Second Special Session in Olympia:
An update from our friends at the Anti Hunger and Nutrition Coalition:
With Washington’s House and Senate unable to come to agreement on a wide range of policy and budget issues, the special session ended with no budget. Gov. Inslee immediately called a second special session – the state is required to start its new year on July 1 with a balanced budget so the Legislature will be working up to the very end of the year.
Without an agreement by July 1, state government would shut down – we NEED agreement on tax and spending reforms that won’t tie up our state into the future.
We are grateful for one positive move towards raising revenue to balance the budget: Last Thursday, just hours before the Department of Revenue was ready to send out estate tax refunds, the House and Senate made a fix in response to last year’s Bracken Decision preventing the loss of nearly $160 million over the next two years. The bill makes changes to the estate tax law to prevent $97 million in refunds and $63 in lost collections while also making allowances for small businesses, indexing income exemptions to inflation, and increasing rates for the wealthiest households.
Yet, much more is needed to pay for the most basic government services, especially education and social services. Senate Bill 5895 would harm our ability to create jobs, pay for safety net services, and rebuild the middle class by funding education and starving all other investments.
TAKE ACTION
Contact your state legislators and the Governor: SB 5895 is no way to operate a state government – vote no on SB 5895 and vote YES on revenue options that will help our state now and into the future.
Thanks for speaking up – to Congress AND our state Legislature – for a better future where we could see prosperity rather than hunger for so many.