Washington In Focus Daily | 3.09.26 | Income Tax Faces Major Opposition & New Media Lawsuit Update

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Well, hi, it's Monday, March the 9th, 2026, day 57.

Of the 2026 legislative session, this Thursday is it, March the 12th.

And that means majority Democrats are in the final push for the income tax bill.

And I am told it will get a vote on the House floor today.

This is Senate Bill 6346.

The tax on income above a million dollars at just shy of 10%, 9.9%.

It's already passed the Senate.

The version that passed the House on Friday, or I'm sorry that was introduced in the House on Friday,

offers a little bit more tax release.

Not nearly as far as the governor said he wanted in this tax to begin with.

But now on Friday, he came out and said,

I'm good with this. I'll sign this if it comes.

If this is the version that ultimately is reconciled and comes to his desk, he's ready to sign it.

We're going to have some comments on that and some thoughts from Ryan Frost with the Washington policy center.

Over the weekend, I interviewed Senator Leonard Christian from Spokane Valley.

He is taking a lot of heat for some comments he made on the Senate floor last week,

where members were debating a bill that seeks to eliminate the community protection program.

And this requires folks with developmental disabilities that have been convicted of sexual violence or charged with sexual violence.

They're housed together in one area.

Let's say it's a group home or another type of community setting.

We kept at this point away from folks that also have developmental disabilities,

but don't have a propensity for sexual violence.

This bill that looks like likely to be ultimately signed into law is going to phase out the restrictions for folks with those propensities for sexual violence,

as well as developmental disability.

He was very concerned about that.

So he used some intentionally inflammatory language on the House floor, the R word for folks with developmental disabilities.

And he did it very intentionally to bring attention to the issue.

So you're going to hear some discussion with him on that and some of the pretty heated pushback, even from members of his own party.

So after noon, citizen action defense fund is going to federal court in Tacoma.

And we're going to be there.

His clients are KB a talk show host Ari Hoffman, Brandy Cruz with the undivided podcast and Jonathan show with Discovery Institute.

And their lawsuit against the Washington state legislature asking now a federal court to grant each of them press credentials.

A little late for the session, but they could get press credentials this afternoon.

You may recall they were denied, not considered to be mainstream media enough to be granted access to the wings,

another other parts of the legislature that are off limits unless you are a credentialed member of media.

We're going to be there in the courtroom.

We're going to talk to them.

We're going to talk to their leader, Tony Jackson, mayor with citizen action defense fund at the conclusion of that.

This day could well end with them all being credentialed or denied by a federal judge.

So this is a pretty big case that we're covering for you.

All right, so let's dive in again. It's March the 9th. This could well be the day that the house of representatives passes the income tax bill.

We are watching for that.

I'm told by Republicans that there are no fewer than 50 amendments.

We're 96. When I left the house wings this morning, they were in caucus whittling down the 96 amendments to maybe 50 that'll be introduced on the House floor.

So it's probably going to be very late day today, maybe into the hours of tomorrow morning when this bill has passes off the House floor depends on what other legislation comes up as well.

So it's a significant day in Olympia today for certain.

But I got a chance to speak with Washington policy centers Ryan Frost about what governor Ferguson said he wanted on the income tax bill initially and said he wouldn't sign unless it includes that's in such versus what came out the version that came out from the House majority party.

Representative April Berg was the one to offer the legislation with some changes in it to offer a little bit more tax relief for small businesses.

And it's nowhere near what governor Ferguson initially said if this isn't in it, I'm not going to sign it.

So here's a bit of my conversation with Ryan Frost of Washington policy center.

It's not even close to a billion, which is what he wanted to see in business rate tax relief. It's about 130 million about 10% about it's about nine times less than what he said he wanted in tax relief for businesses.

So like there's intent in there about you know funding kids free school lunches and breakfast that's in the intent. There's nothing in the bill that would do that.

And so, you know, there's these things, but I say all that to say even in the intent bill section of the bill, there's nothing about the sales tax holidays. So they just this new striking members completely ignored that but again somehow still supports it.

And they've shut down every amendment for us that would do either that or get rid of the emergency like get rid of the emergency clause or tight to a million dollars.

It's an emergency so they can't be referendumed. And the reason they want to do that is because when it goes out on an initiative, you have to vote yes to repeal an income tax, which is the same game they played with the capital gains tax, which is why a lot of people voted wrong on that.

If you have to vote, you have to vote, yeah, you have to vote backwards. You have to say yes for now.

That's right. That's exactly right. And so in a referendum, it's it's opposite. You would vote no for no. If you don't want income tax on a referendum, you'd say no.

An initiative that flips and a lot of people unfortunately got confused even people I talked to today that are shocked to find out that they voted the wrong way on that capital gains tax.

I think they're completely now enamored with that kind of little sneaky strategy that they figured out where if we can just not make sure that these type of things aren't can't be referendum and they have to go on an initiative that enough people will vote the wrong way.

