Tag Archives: gas tax

E-News: Why doesn’t Washington have cheaper fuel like Oregon and Idaho?

Dear Neighbors,

Three years ago, just in time for the summer driving season, our state’s average gas price became the highest in the nation, at $4.89 for a gallon of regular. The cause seemed apparent: Washington’s cap-and-tax law — passed two years earlier, and officially known as the Climate Commitment Act — had taken full effect.

I’ll bet Washington hasn’t dropped below #3 since then on the list of worst gas prices. California typically is #1. When I checked the aaa.com website on gas prices before sending this report, our state was #2 with an average of $5.65 for regular and 97 cents more for a gallon of diesel. (Hawaii, where most everything is most expensive because of shipping costs, is sometimes #2 but is third behind our state right now.)

Can Olympia do something to give us relief from high fuel prices? Yes, but “can” is not the same as “will.”

Legislators could suspend the state portion of the gas tax (55.4 cents), but that would cut directly into money for highway projects and the Washington State Patrol.

Road and bridge projects wouldn’t be affected if lawmakers instead suspended either or both of the climate policies that function like a hidden gas tax: the Climate Commitment Act, and the “low-carbon” fuel standard (requiring state retailers to offer a different and more expensive formulation of fuel).

Suspending these at the legislative level would require a special session in Olympia, however. The simpler alternative would be for Governor Ferguson to suspend the CCA after declaring an energy emergency.

My colleague on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Sen. Chris Gildon of Puyallup, asked the governor to do just that, in a May 20 letter. The answer came from a Ferguson spokesperson: if you want lower gas prices, talk to President Trump.

I know the governor has been consistently critical of the president, but this one won’t stick. The average gas price in our state was $4.35 per gallon two days before the Iran conflict began, and now the national average is $4.22 — while, to say it again, we’re at $5.65.

International events aren’t responsible for the fact that gas is generally 40-50 cents less per gallon across the Oregon border (and the savings is about twice that in Idaho). It’s because of state-level climate policies that have yet to show any measurable improvement in air quality.

Senator Gildon had this reaction to the comments that came out of the governor’s office — starting with how Washington families deserve an honest discussion about why they continue to pay some of the highest gasoline prices in America. I agree, because the real reasons originated in Olympia.

At last, southeast Washington’s newest facility for treating behavioral health and substance abuse is ready to open! It was an honor to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery, and say a few words about this important accomplishment. As I understand it the center is awaiting one last approval from the state Department of Health, then it can begin serving people. Congratulations to those who worked hard for years to get to this point — and I’m pleased that our 16th District legislative delegation also had a role, working with our colleagues from adjacent districts to secure a total of nearly $19.6 million for the project over the past several years. That support came from the state’s capital budget, which I know well as a member of the Senate capital-budget team. This new resource, which was once Kennewick General Hospital, is a great example of how public dollars collected at the state level are put to good use at the community level.

Anti-sheriff law put on hold — and rightfully so

I remember when Benton County voters recalled their sheriff. That wasn’t decades ago — it was 2021. The reason doesn’t matter as much as the fact that the people had the final say.

Supporters of the controversial Senate Bill 5974 didn’t just propose “modernizing” the law as it pertains to the qualifications of candidates for sheriff. They also drifted over into telling sheriffs, police chiefs, town marshals, law-enforcement volunteers and others what their duties are and aren’t.

Even more concerning to me, as a former elected county official (Walla Walla County commissioner, 2008-16), was how the law singled out sheriffs for the potential of decertification by an unelected state commission headquartered in King County.

Decertification is a backhanded way of forcing a sheriff out of office — a responsibility that should belong only to the voters. Benton County is proof that the process works.

Many sheriffs testified against the bill in committee; after it was passed, several filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the Legislature was overstepping its constitutional authority. A Thurston County judge granted a preliminary injunction, which puts the law on hold so that the lawsuit may continue.

Another example of the good things happening in our legislative district is the work being done by Mirror Ministries to serve victims and survivors of sex trafficking. I recently had the privilege of visiting their facilities in the Tri-Cities, including Esther’s Home. Go online (which is where I found this photo) to learn more about them!

Congratulations to area schools on winning statewide recognition

I’ve served on the Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee since becoming a senator. It’s important to me because providing for education is state government’s most important duty, under the Washington constitution.

