that’s what organized-labor leaders in our state want — and on Friday, the Senate majority gave it to them with a “yes” vote on SB 5041.

I voted for an amendment to limit such benefits to four weeks, but the Democrats refused and stuck to 12 weeks. Think about that: if workers know they can go on strike and tap into the state UI fund for three months, do they have as much incentive to remain at or return to the bargaining table? I don’t think so.

If you’re an employer, how would you feel if your workers went on strike and collected checks funded by the UI “premiums” you pay? Or if your premiums go up because striking workers have depleted the fund? We know consumers are eventually hit when the cost of doing business increases.

Finally, I would worry about spin-off companies and suppliers suffering collateral damage from a prolonged strike against a major employer. That would put even more pressure on the UI fund.

You wonder who the majority Democrats were thinking of when they voted to pass this.

 … and families of college students

Ten years ago the Legislature passed the first-ever cut in tuition at our state-run colleges and universities, and also put a cap on annual tuition increases.

On Friday the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee introduced legislation that would increase tuition by 5% above the statutory cap beginning in the 2026-27 school year. At the same time, it would reduce state financial aid by close to $200 million over the next four years.

Our budget staff has already calculated, using tuition at the University of Washington as a model, that if this tuition hike is adopted, it would be a financial hit of around $3,200 over four years.

The tuition cut/cap served as a tax cut for middle-income families… so increasing tuition would act like a tax increase for those families.

Proposed constitutional change seems like ‘virtue-signaling’

Two years ago, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sent the abortion question back to the states, Democratic legislators in our state proposed a abortion-related amendment to our state constitution.

I viewed it as a serious effort, because the measure was filed before the 2023 session began. It received a public hearing in the Senate health-care committee and was voted forward by the committee’s Democratic members, but Senate Democratic leaders chose not to bring the legislation to the full Senate for a vote.

Compare that to the constitutional amendment proposed this past week — with the session already halfway over — which repeats some of the language from the 2023 measure but goes further to include what it calls “gender-affirming care.”

I’m bringing this up because the introduction of Senate Joint Resolution 8204 prompted a lot of messages to my office, nearly all of them opposed to the measure. So here’s my take.

Regardless of your views on either of the subjects in the proposal, be aware that the language is wide-open.

The restrictions on abortion that were put into Washington law by the voters in 1991 aren’t being carried through into SJR 8204. It’s not a simple case of placing the same policy into our state constitution.

The same goes for the gender-altering policy. There’s nothing in the proposed amendment about age limits or parental consent.

Between the timing and the extreme positions it takes, I don’t see SJR 8204 as a serious piece of legislation — and that makes it look like nothing more than virtue-signaling.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

My priorities (shared by Senate Republicans) are:

Here’s how to:

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

Count ’em: 107 bills in two days!

Ways 2-25

I don’t believe unemployment benefits are meant to be paid to people who walk off the job and go on strike, yet on Friday the majority Democrats on the Senate budget committee endorsed a bill to allow that. To view the public hearing that led to the vote on SB 5041, click here.

Dear Neighbor,

When I was appointed to the Senate Ways and Means Committee ahead of this legislative session, I figured it would keep me busier than any of my other committees. This week, “busier” was an understatement. Wow!

To make a long story short, bills that have a cost associated with them need to go before a budget committee after coming out of a Senate policy committee – and except for bills related to transportation, they all come to our Ways and Means committee.

As a result, Monday’s committee agenda had public hearings for 27 bills, Tuesday brought hearings on 21 more. There were 31 hearings on the Wednesday agenda, and on Thursday… we began voting. That list had 58 bills, and yesterday’s voting list had 49.

This is on top of the hours spent in the Senate chamber this week, debating and voting on bills that had cleared the necessary committee hurdles.

Does our state need all 107 of the bills we saw Thursday and Friday to become law? Absolutely not. A good example is SB 5041, which would provide taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits for striking workers.