So it's frustrating.

When Governor Ferguson came out Friday and said this version, he'd be happy to sign.

He did talk about the inclusion of some additional free lunch and breakfast for all Washington state students, many school districts during COVID went to that model and have continued that you were, you know, it's breakfast and lunch are provided, I say free, it's a taxpayer expense covered meals.

And nearly half a million washes and households would now be eligible for the working families tax credit to receive, you know, tax credits checks of the mail as a result of this latest version of the income tax bill that is expected to come up on the house for today.

It also exempts some over the counter medications from sales tax and put some more money into the fair start for kids accounts, which is used for childcare and early learning.

So Ryan Frost at WPC was noting how Ferguson, you know, is now back in this version that falls far short of what he initially said would have to be included or he would not sign it.

I think the most telling statement and you can go back and look at any of his press conferences over the last three months was he wanted a majority of the revenue to go towards tax relief.

I think he even put a number on it in a Seattle Times piece, which was 1.9 billion to go of the 3.5 they expect to raise every year to go towards tax relief.

I added up the numbers from all the kind of there are some fiscal notes on the old ones, there's been some Department of Revenue reports on some of the new ones that just came in this this morning on some of the new additions, even adding all that up you're not even at half of the 1.9 billion, which means, you know, maybe 25% of the revenue is going to go towards tax relief, which is a far cry from what he said was kind of his, I'm putting my foot down.

That's what I want for tax relief for people.

Also notable that over the weekend we had several big tech leaders with Microsoft and AI businesses that sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to put off a vote on the income tax bill.

And we're going to put up for you part of what that letter indicated basically saying, you know, we've become a world leader in technology and innovation, doing part to the welcoming climate for innovators.

As a result, we're now home to some of the most innovative people from across the planet, people from across the globe have enriched our innovative economy and community because our business climate welcomed companies that made our state a magnet for entrepreneurs.

They strongly encouraged postponement of this vote on the income tax bill until next year.

So more pushback from big tech, you recall early on we had Brad Smith with Microsoft coming out, you know, against the income tax bill that a version was introduced that was going to give some, you know, a tax relief, I guess, for some of the largest corporations in the state.

With being a tax relief sooner than was going to be originally offered, that's been removed in the house version that's come out. So since that's happened, you've had more big tech coming out in opposition to this bill.

So we are watching for again, Senate bill 6346 likely to be coming to the House floor at some point Monday afternoon with 15 some odd Republican amendments, it's going to be a lengthy debate.

I would imagine some heated final speeches on the House floor as well. So we'll be watching all of that.

All right, now it's just something that was said on the Senate floor last week that generated some heated backlash, condemnation, money of emotion, and this was a comment made by Senator Leonard Christian, Republican from Spokane Valley.

He used the R word to describe those with developmental disabilities and he did it, he did it on purpose, not to offend anyone he says, but knowing full well that it would bring some attention to a bill that he was hoping to put down.

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This the bill, the bill summary here for a 1390 substitute house bill 1390 on a read from part of the bill summary, it says eliminates the community protection program and removes references to the community protection program from statute effective

on January 1, 2027. So this basically says anyone who's in a group home setting with developmental disabilities has to be in traditional group home settings with others with developmental disabilities.

The problem is those that are in the community protection program are folks that have either been accused of charge with convicted of some sexually violent offenses.

That was the concern that Senator Christian said, and it's why, because it wasn't getting much attention in the media, and I can see I recall hearing about the bill, I did not pay attention to it when it was on the Senate floor last week, but because of his inflammatory comments and using our word, which is obviously not in today's vernacular word that's used to describe those with developmental disabilities and offensive to a lot of people.

But he used it on purpose to get some attention to it and his work, we're talking about it, spokesman review put up an article over the weekend.

A lot of folks in his own caucus came out in opposition to what he said and, you know, an official rubber man. So anyway, I had a conversation with senator Christian over the weekend, and here's part of that.

This bill really going to put these sexually violent folks in with the community that's vulnerable, who probably doesn't, I mean, doesn't even know what's happening to him, doesn't quite have the ability to fight back.

My staffs like, yep, I said, no, this can't be. And then to find out that, you know, the Department of Health, this was all for this.

And in fact, I received a phone call asking me to support it. I'm like, you've got to be joking me.

You know, what would you do if somebody you loved was going to be sexually, you know, assaulted? You pull out all the stops.

You do what you're sent to lump you to do. You protect the people.

And that's where I came at decided I'm going to cause a little trouble a stir on the floor on the floor. And again, I never meant to disrespect folks.

The term that we used on the floor. I mean, gosh, up until 92, the ARC use that in their name and their title.

And it's still all over the internet. And it wasn't meant to be disrespect back for our hurtful to anybody.

It was to get some attention from the mainstream media on how horrible this bill was going to do. And look, if you had the choice between a, you know, heart hurtful word and physical harm, where are you going to go?

