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A lot has happened since the end of the 2025 legislative session earlier this spring, both at the state and national level. This week’s updated revenue forecast from the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council is sobering as Democrat budget writers face the continued realities of their unfettered spending over the past decade. Already expected revenues are about $1.5 billion less than what was anticipated when the 2025-27 budget was signed into law just a few months ago. Keep in mind Democrats also passed the state’s largest tax-increase package in state history this year.
While some from the majority party want to blame what’s happening at the national level for all of Washington’s budget woes, this is disingenuous. Rep. Travis Couture is our ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, a positioned I previously held. As he appropriately and accurately stated in a recent press release:
“Governor Ferguson keeps pointing fingers at Washington, D.C., but forecasters were clear: the shortfall comes from weaker agency revenues, slower retail and construction sales, and a drop in real estate taxes — all driven by harmful state policy passed by the majority. Our fiscal problems long predate anything out of the federal government.”
You can read the rest of his statement here. You can also read a joint statement from Couture and I regarding a recent state report on the impact tariffs are having on Washington. The report reads more like political spin and completely ignores the fact that Democrats have spent every dime and more!
Washington’s affordability crisis is real – and the gas tax is making it worse!
Washington State is in the midst of a full-blown affordability crisis, and for working families, the pressure is growing unbearable. Between skyrocketing housing costs, expensive energy, rising food prices, and record-breaking taxes, many residents are being priced out of the very communities they’ve spent their lives building. The recent increase in our already-high gas tax is another blow to those trying to make ends meet.
Read my op-ed on our state’s affordability crisis here. You can watch our Fix Washington Podcast where I explain the TRUE REASON why Washington’s gas prices are consistently some of the highest in the nation. We also continue the discussion on our state’s affordability crisis and Democrat tax increases.
A Price Too High: Washington’s forests, schools, and jobs hang in the balance
Washington’s forests are supposed to work for the people. For more than a century, our state’s trust lands have generated revenue for schools, counties, and vital local services through sustainable timber harvests. That balance – harvest coupled with replanting and responsible stewardship – has supported both healthy forests and healthy communities.
But Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove’s recent order to pull 77,000 acres of older timber permanently out of production turns that balance on its head, replacing tested forest practices and pragmatism with irrational ideology, and leaving taxpayers, schoolchildren, and rural economies to bear the cost. In essence, less timber sold means fewer dollars for schools, counties, and fire districts that depend on this revenue.
Read my op-ed on the errors of Upthegrove’s ideological new policy here.
Political violence must stop!
As Charlie Kirk has famously said, once people stop talking, violence can happen. How right he was. You can watch my short video statement on Charlie’s assassination here.
As always, I welcome your thoughts, questions, or concerns about state government issues. My office is here to serve you, the great citizens of the 15th Legislative District!
Sincerely,
Chris Corry