If you get laid off, you can apply for unemployment benefits – but not if you quit. The same logic applies to going out on strike. It’s still a case of voluntary separation.

Striking workers would have less financial incentive to stay at or return to the bargaining table if they’re allowed to collect unemployment benefits. That would give them a distinct advantage over the employer, which explains why SB 5041 is a high priority for our state’s labor organizations. But it hardly seems like a good use of taxpayer dollars.

I’m not on the Senate labor committee, so if it wasn’t for my seat on Ways and Means, I wouldn’t be able to ask questions that help expose the flaws in this bill, as I did during the public hearing on it Wednesday.

Here’s a sampling of some other bills that came before the Ways and Means committee this week:

  • SJR 8200: Amends the state constitution to allow increases in property taxes through school bonds by removing the 60% vote needed and lowering it to a simple majority (94% “con” testimony in committee)
  • SB 5626: Provides unemployment benefits for undocumented workers in a way that easily allows fraud
  • SB 5179: Allows the state school superintendent to go after schools/officials if they don’t comply with legislative mandates
  • SB 5266: For those sentenced as juveniles, eliminates the 20-year waiting period to petition for release – even if convicted of violent crimes
  • SB 5382: The “initiative killer” bill, which includes threatening signature gatherers for initiatives with fines and jail time if certain requirements aren’t met, and preventing people who don’t have addresses or who use post-office boxes from signing initiative petitions

With the close of business Friday, the Senate’s two budget committees (Transportation is the other one) joined the policy committees that are already on break.

Starting Monday the activity in the Senate will move full-time to the Senate chamber through March 12. During that time you’ll find Republican and Democratic senators doing one of two things: meeting in their respective caucuses to discuss bills, and amendments to those bills, or out on the “floor” debating and voting on those bills and amendments.

From the Mailbag: Keeping tax dollars local?

Earlier in this session I shared part of an email that came from a constituent in Richland, who was expressing her concerns about actions being taken at the federal level. Today let me share an excerpt from an email sent by a Walla Walla constituent, which is about the relationship between the state and its many municipalities.

“Your newsletter spends much of its digital ink attacking Democrats, as is usual for Republicans who seem to have few ideas other than ‘lower taxes.’ How about favoring some kind of bill allowing local areas to keep more of their tax money rather than sending it to the state? I’ve long advocated that each county in the state be forced to pay its own way.

“That would mean, of course, that Walla Walla County, where I live, could take in no more in state spending than it collects in taxes. This could be regulated over a three year period to account for large projects. Allowing locals to collect and spend their own money is an intensely Republican idea, i.e. devolving government to its most local level.”

He’s right, Republicans do prefer local control because it means decisions are made closer to the people they affect. That’s why we typically oppose legislation that dictates school-related policies from Olympia in a way that overrides the authority of local school boards.

But to get to this constituent’s point: In 2022 I co-sponsored a bill to assist with the hiring of law-enforcement officers. It would have basically allowed cities and counties to collect and spend 1/10th of 1 percent of the sales tax that would normally have gone to Olympia. The bill didn’t even make it out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Maybe my Democratic colleagues were opposed to letting the locals keep some tax dollars. Perhaps they were opposed to helping communities rebuild their law-enforcement agencies after the exodus of officers we saw in the 2020-21 timeframe. I have no way of knowing. But there’s an example of how I tried to keep more tax money at home, and it didn’t work.

By the way, the bill’s Republican sponsor reworked it so the funding source became grants from the state budget rather than tax credits. His perseverance seems to have paid off, because Governor Ferguson publicly endorsed the bill in his inaugural address. SB 5060 was passed by the Ways and Means Committee Thursday!

As for “attacking” Democrats – like a baseball umpire, I call ‘em as I see ‘em. If my experience tells me legislation introduced by a Democrat is bad policy, either for our district or state, it should be OK for me to let my constituents know.

