2025 legislative preview WAWG will engage on salmon recovery efforts, against labor issues
2025January 2025
By Diana Carlen
Lobbyist, Washington Association of Wheat Growers

On Jan. 13, 2025, the Washington State Legislature will be back in session. There will be a lot of new faces, including a new governor (Bob Ferguson), commissioner of public lands (Dave Upthegrove), and a couple dozen new legislators. The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) will need to do a lot of education with newly elected officials and build relationships.
The 2025 session is scheduled to last 105 days. The primary job of the Legislature will be to pass operating, capital, and transportation budgets for 2023-25. Legislators face a daunting task this year as the state is facing a budget shortfall of between $10 billion and $12 billion over the next four years.
Politically, Democrats expanded their already considerable majorities in both the state House of Representatives and the Senate by adding a seat in each chamber. Democrats will hold majorities of 59-39 in the House and 30-19 in the Senate. Democrats will now have a 60% majority in each chamber, meaning they will not need Republican votes to pass the bond votes for the transportation and capital budgets. This means that Republicans could be left out of negotiations on those budgets, which have typically been bipartisan.
To kick off the budget development process for the upcoming session, the outgoing governor, Jay Inslee, will be releasing a proposed 2025-27 budget on Dec. 17 (not available at the time this went to publication). That spending plan will serve as a template for lawmakers and Governor-Elect Bob Ferguson when they write budgets in the 2025 session. Gov. Inslee is likely to release two budget proposals. State law requires the governor to propose a budget that is balanced without any new revenue. It is speculated that the first proposal Gov. Inslee releases will be one with deep cuts in state programs and services. It is also anticipated he will release an alternative budget that relies on new revenue (either new taxes or an increase in existing taxes) to buy back some of the proposed cuts in his first budget proposal. Governor-Elect Ferguson is anticipated to follow with a document listing his budget priorities, but not a full budget proposal.
Democrat legislators have indicated that new revenue (i.e. tax increases or new taxes) will be necessary to deal with the projected budget deficit. With the Legislature’s makeup more progressive this year, there is a lot of discussion over a wealth tax on the highest state earners or a tax on high salaries paid by large corporations similar to Seattle’s JumpStart tax.
Typically, there are over 2,000 bills that are introduced during a legislative session. WAWG staff will be reviewing every piece of legislation that is introduced and engaging on any legislation that will impact farmers in the state. WAWG’s primary focus will be maintaining a viable agricultural industry in the state and making sure the rural areas of the state have a voice as legislation is developed.
On the policy front, now that the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) will remain in place in after voters rejected repealing the law, it is likely we will see legislation making tweaks to the law as the state moves forward, potentially linking its carbon market with California and Quebec. WAWG will continue to advocate for a comprehensive solution to ensure that all fuel used by the ag industry on the farm and for transporting agricultural products is exempt from carbon surcharges, which the Legislature intended when it passed the CCA.
While some farmers have been able to purchase fuel without the carbon surcharge, the issue has not been resolved for smaller loads and at retail. Governor-Elect Ferguson has publicly stated that ensuring farmers get promised rebates is one of his priorities. WAWG looks forward to working with him on this issue.
WAWG will also be involved in discussions regarding salmon recovery efforts. For the past couple of years, WAWG has been actively engaged with the work of the Riparian Taskforce in developing measures to improve and protect riparian areas across the state. WAWG continues to support voluntary incentive programs, like the Voluntary Stewardship Program, instead of regulatory approaches.
It is anticipated that there will a number of labor proposals that could impact agricultural operations, such as policies to make it easier to unionize farmworkers, allowing striking workers to access unemployment benefits, increases to the minimum wage, and expansion of the paid family leave program that could impact smaller employers.
WAWG will be hosting their annual Olympia days Jan. 19-21. We encourage our members to come experience Olympia days and meet with elected officials so lawmakers can learn more about our industry from the people who grow the food that feeds the world.
Download the 2025 Legislative Pullout.