In daily press conferences in recent days, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson introduced his supplemental budgets and urged residents to remain vigilant as the state, reeling from floods caused by a week of severe rain storms, braces itself for another atmospheric river storm expected Sunday.
His proposed
"Despite a challenging situation, my combined budgets move our state forward in significant ways," Ferguson said. "We will make historic investments in housing and infrastructure. We can, and must, responsibly deal with the impacts of the Trump administration. My budgets provide a path."
In January, lawmakers will begin work on their "short session." The state has a two-year budget, and lawmakers will make adjustments to the $78 billion biennium budget Ferguson signed in May.
The governor proposed $225 million in bonds to support the state's Housing Trust Fund in the capital projects budget, which he said will build or preserve 4,000 housing units.
Ferguson also came out Tuesday
The governor said such a tax is needed to balance the impacts of "President Trump's massive tax cuts for the wealthy" on the state budget and economy.
But such a tax wouldn't impact the current budget, Ferguson said, because it would take some years to implement.
The governor, who noted this month's flooding has put a significant strain on the state's infrastructure, unveiled a $2.1 billion
"This natural disaster is extremely significant," Ferguson said. "The impact on our infrastructure is profound."
But he also noted the transportation budget includes maintenance that has been deferred over decades and he added $1 billion to the total to replace three aging ferries.
Ferguson said the transportation projects will be paid for with bonds backed by new taxes and fee increases included in the 2025-2027 transportation budget approved in May, a move opposed by Republicans. Ferguson is a Democrat and the party controls both houses of the legislature.
"The recent historical flooding underscores how critical this investment is. Taking care of our roads and bridges is good for individuals, communities and our economy," Ferguson said.
If approved by the legislature, it would be the largest investment to preserve roads and bridges of any budget enacted in 20 years and represent a 34% increase in maintenance projects to preserve infrastructure, the governor said.
Over a five-day period starting Dec. 8, three atmospheric rivers, narrow bands of water vapor transporting moisture to northern regions from the tropics, dumped nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain on the state in a week, according to the National Weather Service.
Segments of U.S. Highway 2, a major route connecting the Puget Sound area around Seattle to eastern Washington, could be closed for months due to storm damage, the governor said during a press conference on Saturday.
The state has signed an emergency, 30-day, $800,000 contract to repair a 12-mile stretch of Highway 2 over Stevens Pass, but the state doesn't have a date set for reopening.
State Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, filed a bill Dec. 19 to authorize using state carbon auction proceeds to cover costs of repairing damaged infrastructure. He argues that if climate change factors into storm severity, the Climate Commitment Act funds should be used to cover the damage.
Under current law, CCA funding can't be used to improve roads, Barkis, the ranking Republican on the state House Transportation Committee, wrote in a
Barkis opposed funding transportation with additional borrowing through bonds backed by the tax increases during budget talks earlier in the year. In his op-ed, Barkis proposed an alternative to raising taxes, the "Reprioritizing Existing Appropriations for Longevity Act," which would direct existing sales tax paid on motor vehicles to transportation preservation projects.
"With project costs soaring and infrastructure crumbling, our state cannot afford to have a narrow focus on transportation revenues," Barkis said. "We need real reforms."
In order to use bonds to pay for the projects, a 60% supermajority will need to vote in favor. Democrats hold exactly that supermajority in each house, with no votes to spare.
The Senate had passed a bill authorizing up to $7 billion in bonds for highway projects and ferries earlier in the year, but it lapsed in the House without a hearing.
The state also plans to ask the federal government for a major disaster declaration to secure federal recovery funding.
"The natural disaster our state is going through is historic in nature and will be a long-term event," Ferguson said. "There has been historic stress on the system. The sheer volume of water and number of days is historic."
Two levees have been breached: one in Tukwila and one in Pacific, both in King County, outside of Seattle.
The floods put significant strain on the state's infrastructure and the situation remains dynamic with a moderate risk of another levee system failure in King County, Ferguson said. Officials are deploying additional resources to monitor and prepare to respond if a breach should occur, he said.
"This is an extremely unpredictable situation, and we will continue to keep the public informed," Ferguson said.
The governor has mobilized 100 National Guard soldiers, and 50 of them will be made available to monitor the levees at all times.
"We want to make sure our residents have the same up-to-date information about the current risk and the steps we are taking out of an abundance of caution," King County Executive Girmay Zahilay said during Saturday's press conference. The county's levees have never before experienced the amount of saturation they are experiencing for so long, he said.
King County has activated flood patrols on the White, Green and Cedar rivers, and cross-trained 35 National Guard troops to augment flood patrol and enhance the ability to monitor levees, said Col. Kathryn Sanborn of the Army Corps of Engineers.
"We are aware another atmospheric river is on the horizon," Ferguson said.
California's four shift water rescue teams are going home on Monday, but will be replaced by teams from other states, Ferguson said.
The Golden State is expected to face its own deluge from an atmospheric river storm this week.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city is being vigilant and attention is being paid to where flooding could occur in burn scars from the wildfires that devastated the Palisades neighborhood of the city and Altadena, a neighborhood on the east side of Los Angeles County.
