2025 Washington state legislative session begins today

The Washington state Capitol on Nov. 11, 2024. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)

The first day of the 2025 Washington state legislative session has arrived! Opening ceremonies will begin at noon today in the House and Senate at the state Capitol in Olympia.

Heading into the session, the topic grabbing the most attention is a budget gap of around $10 billion to $12 billion over the next four years.

Democratic leaders say new or higher taxes will likely need to be part of the fix. Republicans say the state has a spending problem and tax hikes are not the answer. Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson, who will be sworn in Wednesday, swooped in last week with his own budget framework, which calls for 6% cuts at most state agencies. But the estimated savings from the path Ferguson charted won’t be enough to eliminate the shortfall. Ferguson is also distancing himself from the idea of a new “wealth tax,” something progressives support and that outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee included in his final budget proposal.

Beyond the budget, legislation to cap rent increases, debates over school funding, and bills to impose new gun restrictions are just a few of the other high-profile topics poised to come up in the weeks ahead. Plus, there are questions about how the Legislature might respond to federal policies in areas like immigration that the incoming Trump administration could pursue.

From opening day until the final gavel drops, the Standard will have reporters on the scene at the Capitol bringing you the latest. And throughout the day today, we’ll be posting live updates here.

If you’re looking to get up to speed, we’ve put together a set of guides to help you follow all the action. You can find those here:

• The Standard’s guide to the legislative session
• The Legislature, by the numbers
• A guide to understanding the Washington state budget
• New faces of the 2025 legislative session
• Six lawmakers to watch in Washington’s 2025 session

For some of our most recent budget-related coverage, see here:

• Ferguson pitches spending cuts, voices skepticism of ‘wealth tax’
• Tax debate hangs heavy over approaching Washington legislative session
• Inslee proposes taxing wealthy residents and businesses to close Washington’s budget gap
• Making sense of Washington’s multi-billion dollar budget hole