Recently I learned seven schools in our 16th Legislative District had been honored by state government’s educational sector for their performance during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years: Prospect Point Elementary (Walla Walla Public Schools); Waitsburg High (Waitsburg SD); Columbia Elementary (Columbia SD): Tapteal Elementary (Richland SD): Prescott High (Prescott SD); and a pair from the Pasco SD, Barbara McClintock STEM Elementary and Ray Reynolds Middle School.

This came from the Washington School Recognition Program, established in 2010 by the Legislature. The program’s goal is to highlight schools that demonstrate exceptional progress in certain categories (details on those are here).

Speaking of Prescott, I visited the school on May 27 — as did the state superintendent of public instruction. You may remember how he had called for the dissolution of the Prescott district, due to a budget deficit left by previous administrators, but had to reverse that after the people of Prescott and Vista Hermosa organized and raised the funds needed to put the district back on stable financial footing (click here for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin report).

Hopefully the state superintendent came away from his visit with a new perspective about small rural schools. As a Prescott alumnus, I know what the school means to the community — and am very glad that when I speak at the upcoming 8th-grade graduation, it won’t be the district’s last one!

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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.

If you see me out and about in our 16th District, say hello – because I’m your senator all the time, not just when we’re in session in Olympia. 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

 

 

What the sales-tax increase means for you

Col Vly Ctr for Rec enhanced

I’m grateful that my fellow legislators have repeatedly backed our 16th District delegation’s requests for millions of dollars in capital-budget funding to help transform the old Kennewick General Hospital into the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery. This project is one of the good things happening in our area; hopefully it will continue on schedule, and the center will open about the time I’m coming home from our 2026 session at the Capitol. In the meantime it’s exciting to see all the local financial support coming in; I was recently honored to join Nancy Roach, secretary of the Benton Franklin Recovery Coalition, and others who spoke at an event where a local family’s $1.1 million donation was announced! More details are in this Tri-City Herald report.

Dear Neighbors,

We have just about reached the middle of what legislators call the “interim” between our annual sessions at the state Capitol. In a matter of days we’ll be closer to the start of the 2026 session, which will fall on Jan. 12, than to the end of this year’s session, which was back on April 27.

That’s why I am already working with the experts on the Senate Republican policy staff to sift through a list of ideas — some of which have come from constituents this month — and decide which may make sense as legislation, versus things that are better handled through direct contact with a state agency.

After we identify the viable candidates, the next step is to do the research and draft the language, and as you can imagine, complex pieces of legislation require more time. So even though it’s still summer, it also isn’t too soon for me to be thinking about the 2026 session!

Huge expansion of sales tax
is coming, but details still aren’t known

The sales-tax expansion approved by our state’s majority Democrats in April reminds me of the famous remark made back in 2010 when the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” was making its way through Congress. You may remember it — the line about how the bill would need to be passed so people could find out what was in it.

As this column from Senate Republican Leader John Braun points out, we should expect the sales-tax increase will mean higher prices for things like cable/streaming channels, and driver’s-education courses.

Unfortunately, the state Department of Revenue is still working to come up with guidance for the 95,000-odd businesses required to collect the tax starting Oct. 1 Therefore, no one can say for sure what it means for Washington consumers.

This is not an increase in the tax rate employers will pay, it’s an increase in the number of “business activities” that will be considered taxable retail sales in the eyes of the state. But whether you call it an increase or an expansion, it’s expected to bring in another $4 billion over the next four years. That’s money you and I will pay, as these service providers are forced to pass down the increased costs of doing business in Washington.

I voted against this and every other tax and fee increase approved by the majority this year. The “$ave Washington” operating budget proposed by Senate Republicans was balanced without any increases and also wouldn’t have cut anyone off of essential services; unfortunately, the majority exaggerated the size of the budget shortfall (caused by its own overspending) and used that as an excuse for passing the largest package of tax hikes in state history.

For those in agriculture, loss of farms is no mystery

From what I’m hearing, wheat growers in our area are through with harvest. I was happy with the yields at my farm, but the prices we’re seeing are terrible, especially compared to just a few years ago.

I’m always having to explain to legislators from urban and suburban districts how farmers are price takers, not price makers. While our operating costs go up — and fuel costs are a prime example — we can’t just raise our prices accordingly, the way other business sectors can.

