Ferguson offers his budget "proposal"

Plus lawmakers take on AI, a sneak peek at the year of Housing, and some recommended listening.

The budget framework Governor-elect Bob Ferguson rolled out Wednesday is less a budget proposal and more of a budget outline. The $4.4 billion in budget cuts it envisions are particularly vaporous. He declared at least half the budget—including K-12 education and public safety agencies—off-limits to cuts and proposes a largely unspecified 6% haircut on other state agencies. We’ll see how that plays with the legislative budget writers upstairs after he moves into the sweet suite in the capitol. However, there were some interesting specifics in his budget priorities document.

Incoming Governor Bob Ferguson shares his budget “proposal” on Jan. 9. Photo by Tim Gruver

He’s not keen on the wealth tax

Maybe he read our portability-of-wealth hypothetical featuring Jane Venture. Or perhaps he was swayed by left-leaning multimillionaire philanthropist Nick Hanauer peeing on the idea from a great height. In any case, Ferguson firmly fended off Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed levy on the assets of the mega-rich: “I am deeply skeptical that we can rely on balancing the budget through an untested wealth tax.” That’s not an outright veto threat, but it's certainly cover for lawmakers who don’t want to go there in the first place. However, Ferguson was notably silent on Inslee’s proposed B&O tax increases or any of the other tax-the-rich proposals floating around the Democratic caucuses.