Republicans don’t have a corner on good ideas, which is why I’ve co-sponsored a couple dozen bills this session that were filed by my Democratic colleagues. I also welcome ideas from constituents, like this one from Walla Walla. But to be clear, “lower taxes” are always a worthwhile goal, in my book.

March 17 THM notice

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

My priorities (shared by Senate Republicans) are:

Here’s how to:

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

dozier signature

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

EMAIL: Perry.Dozier@leg.wa.gov
OLYMPIA PHONE: (360) 786-7630
OLYMPIA OFFICE: 342 Irving R. Newhouse Building
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 40416, Olympia, WA 98504

Who would oppose multifamily housing in rural areas?

Dear Neighbor,

When legislators talk about the obstacles to increasing the supply of affordable housing in our state, the list always includes — at least for Republicans — the government regulations that make property development more complicated and costly than it needs to be. But there are forces outside government that get in the way as well, and this week’s report explains how and why I recently tangled with them.

Also, there’s important information for people who have purchased ag fuel and paid the surcharge tied to the cap-and-tax law (officially, the Climate Commitment Act). I and other Republicans worked hard to set up a fund to provide rebates, and we don’t want anyone to miss out on what they’re owed!

Click here or on the image to view my report.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

EMAIL: Perry.Dozier@leg.wa.gov
OLYMPIA PHONE: (360) 786-7630
OLYMPIA OFFICE: 342 Irving R. Newhouse Building
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 40416, Olympia, WA 98504

Here they come: one proposed tax hike, then another, then…

BFST committee

Dear Neighbor,

The results of a recent survey of 600 Washington voters showed up in my inbox earlier this month. Most of the survey questions had to do with state spending, one way or another. That makes sense considering how years of overspending have finally caught up with the majority Democrats, and put state government in a multibillion-dollar hole that has to be solved before legislators can adjourn for the year.

It’s no surprise to me that more than three-fourths of those responding think the Legislature doesn’t need more money to address important priorities, and more than three out of five responding simply don’t trust the Legislature on spending.

poll result

Click here for a full presentation of the survey results.

So what are the Democratic majorities in the Senate and House doing? Well, they’ve stepped up their efforts to raise taxes. It’s the easy way to get out of the budget hole while continuing to add to the size of state government.

In the meantime, Republicans are coming up with ways to reduce spending and solve the budget deficit without tax increases. I invite you to look at some of the cost-saving ideas at our $ave Washington webpage.

Here’s where three of the Democrats’ proposed tax hikes stand as the fifth week of this year’s 15-week legislative session wraps.

  • A new tax on each mile you drive? For many years, Democrats have wanted to impose a mileage tax. Senate Bill 5726, introduced Tuesday, would create a “road usage charge” (RUC for short) starting at 2.6 cents per mile, plus an assessment of 10% on the total RUC a person pays. That’s right — the “assessment” is really a tax on a tax.The supporters of a mileage tax argue Washington’s 49.4-cent per gallon gas tax isn’t generating enough money as it is, with more electric and hybrid vehicles on our state’s roads. But I wonder if they understand, or appreciate, how a mileage tax would hurt rural drivers disproportionately.

    Also, this would be another “regressive” tax — meaning it hits lower-income people harder — from the party that is always complaining about Washington’s tax code being regressive.

    Washington’s constitution guarantees gas-tax money can only go toward highways and bridges. The mileage-tax bill doesn’t (and can’t) guarantee how the 2.6 cents per mile would be used. Also, the 10% assessment could be used only for “multimodal,” meaning transit, rail, and pedestrian/bicycle purposes.SB 5726 will get a public hearing Tuesday afternoon before the Senate Transportation Committee. If you want to testify about the bill or at least make your opinion known, there’s a link at the end of this report that will help.

    The identical House bill (HB 1921) already received a public hearing. From what I’m told, the House majority is pushing harder for this tax than the Senate, but that is not reassuring.

