WA’s $77.9B budget saga: Bob Ferguson is on the clock to make the final call

After months of late-night debates and political tug-of-war, Washington lawmakers have finally agreed on a massive $77.9 billion operating budget for the next two years. Now, the spotlight swings to Governor Bob Ferguson, who’s got 20 days to decide whether this budget—or parts of it—lives or dies.

In a statement dropped right after the session closed, Ferguson made it clear he’s not rushing into anything.

“I look forward to carefully reviewing the budgets line by line,” he said, promising a full public breakdown once he’s finished combing through it.

Ferguson has line-item veto power, meaning he can slice and dice the budget if he wants. It features roughly $7 million in cuts and $9 million in new taxes.

In an interview with TVW, Ferguson said he was “optimistic” about avoiding a special session. At 1,366 pages, the governor and his Office of Financial Management have a lot of homework to get through.

Ferguson’s early budget demands

From beginning of his administration, Ferguson hammered home some pretty specific demands: Save billions, stick to real revenue numbers (not the typical automatic 4.5% tax revenue increase every year), boost affordable housing, pour more money into K-12 education, and throw millions of dollars to cities and counties for local law enforcement. By his own account, the legislature mostly listened.

“The budgets adopted by the legislature accomplish those goals,” Ferguson said, sounding cautiously optimistic.

He’s especially eyeballing any new revenue schemes tucked into the budget, warning, “I intend to carefully review all revenue increases.”

In the final hours of the 105-day session, the operating budget came down to a straight party-line vote in the Senate, with all Democrats in support and all Republicans voting against it. A slightly different story in the House, where six Democrats defected and joined all Republicans in voting no.

During a press conference held by House and Senate Democratic leaders, several expressed optimism about the governor’s acceptance of their budget and tax package.

“Our conversations have been very positive in the last week. And I think if you watched his statements over time, you can see that he had a significant influence over the budget as it ultimately passed both chambers,” Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) said. “As a lawyer, I would expect him to want to look through the bills carefully.”

Republicans repeatedly said their budget proposal would have spent $2 billion less, raised no taxes, and cut no services.

Ferguson vies to protect WA from Trump Administration retaliation

One major theme Ferguson kept hammering in his statement: protecting the state’s financial future from what he called the “assault” of Donald Trump’s administration.

Federal dollars make up about 28% of Washington’s budget, and Ferguson isn’t shy about saying he expects hardball tactics from D.C.

“I am not going to allow the state that I love to be at the financial mercy of Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” he said.

He’s also proud that the legislature embraced $4 billion in savings identified by his team—a feat he was quick to point out happened just 43 days after he took office.

Ferguson promised during his campaign to boost K-12 funding, and he said the final budget delivers. It even improves funding for special education and helps school districts tackle emergencies.

On the legislative front, Ferguson was clearly in a “scoreboard” mood, ticking off some bipartisan wins he helped push across the finish line. Among them: new fuel exemptions for farmers, better mental health support for kids, and a law keeping out-of-state National Guard units from just showing up uninvited.

One bill Ferguson sounded especially hyped about, House Bill 2015, sets aside $100 million in grants to help local law enforcement beef up their ranks.

“We rank 50th—dead last—per capita in the number of law enforcement officers,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.”

New spending for local law enforcement isn’t something the legislature typically does. The move stands out even more in a year with a huge budget deficit—a clear sign of some political give-and-take with Democratic leaders.

Housing also got a major boost, with the biggest investment ever into the Housing Trust Fund, plus reforms to speed up building permits and help folks in manufactured homes become actual homeowners.

The transportation budget struck a cautious but necessary tone. Ferguson praised lawmakers for showing “restraint” by delaying some projects while keeping critical ones, like the I-5 bridge replacement and the Spokane North-South Freeway, on track.

By law, the state’s budget has to balance over four years, not just two. Ferguson demanded lawmakers use actual economic forecasts, not the old automatic 4.5% revenue growth figures agencies loved. At first glance, it looks like the budget relies on more realistic projections and factors in state “reversions”—leftover cash from unspent budgets—to help plug gaps.

If the math holds up, Washington could have about $3.6 billion socked away in reserves by 2029.

In closing, Ferguson took a somber moment to reflect on the difficult losses this session endured, including the deaths of Sen. Bill Ramos, Autumn Gildon (wife of a prominent state senator), and former Speaker Frank Chopp.

“This has been a hard session for many reasons,” he said. “I am grateful for the hard work and sacrifice of all who contributed.”

Now, the ball’s in Ferguson’s court. He’s got less than three weeks to either bless this budget, bounce it back with his veto pen, or do nothing—in which case it becomes law 30 days from now.

Or call a special session to write the operating budget and the taxes that support it.

Matt Markovich is the KIRO Newsradio political analyst. Follow him on X. Read more of his stories here.