For that reason I already knew the answer to the question posed in a headline in The Seattle Times recently: 3,700 WA farms shut down in 5 years. Why?

That 5-year period ran through 2022, and many more farms in our state have gone under since then. Still, I appreciate how the report under that headline calls attention to the variety of pressures faced by people in the agricultural sector, and efforts from within the farming community to increase access to mental-health supports.

While I was also glad to see details about economic factors that affect Washington farmers, like labor costs that run 462% higher than the national average, the word “fuel” appears just once in the newspaper report, in the same sentence as fertilizer, seed and farm chemicals.

There’s no mention of how the state Department of Ecology stuck it to agriculture for years by failing to honor the fuel-surcharge exemption promised in the state’s cap-and-tax law (the “Climate Commitment Act”). I was among the leaders of repeated efforts to hold Ecology accountable, but only this year did we finally make some headway against the Olympia Democrats’ resistance.

Speaking of fuel, the average price of diesel in Washington as of a couple days ago was $5.03 per gallon. In Oregon it was $4.47, or about where our state was a year ago. It’s an average of $3.85 per gallon in Idaho.

Farmers and families in our corner of the state are fortunate to have alternatives to the crazy Washington fuel prices. I feel for the growers farther from the Oregon and Idaho borders, like the Wenatchee area or the Skagit area north of Seattle.

And although it’s good for Washingtonians to be aware of what goes into growing their food, no report on the state of farming can be complete without more detail about the effect of government policies.

Children's Center visit

Childcare is an important issue for legislators, and while we may have differences of opinion about how to increase access and control costs, I have to believe any of us would be impressed with what Maria and Veronica are doing at The Children’s Center in Walla Walla. I was particularly taken by how flexible they are in serving families, as that’s a gift for those with unusual work schedules. We need more resources like this, and I appreciate that they invited Rep. Klicker and me to visit!

***

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

Legislature adjourns; here’s a snapshot of what happened

It’s normal for the new state budgets to be adopted on the final day of our regular legislative session, and this year was no different. This is how the operating budget looked as it sat on the “bar” at the front of the Senate chamber on Sunday. The stack contains the budget adopted by the Senate on March 29, the version approved by the House on March 31 and the compromise between the two chambers, which few people saw until Saturday morning — which is a concern all by itself.

Dear Neighbor,

It was a very challenging legislative session that wrapped up this past Sunday, on schedule. The session felt longer than 105 days because of all the time we spent opposing the bad policies and harmful decisions the Democrat majority seemed determined to bring before us.

As we came into this session back on January 13, we knew that we were facing a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall and that the majority would use this as an opportunity to go on a tax-raising spree. Their first attempt at an operating-budget proposal did just that – it would have increased taxes in our state by $21 billion!

The Democrats’ agenda also continued to lean away from freedom and the free market with controversial legislation that would undermine your rights as a parent, cripple small business, worsen the education gap and limit your Second Amendment rights.

It didn’t have to be this way

We could have had a budget with zero new taxes. That’s right: the operating budget Senate Republicans proposed (Senate Bill 5810) proved we could have funded the priorities Washingtonians share — with no new taxes or fees and no cuts to services!

No one should be fooled by claims that higher taxes were inevitable because of the state’s budget shortfall. To be clear, the shortfall was never as large as Democrats claimed it was; we heard $12 billion, $15 billion, even $18 billion, but according to our non-partisan budget staff — people who don’t have a political agenda – it topped out at about $7.5 billion. That’s a lot less than the size of the Democrats’ tax package. What was clearly evident is this shortfall was the result of the majority’s reckless and uncontrolled overspending for too many years.

On Sunday, only Democrats voted for their budget. Republicans wouldn’t pile all those taxes and fees on the people of our state.

Defending the people we serve

Our no-new-taxes ‘$ave Washington” budget is an example of how Republicans offered ideas that are better for our state but don’t have the votes to get them all to the governor’s desk. For that reason, our victories this session were more about the bad legislation we derailed so it wouldn’t have lasting effects on the people we serve.

