As I wrote on Friday, Gov.-elect Ferguson’s budget proposal is thin on details. Importantly, though, he argues that the first course of action is to reduce spending: “I am focused on identifying opportunities for savings first and will only focus on revenue after we have scrubbed the budget for savings and reductions.”

Indeed, as we have outlined in detail, the operating budget problem is the result of spending choices made by the Legislature, not the result of a revenue decline. As enacted last year, appropriations for 2023–25 are 15.8% higher than 2021–23 spending. At the time the budget was adopted, revenues were expected to be just 3.5% higher than in 2021–23.

For the operating budget, the governor-elect recommends adopting the savings items included in Gov. Inslee’s budget proposal. According to the governor-elect, these savings total $3 billion. (My review of Gov. Inslee’s proposals turned up $1.1 billion in proposed policy level savings for 2025–27; unfortunately, he did not provide four-year estimates for his proposals. Thus, it is not clear if the $3 billion includes maintenance level reductions or the estimated reductions over the four-year outlook period.)

In addition to that $3 billion in savings, Gov.-elect Ferguson proposes across-the-board cuts:

• No reduction for basic education, community and technical colleges, the Department of Corrections, the Washington State Patrol, or the Criminal Justice Training Commission.
• 3% reductions for four-year higher education institutions.
• 6% for all other agencies (excluding pass-through entitlement benefits).

During the media’s 2025 Legislative Session Preview last week, Gov.-Elect Ferguson said that the 6% would be the amount across agencies, but some agencies might be cut more and some less. Altogether, the governor-elect estimates that the across-the-board reductions would save about $4.4 billion over the four-year period. These reductions would go a long way toward bringing appropriations back in line with expected revenue, but they would not go all the way. However, Ferguson’s direction to “conduct a zero-based budgeting review of certain programs, working groups and studies” will likely turn up more programs that are no longer state priorities.

The governor-elect proposes some spending increases. First, he would fund the collective bargaining agreements negotiated with state and nonstate employees. Additionally, other proposed spending increases for the operating budget include (the numbers are the total over four years):

• $480 million for universal free school lunch.
• $100 million to increase the Working Connections Child Care income threshold to 75% of the state median income for families with one parent working for a small business. (The Fair Start for Kids Act increases this threshold for all families beginning FY 2026. Gov. Inslee’s proposal would delay it to save $296 million over four years.)
• $200 million for grants to hire law enforcement officers.
• $5 million to address a backlog at the Washington State Patrol Toxicology Laboratory.

He agrees with the following of Gov. Inslee’s capital budget proposals:

• $536 million for the Housing Trust Fund.
• $65 million for the Connecting Housing to Infrastructure program.
• $10 million for the Supporting Housing Affordability Infrastructure program.

Finally, he agrees with Gov. Inslee’s transportation budget proposal to appropriate $19.2 million for ferry crew recruitment and retention and increased service.