Author Archives: Laudan

How much more in taxes?


Greetings from Olympia,

Late last week, the state’s revenue forecast came out, and again tax collections are up, way up. The state is projected to take in almost $1 billion a year more than expected. The Senate Republican lead on the budget has noted that this is the “best budget situation of the 21st century.” Even before the 2019 legislative session began, I’ve been saying that our state’s economy is booming because of the federal tax cuts and deregulation. The state’s chief economist said the same thing. We can expect an additional $4.5 billion in tax collections without raising taxes.

When $50 Billion isn’t enough

House D budget

So what are our friends in the majority planning on doing with all that extra money you sent to Olympia? Raise taxes, of course. Last Monday, the House Democrats unveiled their budget proposal for the state’s two-year operating budget, which relies on over $4 billion in new taxes, including an unconstitutional income tax.

The Senate majority released their proposed budget this past Friday. While the spending levels are a bit lower, and the budget doesn’t rely on new taxes, they still are considering implementing them anyway. Of particular concern is the push for an unconstitutional income tax. The proposal would increase state spending by over 16 percent. It’s a better position than what the House majority has put forward, but I’m still skeptical about the overall increases. We need to invest in mental health, we need to make sure special education is adequately funded, but I remain concerned about the ever-increasing growth in our state’s budget. 

Click here to get more detailed information on both proposals. 

My worry is that while the tax cuts and deregulation are putting more money in people’s pockets as evidenced by the record revenue to the state, the majority is working overtime to implement new taxes and regulations that will undo all that positive momentum. Consider that the Bureau of Economic Analysis just published a report saying Washington leads the nation in personal income growth at almost 7 percent, compared to the national average of just 4.5 percent. The majority wants a 19-percent increase in state spending paid for with your money.

Social Engineering 101 

I haven’t talked much about other issues going on in Olympia. I’ve been primarily concerned with fighting efforts by the Legislature to make your life harder and more expensive, but I have to say something, now. While we have real problems like addressing homelessness and mental health, the majority party has spent a considerable amount of time pushing extreme social agendas.

You’ve likely heard about efforts to implement mandatory and “comprehensive” sex education at all grade levels. We have a growing achievement and opportunity gap, and some in Olympia think we should be taking valuable classroom time away to teach kindergartners about transgender sex. Sure, parents can “opt out,” but that won’t do much good if you don’t know when schools will be indoctrinating your kids, or because it’s woven into all subjects as part of the “comprehensive” approach. This is about parents’ rights and preventing the state from sexualizing children. 

Another example of this push for social engineering is the obsession with some about race and “social justice.” Using what I call “advocacy” research, people are pushing all kinds of fringe theories about race being the cause of this or the cause of that. I was in the energy-related committee the other day and one of the presenters said that studies show climate change impacts “people of color” first. I don’t necessarily think that the changing climate discriminates based on race and, of course, when I pushed back they had no real answers.

There are things we can and should be doing to ensure that people of all races and incomes are benefiting from the work we do in the Legislature, but I don’t’ think that should be determined solely by someone’s race. The unfortunate thing is that all these regressive taxes and regulations will hurt everyone in our state, including and primarily lower income people who may be “people of color,” but they don’t want to talk about that.

Watch

Click on the links below to watch short videos on policies that I’m working on regarding affordable housing and education funding. 

Keeping more education dollars in the classroom. 

Fighting for the American Dream. 

Affordable warehousing

As people struggle to find affordable housing, the Legislature isn’t doing much to help. In fact, while I’ve promoted efforts to make building single-family homes more affordable, the majority thinks we solve our housing crisis by taxing housing MORE!

Part of the proposed House budget includes a specific increase in the real estate excise tax. So they want to take the equity in your home and use it for their efforts to provide affordable housing (apartments), without providing home-ownership opportunities to get people out of poverty. This housing affordability crisis is a self-imposed problem, and government-imposed fees and regulations are making the problem worse. If you’re a renter, I want you to be able to afford a home of your own. Home-ownership is touted by experts as one of the greatest wealth generators for low- and middle-income families. But the Legislature chooses to invest in more expensive government rental units, with no path out of poverty. If we aren’t investing and building a system that promotes affordable home-ownership, we are just warehousing low-income people and the problem will never be solved.

It is an honor serving as your state senator.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any concerns you have about your state government.

Sincerely,

Fortunato Signature

Phil Fortunato,

Your 31st District State Senator

Legislature working to obstruct federal immigration laws

Numerous bills have been introduced in the 2019 legislative session that are aimed obstructing state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts, or granting special privileges to those unlawfully in the state.

What is Washington doing about illegal immigration? The Washington Legislature is passing laws that make no distinction between legal immigrants and those willfully breaking federal immigration law.

