Washington legislature must deliver on affordability | Opinion

Session Kickoff- Affordability and Reform, Restructure, and Renew our Budget Programs and Priorities

There is so much facing our state this legislative session. The legislature needs to do all we can to address affordability, public safety, efficient delivery of services, and to reform, restructure and renew our budget, our commitments and our programs.

Over the past year, economic policy out of both Washingtons is not helping affordability right now. For example, federal tariffs and going after our state’s best agriculture trade partner in Canada are bad for us as one the most trade dependent states in the nation. But on a state level, this past session, I voted against a record amount of new taxes, including a sales tax on services, small businesses and gas taxes, all of which hit working families on the chin.

I know a lot of folks are concerned about the budget, especially recognizing that our state tax system is unfair. I also hear concerns that we seem to address affordability with new taxes. Now we have proposals to create a millionaires income tax and a payroll tax on successful businesses and successful people. I hear from people left, right and center on the political spectrum who all seem to agree that our tax system is broken.

However, these new taxes are not the solution.

We should not pass any new taxes, especially when they are simply another bandage to treat the reality that we are chasing billion-dollar deficits every year and threaten to chase investment and jobs out of our state. Our tax system needs change, it needs to be more fair but a new tax that does not reduce taxes for the middle class, businesses and handle our cost drivers is not fair. It is just another tax to bandage a budget that has grown from roughly 26 billion to nearly 80 billion over the past 15 years.

In addition to working budgetary solutions, we need to work on addressing cost drivers for food and preserving our agriculture sector. The competitiveness of our world-famous agriculture has declined into the 40s of states in our country, and we need to work on addressing the cost drivers facing our farms. We are losing farms every day, and losing farms in our state is bad for everyone. It is bad for farmers, farmworkers and for anyone who likes to eat and does not want it to cost so much. We cannot lose farmworkers and farms to ICE targeting hardworking people. We cannot lose farms and jobs to state policy, especially at a time when food insecurity seems to grow faster than crops, even though good food goes to waste.

On public safety, what we are witnessing from ICE is unacceptable for law enforcement operations. I have seen local law enforcement and federal officers who respond to human trafficking at their best, and I know federal law enforcement can and must do so much better than the chaos we see across the country. So while we look into meaningful ways to respond to reckless ICE tactics, we should not take it out on our local law enforcement who are understaffed and overwhelmed. We can and we must respond to issues like retail theft, to human trafficking, and support the hiring of more local law enforcement too.

On delivery and accountability, we need to work on regulatory and permitting reforms. This applies particularly to transportation projects and for government agencies to emphasize efficient permit processing and improving the customer experience. Time is money, and we need to respect people, their time and their tax dollars. The longer people wait for permits and licenses the more that costs all of us. We can protect the environment and safety, while processing permits faster, and people should expect to get what they need on time.

I am writing this from the desk for my district on the floor of the State House where I can look up to see the names of Kitsap and Pierce County etched into the wall. Seeing those names provides me with a small reminder of the place I grew up and the conversations I have had that brought me to the floor in the first place. I feel that these reflections on the work ahead reflect the conversations I have had on city streets, in cul-de-sacs, and down dirt roads.

My thoughts here also reflect a moment this past summer when I was standing in line at my credit union branch on the Key Peninsula and overheard a neighbor talking to the teller about how expensive food prices are. I don’t believe either of them knew one of their state representatives was standing there, but I was listening, and I have continued to do so. We need to act on the basic concerns you have. That is the responsibility of all of us in the state legislature as we navigate a difficult time.

Rep. Adison Richards, D-Gig Harbor, represents the 26th Legislative District.