It wasn’t an easy road, but after a special session in December, the 60-day regular session and another 31 days in special session, the Legislature finally broke through the one-party control in Olympia to close a $1 billion budget gap and adopt much-needed government reforms.

Republicans were brought to the negotiating table for the first time in many years and were instrumental in bringing forth common-sense solutions at each and every meeting. As a result, the budget includes many of our priorities of funding education, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and public safety. The final budget also does not include a sales tax increase, as proposed by the governor and Democrats, and it doesn’t delay payments to schools or eliminate levy funds to rural school districts, as proposed in the House and Senate Democratic budgets.

While the final budget represents a decent compromise between different philosophical view points, it does have some major flaws. My main concern is that it leaves very little in our state’s reserve fund. This is worrisome given the volatility of tax collections.

My other main concern is that the Democrat-controlled Legislature once again did very little to protect the jobs we currently have and to spur economic growth in our state. A competitive economic climate is the key to retaining the jobs we have, encouraging existing businesses to expand and hire, and attracting new companies and new employment opportunities Washington state.

Thank you for visiting my web site. It is an honor to serve as a member of the 15th District legislative team, and I am grateful for the trust the people of our district have placed in me as their state representative.

David Taylor
State Representative
15th District
(R – Moxee)