The Legislature wants drawback solvers. The state finances is unsustainable and what lawmakers are spending isn’t yielding the outcomes Washingtonians anticipate. The following legislative session have to be an accountability agenda: trimming an out-of-control finances whereas scrutinizing applications to make sure they’re reaching their said coverage objectives. Gov. Bob Ferguson has stated as a lot.
Janice Zahn is strictly the sort of lawmaker voters ought to need to be half of what is going to be an arduous 2027 legislative session. Voters from the forty first Legislative District, together with south Bellevue, Sammamish, Mercer Island and Newcastle, ought to ship her again to Olympia.
Because the Legislature’s solely engineer, Zahn’s first time period within the Home of Representatives led reforms to contracting, bidding and bonding massive public works initiatives, leading to value financial savings for taxpayers. She’s dedicated to frugal finances practices to assist put Olympia again on monitor financially.
“We have now to seek out methods for presidency to work smarter, and extra effectively and successfully,” the Democrat informed the editorial board.
A member of the Home Transportation Committee, Zahn is pursuing an infrastructure caucus to focus on the mounting wants of the state’s decaying community of bridges and highways.
Whereas she voted for the state’s new earnings tax on excessive earners, Zahn expressed frustration at sure points. Amongst them Gov. Ferguson’s pledge to make college lunch free for all — that’s prone to the advantage of households that may afford it, at the price of lower-income households.
“I believe which will create extra inequities in our colleges,” she stated.
She is certainly clear-eyed in regards to the finances difficulties of the upcoming session — nonetheless virtually two years away from proceeds of the novel earnings tax, ought to it survive court docket and poll challenges. The Legislature is probably going strolling right into a multibillion-dollar finances gap.
“As painful as cuts are, that’s what we’ll should do,” she stated.
Zahn isn’t shy about talking up, even when it’d ruffle feathers in some corners of her personal celebration. She critiqued Sound Transit, together with the current Ballard extension cuts and the company’s push to have the Legislature approve 75-year bonding authority. Bonds shouldn’t be paid longer than the lifespan of the infrastructure, she stated.
Zahn’s Republican opponent, Elle Nguyen, declined a web-based interview with the editorial board.
The editorial board endorsed Zahn two years ago, saying the previous Bellevue Metropolis Council member “excels in such unsexy however essential work.” That’s nonetheless true, and it’s nonetheless worthwhile. Voters have a transparent alternative in Zahn for the District 41, Place 1 race.