  • Higher property taxes, Part I: Last year the Senate Democrats tried to lift the cap on the annual growth of property-tax rates. They wanted a 3% limit, rather than the 1% Washington voters had approved (which was later confirmed by a Democrat-controlled Legislature).That attempt fizzled after intense opposition from the public and Senate Republicans. But this year the House Democrats are making a run at tripling the property-tax growth rate, with House Bill 1334.

    It’s the same bad idea as before, and my argument against it is also the same. Beyond the fact that this would be another regressive tax increase that makes living in our state harder to afford, cities and counties already have the ability to increase property-tax rates beyond 1%. They try to make it sound like the Legislature is holding them back, but that’s false. All they have to do is get permission from the voters.

    The 1% cap applies only to the annual property-tax increases that get voted on at the council/commission level. This bill would basically let local governments take more without asking first. HB 1334 received a committee hearing Tuesday, and I expect it will continue to move ahead unless, like last year, enough pressure is applied to stop it.

  • Higher property taxes, Part II: There’s a reason a 60% majority vote is required to pass school bond issues. Unlike enrichment levies, school bonds create debt that typically takes decades to pay back. To me — and according to Washington’s constitution, for the past 80 years — such an obligation needs to be supported by more than a simple majority.The Democratic members of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee, on which I serve, voted yesterday to pass legislation that would require only a simple majority to approve bond issues: Senate Bill 5186, and Senate Joint Resolution 8200. I and the other Republican committee members voted no, meaning we want to maintain the taxpayer protection afforded by the long-standing three-fifths approval standard.

    Because dropping to simple-majority approval would require a change in the state constitution, SJR 8200 would have to be passed with a two-thirds vote in the Senate and in the House, then a majority of voters would have to agree at the next general election.

    I know the supporters of bond issues are disappointed when those measures fail, but let’s not blame the 60% approval requirement. If a school district makes a persuasive argument to the voters, and the bond issue is the right size at the right price, shouldn’t 60% support be attainable?

media Feb 11

Each week, if there’s a long enough break between committee meetings and floor sessions, Republican lawmakers make themselves available to news reporters who are covering the 2025 session. I took part in this week’s meeting, commenting on tax-related questions as a member of the Senate Ways and Means committee — and was prepared to field questions about parental rights, being the originator of the Senate’s parental-rights bill and a member of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee. To learn what reporters are asking about, and hear our responses, click here.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

My priorities (shared by Senate Republicans) are:

Here’s how to:

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

dozier signature

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

Protecting children from fentanyl exposure… will the third try work?

Feb. 7, 2025

Dear Neighbor,

In each of the past two years, the state Senate has tried to make it a crime for an adult to expose a child to fentanyl. Both times, the House refused to allow its members to vote on our bill — which is unconscionable, considering how many children and even infants in our state have been badly injured because of this terrible drug in recent years.

My report below explains how we’re making another try for this life-saving policy. It also follows up on the partisan attack on Washington’s new parental-rights law, and ends with a light-hearted update about “The Evergreen State” (that’ll make sense when you watch).

video update

Click here or on the image to view my report.

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

dozier signature

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

EMAIL: Perry.Dozier@leg.wa.gov
OLYMPIA PHONE: (360) 786-7630
OLYMPIA OFFICE: 342 Irving R. Newhouse Building
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 40416, Olympia, WA 98504

E-News: What can Washington legislators do about Washington, D.C.?

Jan. 31, 2025

WSP Teamsters

Members of Teamsters 117 work hard at the Washington State Penitentiary to keep three groups of people safe: offenders, the public and the workforce. I sat down with them here at the Capitol on Wednesday and listened to their views, particularly about staffing and safety. Even though legislators face a challenging budget situation this year, I appreciate the service of these dedicated state employees and will do all I can to address their very real concerns.

Dear Neighbor,

Even though our Washington is almost as far as you can get from the “other Washington,” it hasn’t taken long for ripples caused by the change in the federal administration to reach me in the state Senate.