The following is a list of just some of the positive things we accomplished:

Public safety

  • Created a grant program to help law enforcement agencies hire more officers; a bill I’ve sponsored finally found enough traction this year, thanks to a push from our new governor.
  • Stopped included legislation that would have reduced penalties for sex offenders and allowed violent felons to seek early release.
  • Prevented the state from having the power to decertify county sheriffs elected by the people.

Affordability

  • Stopped the pay-per-mile tax
  • Successfully fought off another attempt to increase property taxes by lifting or eliminating the 1% cap on the annual growth of property-tax rates.
  • Made it easier to build more housing through zoning reform.

Better for education and children

  • Kept the majority from lifting the 10-year-old cap on college tuition growth
  • Ended some of the unnecessary regulation that makes childcare even harder to afford.
  • Protected new mothers receiving Medicaid by preserving 12 months of postpartum maternity care.
  • Prevented children from being exposed to a harmful, inappropriate far-left agenda in school.

Bonus: We stopped the “initiative-killer bill” which would have put unreasonable requirements on people gathering signatures on initiative petitions.

Majority balances budget
on backs of working families

There’s much to be said about both budgets, and because the final operating budget was negotiated in secret by a handful of Democrats and wasn’t seen by anyone else until Saturday, we’re still learning what all is in it. So for now, here’ s a quick summary:

  • Watch for your property taxes to go up, because school districts are now authorized to pursue bigger local levies. Funding our K-12 schools is the paramount duty of state government, and Democrats shouldn’t be pushing more of that responsibility down to the district level, but they are.In its way, this is even worse than the straight-up property-tax increase they pushed, then abandoned — because it also sets the state up for another education-funding lawsuit (like the landmark McCleary decision of 2012) that could mean even more tax increases down the road.
  • The expanded sales tax on services ($2.6 billion) — which applies to cable and streaming TV, for instance — and the increase in the business tax (nearly $6 billion) will eventually end up at the consumer level, one way or another.
  • As Republicans predicted, the income tax on capital gains is already going up, after just two years’ of collections. The death tax is also going up, with the increase being retroactive to the start of this year!
  • One of the tax bills in the Democrats’ package would slap a business tax on self-storage rental companies, and more… which again, will trickle down to consumers. It’s like they looked under about every rock they could turn over in search of more money.
  • In all, the tax package means a $9.6 billion increase in state-level taxes, which becomes $12.5 billion when the property-tax increase and the local effect of the sales-tax increase are factored in.
  • On top of all these taxes, the majority doubled childcare co-pays and tripled the per-bed license fee for nursing homes.They also raised the cost of hunting and fishing licenses by 38%, and added 50% to the cost of the annual Discover Pass. The bizarre thing is that the Democrats expect the higher fees will reduce sales, so are they just — as the saying goes — taxing behavior they want to discourage? Do they want fewer people to visit state parks and use boat launches?

Governor Ferguson said late in the session that he didn’t want to see tax increases that hit working families. If he backs that up by using his veto pen on the higher property and sales taxes in this new budget, there’s a chance legislators could be called back for a “special” session of the Legislature. We’ll have until May 20 to find out.

Higher taxes on gas, diesel coming

The new transportation budget for 2025-27 provides funding to keep important projects going in the face of higher labor and material costs.

While those projects include ongoing improvements to U.S. Highway 12 in our district, I could not vote for the budget because of the fuel-tax increases and weight-fee increases tied to it.

Although it’s been nearly a decade since the state portion of the gas tax went up, and another six cents per gallon may not sound like much, the tax on diesel will go up twice as much: six cents more now, then another 3-cent increase each of the next two years.

It isn’t clear why diesel is getting hit harder, unless the environmental activists on the Democratic side of the aisle had a role, but another 12 cents per gallon will obviously add to the cost of anything hauled by big trucks.

To be fair, though, the gas tax does pay for highway projects. It’s projected that by 2028, two of Jay Inslee’s favorite laws — the Climate Commitment Act and the low-carbon fuel standard — will add 30-plus cents to fuel costs all by themselves, and those don’t pay for projects to make our roads safer.

Capital budget brings variety
of investments to 16th District

The third of the three budgets adopted Sunday is the budget that funds school construction, community projects and much more: the capital budget. The broader details are in the news release Sen. Mark Schoesler and I issued that day.