As I mentioned, his use of the R word drew condemnation from his own party, fellow Republicans in his district, which is the fourth district in the Spokane area issued a letter.

You know, basically saying we don't support what you said at all. This is, you know, not language we want used by anyone in our caucus.

And so Senator Christian told me it wasn't so much bothered by the condemnation. He gets the way these things work and that they probably had to come out with some sort of a statement condemning what he had said that part didn't bother him, but he said what bothered him is that

while they're reprimanding his verbiage, they weren't at the same time, putting equal or even, you know, increased emphasis on how bad the bill is in his opinion. So he's very worried about putting these, you know, sexually violent people in with others who are vulnerable potentially to being taken advantage of.

I did write up that story. It is right now live on her page at the center square comm slash Washington. So you can see, see more of that and additional comments and I would, you know, I would welcome any feedback you have as well on that article.

All right. Now to where I am headed shortly. It's a big day in federal court in Tacoma. This is the credentialing kerfuffle.

We've been calling it for the last couple of years discussing this with some journalists denied access to some parts of the legislature. So I'm going to hold up for you. My little, what do I have. Okay, I had to get a house day pass today because I forgot my credential at home, which I've never done before.

But I do have a hard pass, which means it's like, you know, it's in my lanyard. I don't have to get one every day. Otherwise, in the Senate this year, you have to go in and get a weekly pass to have access to the wings.

So what that means is you have access to, you know, if the, if the center of the house are on the floor or they're in caucus, you know, talking about legislation that's about to come to the floor.

You have access. You can sit in the wings. You can send a legislative assistant in to get a member that you're hoping to get an interview with.

When they step out, you can say, Hey, what's going on like today when I was in the house wings. I said, tell me what time the income tax bills coming up. So, you know, it's a, yeah, that access provides an opportunity for members of the media to perhaps have not all the access to those lawmakers. But, you know, here's what's coming up today. Here's what you might want to keep an eye out for.

We had Brandy Cruz, Jonathan Cho and Ari Hoffman all denied access and that the sense was that, or at least the excuse, I said, should say for not branding them access is that I'm not legitimate mainstream members of the press.

But as I'm guessing anybody who watches this podcast or, you know, pays attention to the center square, they did the same thing to us last year tried to initially deny us press credentials.

We are a wire service nearly as large as the associated press now with more than 1400 affiliates across this country that carry our stories. So eventually they caved in and I got, you know, full access, full press credentials, if you will.

Mainstream media not down here so much. You've got other members of, you know, independent journalists like like Brandy and Jonathan and Ari with KPI not down here as much because of his radio show responsibilities.

But denied access on Jewish day. He's probably the most prominent Jewish guy I know in conservative media and he was denied access.

So this is a pretty significant case. And what happened is it was initially going to go to a nursing County court last week at the defendants actually push this thing to federal court where today there is a motion for summary judgment.

That means this judge in federal court today is going to make a decision. So it's pretty significant that this has come down to today.

So Jackson Maynard is the attorney with citizen action defense fund arguing on behalf of Brandy crews Jonathan show and Ari Hoffman.

I spoke with him about the significance of this case a few weeks ago. Again, before we knew that it was going to move to federal court and summary judgment with a decision coming today.

Here's part of that conversation with Jackson.

We filed a suit this morning on behalf of Brandy crews Jonathan show and Ari Hoffman.

You may remember a couple weeks ago, I sent a letter on Mr. Hoffman's behalf because he had been denied a press pass.

And it was fairly clear that the House did not have any clear guidelines. It's still not clear from the record, but was either being made by the House with the advice of the Capitol Correspondence Association.

Or the Capitol Correspondence Association was making the decision, but the bottom line is the way that they were going about it violated the constitutional rights of both Ari and then we found out Brandy crews in Jonathan show.

And so the suit is to go in court and have a judge basically order the House of Representatives, the legislature and the clerk of the House and the Capitol Correspondence Association to follow the law.

As I mentioned, you know, this whole credential saga actually started last year with the center square when we were denied credentials because we were not considered mainstream or legacy media enough.

They've since given that up, but as a consequence of that, they turned over the credentialing process to the House and the Senate to lawmakers to design.

And that is got us to the point where fast forward today we've got these other journalists who've attempted to get access who were previously denied. So I'm going to be in the court.

I will bring you updates from the plaintiffs and also with the attorney with cat F. Jackson Maynard later Monday. So stay tuned for that and certainly tune in on Tuesday for a full update on that we're going to have some exclusive coverage that others are not able to bring you.

So that's a wrap on today's episode of Washington in focus daily. I'm so glad that you tune in and watch. Check out our page again the center square.com slash Washington income tax day credentialing kerfuffle solution day in federal court in Tacoma.

We're going to be there to follow it all. So again, thanks for tuning in and we'll see you tomorrow.

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