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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
As we head into the final weeks of the 2026 legislative session, I want to share a quick update from Olympia.
Public education review bill moving forward
School districts in our community and throughout the state have consistently raised unfunded mandates and costly administrative burden are major concerns impacting K-12 operations. My legislation, HB 2636, creates a permanent review process to identify ineffective K-12 policies and regulations so the Legislature can begin to tackle this problem.
Today, HB 2636 was passed out of the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education after passing unanimously off the House floor last week.
Legislation not moving
While we are seeing momentum on education reviews, several of my other pieces of legislation are considered dead as of House of Origin Cutoff last Tuesday.
- HB 2460 & HJR 4212: Establish clear constitutional and statutory direction for filling non-partisan vacancies in partisan office by simply allowing the county commissioners to directly appoint a replacement when there is no applicable political party to start the nomination process.
- HB 2593: Set new financial oversight and reserve requirements for Washington school districts, to improve fiscal stability, transparency, and early intervention when districts face budget stress. Senator Dozier is leading on this issue with Senate Bill 6247, a similar bill, which passed out of the House Education Committee yesterday.
- HB 2661: Establish a workgroup to identify areas of improvement for future Public Records Act reform.
I look forward to continuing bipartisan work on these issues in future legislative sessions.
The Legislature continues in dangerous direction
The Majority here in the legislature is again pushing harmful legislation and refuses to address important issues across the state. Continuing down this path will make our state more expensive and dangerous to live in.
HB 2034 – Raiding of Surplus Law Enforcement & Firefighter Pension Funds
This bill allowed the Legislature to appropriate $4 billion from the existing surplus of Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Plan 1 (LEOFF 1) pension plans to help solve a self-inflicted budget deficit, while also moving $500 million to the Climate Commitment Act, which acts as a slush fund for miscellaneous programs.
This move is not only irresponsible but disregards the faith of those who paid into the program. If funds were moved from this account, they should be used for programs that benefit retirees and their families.
SB 6346 – Implementing an Income Tax
This legislation creates a new income tax with an exemption of $1 million annually. While many feel this legislation would not impact them, our state has shown time and time again that new tax policies rapidly change to expand application. The capital gains tax is a recent example – imposed in 2021 at 7% and adjusted to 9.9% last year.
Additionally, the legislation is likely to chase away important job creators and industries as they move to areas with lower tax burdens.
HB 2289 – Supplemental Operating Budget
The budget writers are opting to expand the state’s operating budget instead of reigning in rampant spending. Despite Republicans introducing an Affordability First budget framework, we are faced with an additional $2 billion in budget growth and a $880 million raid on the state’s rainy-day fund – depleting reserves to keep state government afloat.
Taxpayers should not continue to foot the bill for irresponsible fiscal practices as we head into one of the lowest reserve levels in the country.
The items they decided to cut include K-12 education and to childcare & early learning programs – exacerbating cost-of-living for Washington families.
I will continue to fight for our communities and for fiscal responsibility as we head into these last few weeks of the legislative session.
Thank you for staying informed and engaged. As always, feel free to reach out with your thoughts or concerns, and share how bad legislation would impact you.
Sincerely,
Skyler Rude