Here’s a summary of the local projects funded in the new capital budget:

  • Columbia Basin College – $54.5 million to replace the Performing Arts Building. The “P Building,” dates to 1971 and is home to the college’s School of Arts, Humanities and Communication.
  • Kahlotus and Prescott school districts – $6 million to each district for modernization projects.
  • Walla Walla environmental cleanup – $3.5 million from the Model Toxics Control Account for monitoring/cleanup of soil contamination underneath the Chevron station downtown.
  • Walla Walla Water 2050 plan – $2.4 million toward this water-management plan.
  • Walla Walla County courthouse – $2 million for historic preservation.
  • Franklin County Fire District 2 – $1 million to complete the Kahlotus station.
  • Lions Park Community Center, College Place — $1 million toward the ongoing project to renovate the park and build a new community center. It’s the second straight time this project has received capital-budget support.
  • Mid-Columbia Children’s Museum — $1 million
  • Port of Walla Walla – $773,000 for Tri-Cities Intermodal cargo handling.
  • Christian Aid Center – $160,000 for Walla Walla rescue mission.

The capital budget, like the operating and transportation budgets, will go into effect July 1. Most of the other bills passed this session will take effect July 27, which is 90 days from the end of the session.

***

SAVE THE DATE — Saturday, May 31
16th District town hall meetings

***

Late in the session, as more bills came up for deciding votes, it was common for senators to step out of the chamber for interviews with the news media. This was for a Seattle TV station about a public-safety bill.

***

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

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

E-News: Affordability crisis deepens in WA, between gas prices and new tax on workers

On Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of taking part in a memorable ceremony for the B5 Community Learning Center in Kennewick. Often the shovels are put in the hands of the elected officials and others who have had roles in getting a project to the construction stage; this time the ground was literally broken by the immigrant children who will be served at the new B5 center!

Dear Neighbor,

Greetings from here at the ranch! It’s been almost two months since the Legislature adjourned for the second time this year… following a one-day “special” session to update our state’s drug-possession law. I’ve been busy catching up on ranch chores that couldn’t be done during our 105-day regular session, and some extra projects because we’re hosting a family gathering next month – many of you know how that is.

But I am your senator year-round, even when I am not at the state Capitol, which means attending meetings and community events, and continuing to listen to your concerns about government and the government policies that are affecting your life and family. I’m going to zero in on a couple of those in this newsletter. They unfortunately deepen the affordability crisis in our state, which has been a top concern for Senate Republicans for years.

‘Please do something to lower gas prices’

A constituent named Larry made a simple request in an email earlier this month.

“Please do something to lower gas prices. It is my understanding that Washington now has highest prices in the US. It is having an impact on me, and I can’t image the impact on those making minimum wages.”

He’s correct: Until about three weeks ago, California had the nation’s highest gas prices. Then Washington moved ahead – just in time for the extra driving many families do during summer vacation from school, as Senate Republican Leader John Braun noted in this public statement.

Another constituent, Michael, went more in-depth with his concern about gas prices.

“The state legislature needs to address this problem of rising gas prices immediately. Call a special session… Washington does not need the status of the state with the highest gasoline prices superseding California and Hawaii, let them reclaim this dubious distinction.   “THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW, NOT NEXT YEAR, NEXT LEGISLATIVE SESSION.”

Then there was this email from Helen, another constituent. Like Michael, she connected Washington’s high gas prices to a state law that was passed in 2021 but didn’t take full effect until 2023. It’s officially called the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) but known generically as “cap-and-invest,” “cap-and-trade” or “cap-and-tax,” depending on who is talking (to me it clearly functions as a tax):

“I am writing to urge you to act immediately to FIX Washington’s deeply flawed and enormously costly new cap-and-trade program that was launched earlier this year.

“Independent sources, such as Washington Policy Center and Washington Research Council (WRC) estimate that based on the May 31st auction price, the compliance costs for this program are adding 44 cents per gallon to the cost to manufacture gasoline and 55 cents per gallon to the cost to manufacture diesel.

“The Seattle Times reports that the Department of Ecology has collected almost $850 million in compliance costs so far this year. An independent analysis conducted by WRC also estimates the program could cost $1.5 billion by year-end. These costs are three times higher than originally estimated when the legislature voted cap-and-trade into law.

“I urge you to work with your legislative colleagues to fix this flawed program to make it work as intended in meeting our climate goals without placing enormous cost burdens on Washington families, small businesses, family farmers and working people across our state.”

