Yesterday, Governor Bob Ferguson signed into law the state’s 2025-27 operating, capital, and transportations budgets—just before the deadline to take action. By law, he was required to either approve the budgets, issue partial vetoes, or reject them in full no later than May 20.
The final two-year operating budget totals nearly $78 billion and is balanced through a combination of spending reductions and new revenue measures. These include increases to business taxes for various industries, an expansion of the sales tax to cover additional services, and a higher capital gains tax and estate taxes. Several business tax exemptions were also eliminated. While Gov. Ferguson did veto a number of sections in the budget, the resulting savings of about $25 million represents a small portion of the overall budget.
In addition to the operating budget, Gov. Ferguson signed the capital budget totaling more than $7 billion and the transportation budget totaling just over $15 billion. The transportation budget is funded in part by a gas tax increase that takes effect July 1.
In recent weeks, the Governor has also signed hundreds of bills into law, including several that were requested by the UW or UW Medicine, such as:
- Senate Bill (SB) 5239 concerns retention of hospital medical records.
- SB 5355 improves safety at institutions of higher education while supporting student survivors of sexual assault.
- House Bill (HB) 1755 exempts elective percutaneous coronary intervention performed in certain hospitals owned or operated by a state entity from certificate of need requirements.
- HB 1552 extends the fee on real estate broker licenses to fund the Washington center for real estate research and adjusts the fee to account for inflation.
For more information about this legislative session and the budget outcomes, see the session review posted in the News & Updates section of this website.
Questions?
The Office of State Relations was in Olympia every day throughout session advocating on behalf of the UW. For questions about the state legislative process or the UW’s advocacy efforts, please contact Morgan Hickel at mhickel@uw.edu.