An example was this email from a constituent in Richland who wrote Tuesday:

What is your stance on the current administration’s policy and what do you plan to do to help protect Washington State residents from massive governmental overreach and the recent disgusting orders signed by the current president? Do you plan to be of assistance to the people of Washington and the United States of America?

Respectfully, a concerned mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and friend.

My reply to her asked for more detail, like which policy and what she meant by massive overreach, and which orders she found disgusting. It would have been interesting to know, so maybe she will respond.

But I also noted to her that unlike a governor or an attorney general, our Legislature doesn’t issue executive orders or file lawsuits, and rarely attempts to engage directly with the White House. I closed by encouraging her to reach out to our new governor and attorney general with her concerns, as they would be in a position to communicate in an executive branch-to-executive branch way.

Then there was the phone call Wednesday morning from a gentleman who was extremely interested in knowing how I would vote regarding the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to the position of secretary of Health and Human Services. I did my best to explain that the United States Senate has the duty of confirming presidential appointments like that; our Washington State Senate can only confirm appointments made by Washington’s governor.

I’m not sure I was completely successful, but either way this was not the first time someone has reached out to me about what was in fact a federal issue, because they had blurred the lines between the state and federal governments. It’s understandable, and it gives me a chance to point them in the right direction.

Are there times when we as legislators need to keep track of actions being considered or taken at the federal level? Absolutely. The four dams on the lower Snake River between Clarkston and Pasco are federal facilities, and what happens with them matters greatly to our state, especially this corner of Washington.

Of course, because the state has no real influence over the dams or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, most of the time and money spent on this study or that task force at the state level was more about appeasing special interests. I hope our new governor doesn’t politicize the dams like his predecessor did.

Another example is the Hanford Site, outside of Richland. It’s been federal since day one, back in 1942, but the people who work there and live in the area are my constituents, and I also am interested in the research and technology associated with Hanford and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Finally, as a member of the Senate budget committee I’m hearing about possible changes in Medicaid funding — also a federal thing — that could roll downhill to the states, which means a possible effect on our state budget.

If you have questions or concerns about actions being considered or taken in Washington, D.C., you can contact me, or Governor Ferguson, or Attorney General Brown — but a more direct path would be to reach out to your federal representatives.

U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, 5th Congressional District
Click here to email
Spokane Office
528 E. Spokane Falls Blvd #115
Spokane, WA 99202
Phone: (509) 353-2374		 Washington DC Office
124 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-2006
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
Click here to email
Richland Office
825 Jadwin Avenue, Suite 160K
Richland, WA 99352
Phone: (509) 453-7462		 Washington, D.C. Office
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2621
Toll Free: (866) 481-9186
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
Click here to email
Richland Office
825 Jadwin Avenue, Suite 160K
Richland, WA 99352
Phone: (509) 453-7462		 Washington, DC
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3441

page Keshav Karkamkar

Thank you, Keshav Karkamkar!

My office is still accepting applications from Washington students who wish to serve a week at the Capitol as a Senate page. In the meantime, let me introduce our first page of 2025 : Keshav Karkamkar, a junior at Hanford High School in Richland. He is the 16-year-old son of Manasi Keni and Abhi Karkamar of Richland, and was with us for the second week of the session.

It was a pleasure to sponsor Keshav, and encouraging to learn that he is highly interested in politics. That’s not a requirement for serving as a page, of course, but it would have been a bonus for him — our state Capitol is a great place to learn about the political process, especially during a legislative session!

The last day to apply for the Senate Page Program for the 2025 session is March 17, 2025, or until all available openings are filled.

Information about the program and application process is available here. If you know teens who would be interested, have them contact my office or Myra Hernandez, Civic Education Director (Myra.Hernandez@leg.wa.gov​ or SenatePageProgram@leg.wa.gov).

***

I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.

My priorities (shared by Senate Republicans) are:

Here’s how to:

Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

dozier signature

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District