The auction referred to in Helen’s message is how, under the cap-and-tax law, state government began selling carbon “allowances” this year. These “compliance costs” are passed on to us at the pump, which explains why Washington gas prices have continued upward all year while they’ve fallen in other states.

The message from Michael also suggested legislators had failed to ask, back in 2021, whether the Climate Commitment Act would cause gas prices to rise. I can assure him that many of us didn’t ask whether the proposed law would affect gas prices – we predicted it would.

I’ll also point out that this bill didn’t get a lot of attention outside the Capitol because that legislative session was held remotely, greatly limiting the public’s ability to be heard. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that controversial “reform” bills about law enforcement were slid through that session, as was the state’s capital-gains income tax.

As I replied to constituent Larry, I am careful about sounding overly partisan, but when it comes to gas prices in our state and the subject of energy/fuel in general, there is no getting around how there is a great difference of opinion between Republicans and Democrats.

In each of the past two legislative sessions, Senate Republicans have proposed lowering gas prices through a temporary suspension of Washington’s 49.4-cent state gas tax (Senate Bill 5897 in 2022, and this year, SB 5756, which I sponsored). Democrats have shown zero interest – meaning they would not even agree to hold a public hearing on either bill and listen to the valid concerns you and many others have.

To Michael’s point, I would definitely support having a special legislative session to address gas prices. However, I doubt our Democratic colleagues feel the same way, as they and Governor Inslee are denying the Climate Commitment Act has anything to do with Washington having the highest gas prices in the U.S. The reality is, too many of the people who control our state government don’t seem to care if you are paying more for gas, and see higher gas prices as the way to force people into public transit and electric vehicles. But I will not give up, as this is too important to the people I serve.

The state Department of Ecology is on point within the executive branch of state government for implementing the Climate Commitment Act; it’s also the agency failing to deliver on the CCA exemptions promised to the agricultural and maritime industries (and the fuel surcharge rebates now owed them due to that failure) Just this week I was among more than 40 lawmakers signing a letter to Ecology which offers a plan for bringing gas prices down. Click here to read it.

The state Department of Ecology is on point within the executive branch of state government for implementing the Climate Commitment Act; it’s also the agency failing to deliver on the CCA exemptions promised to the agricultural and maritime industries (and the fuel surcharge rebates now owed them due to that failure) Just this week I was among more than 40 lawmakers signing a letter to Ecology which offers a plan for bringing gas prices down. Click here to read it.

New payroll tax adds to affordability crisis in our state

As of this month, any paycheck cut in Washington is subject to the new long-term care tax, unless the paycheck goes to someone who has obtained an exemption from state government.

The law that is now making Washington gasoline so expensive was created in 2021; the payroll tax goes back even farther, to 2019. The Democratic majority delayed the tax collection until 2022, which kept the whole thing under the public’s radar. But as word got out about the tax and the many flaws in the so-called “WA Cares” program it support (like how people who choose to retire out of state would give up access to the long-term benefits they’d paid for), people wanted an opportunity to exempt themselves.

That opportunity came late in 2021, for a limited time, but exemptions weren’t granted unless you could show you had purchased separate long-term care coverage. The resulting controversy led Democratic legislators to delay the collection of the tax until this month and add four very narrow exemptions that are ongoing but still exclude most Washington workers.

That was last year. I had hoped the majority would make further adjustments during our 2023 regular session, but nothing happened – and with the tax now coming out of the paychecks of those who could not or have not obtained an exemption, I am hearing from people again, wondering what’s going on and what can be done about it. They don’t like giving up an average of $24 in pay each month indefinitely for a benefit that might pay for only a few months in an assisted-living facility.

An answer came from some of my Senate Republican colleagues this week. Knowing that our colleagues in the Democratic majority won’t repeal WA Cares, they’re proposing that Washington workers again be given the choice to opt out, this time with no time limit and no strings attached (meaning no need to show proof of purchasing a separate policy). You can see the latest draft of the proposal here and read the thinking behind it here.

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Please remember I am here to serve you. Although we may not always be able to meet face to face, I encourage you to reach out to my office and to share your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. Please, if you don’t already, follow me on Facebook. I look forward to hearing from you.

Perry Dozier
State Senator
16th Legislative District

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