Yesterday marked the beginning of the 2026 legislative session in Olympia, where lawmakers are tasked with passing the state’s 2026 operating, capital, and transportation supplemental budgets. The supplemental budgets will adjust or apply fixes to the 2025-27 biennial budgets passed last legislative session.
The most pressing issue continues to be the state’s operating budget shortfall, which is currently projected to be $1.6 billion. This is after the state entered last year’s session with a $12-16 billion budget shortfall and lawmakers voted to cut billions of dollars from the state budget while passing a $9.4 billion revenue package to help offset the deficit.
Given the ongoing fiscal challenges, the Legislature has little appetite for significant new spending. Recognizing this, the UW is not asking for any new operating budget investments and will instead focus on stabilizing funding for core operations and mitigating potential new cuts.
There has also been a renewed effort by some Democrats, who control both the House and Senate, to discuss new revenue for the 2026 legislative session. However, any new revenue will not solve the near-term budget shortfall as it would take time to implement.
During the first week, Morgan Hickel and Kevin Chang with the UW Office of State Relations will testify before the House and Senate fiscal committees to offer UW’s positions on the Governor’s operating and capital budget proposals that were released last month.
Morgan is highlighting that UW is serving more students than ever with fewer resources and will ask legislators to help ensure the University has a sustainable fiscal foundation that supports our students, local communities, and the state’s economy. Kevin will advocate for funding for phase 1 of the Power Plant decarbonization project on the Seattle campus. This project reduces the University’s greenhouse gas emissions, helps toward compliance with the Climate Commitment Act and Clean Building Performance Standard, and will serve the soon-to-be constructed, state-funded chemical sciences facility.
Questions?
The Office of State Relations is in Olympia throughout legislative 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 or Kevin Chang at kchang28@uw.edu.