Washington among 12 states granting drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens – In 2018, Gov. Inslee ordered the state Department of Licensing not to share information with federal immigration agents, and a new agency rule no longer requires drivers to list their place of birth.

Washington relaxed citizenship requirements for voter registration in 2018, allowing non-citizen 16 and 17-year-olds to “pre-register” without facing felony penalties.

Gov. Jay Inslee issued an executive order in 2017 forbidding state-agency cooperation with federal immigration authorities, except where required by law.

Bills that are advancing

  • Prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities — SB 5497HB 1815 – prevents sharing of info, blocks jailhouse interviews by federal agents. Passed Senate.
  • Creating a new “protected class” under state law for illegal aliens — SB 5165 – expands Washington anti-discrimination law; affects employment decisions, lending and rentals. Passed Senate.
  • Creating a family planning program for illegal aliens — SB 5602 – Directs the Department of Health to create a program identical to offerings for citizens, resident aliens. Passed Senate.
  • Expanding College Bound Scholarship program — HB 1311 – Allows students to enroll in 9th and 10th grade, uses definition of “resident student” that encompasses illegal status. Passed House.
  • Expanding College Promise Scholarship program — SB 5393/HB 1340 – Makes program an entitlement for all eligible students, uses definition of “resident student” that encompasses illegal status. Passed Senate.
  • Expanding eligibility for “family sentencing alternative” programs that allow convicted felons to stay out of prison to care for their children — SB 5291 — would include illegal aliens and others who are subject to deportation. Passed Senate.

Update from Olympia

FloorGreetings from Olympia,

It’s been a busy week in your state Capitol. We’ve been working late into the evenings voting on all kinds of bills, mostly proposals by the majority party to increase energy costs, raise property taxes, impose new taxes on consumers, and grow government. You can be assured that I’ve been voting “No” on those efforts. Instead, I’ve taken opportunities to speak up for you on the Senate Floor, pointing out the facts. We don’t need to tax you more.

Thanks to the federal tax cuts and deregulation, our state is projected to receive billions more of your tax dollars than we expected. These aren’t my words. Our state economist was on TVW saying the same thing. In fact, the state’s budget is edging past $50 billion, and too many in Olympia think it’s still not enough.

Whether it’s affordable housing, education or transportation, the only solutions coming from those in charge are MORE TAXES!

I’ve adopted a three-pronged strategy to deal with these pressing issues before the Legislature:

  1. Transportation;
  2. Education; and
  3. Housing and Homelessness.

Read more about my approach to addressing these problems below.

Fully Funding Transportation

Phil's plan

In my last e-news update, I asked your input on how the state should address transportation funding. The results are clear. In case you missed it, you can read more about my plan by clicking here. Right now, we are stuck in an endless cycle of creating project lists and raising taxes to pay for them. In the transportation package being considered now, I was able to secure a lot of great things for our district, but to get them I’ll have to vote for billions in new taxes, including an $8 billion carbon tax and increase in the gas tax. I’ll be fighting to use the money you already send Olympia to meet our growing infrastructure needs.

Driving More Money into the Classroom

Classroom

There are over 1,400 unfunded mandates from the state on our local schools. These cost money. Conversations in Olympia are focused on how we get more money for schools. I want to know how we can get the billions we are already spending where they need to go – educating kids in the classroom. We spend about half of a $50 billion two-year budget on K-12 education. If we were able to save just 5 percent by reducing these mandates, that’s over $1 billion more for our students. Click here to learn more about my proposal.

Fighting for the American Dream

While our state is in the midst of a self-imposed housing crisis, I’m committed to finding real solutions. I sponsored legislation to make building single-family homes more affordable. The problem is that government regulations and fees are making the costs to build too high. Now, an entry-level home is more than $400,000. That puts the biggest driver of wealth creation for low- and middle-income families – their own home – out of reach. Instead of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into government-subsidized housing, which costs more per unit than the private sector, we need to look at the underlying costs. Click here to watch a short video and here for a write-up I did on how we can make home ownership a reality for more people.

It is an honor serving as your state senator. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any concerns you have about your state government.

Sincerely,

Fortunato Signature

Phil Fortunato,

Your 31st District Senator

Fortunato’s ‘Welcome to Washington’ litter bill approved by Senate

Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, to clean up Washington’s highways was approved Tuesday by the state Senate.

Senate Bill 5093, known as the “Welcome to Washington” act, would prioritize litter control on state highways and require coordination of the state’s agencies, including the departments of Ecology, Transportation and State Patrol, using the current hidden litter tax.

“I travel a lot for work and spend even more time in traffic,” said Fortunato. “If you pay attention, you’ll notice our roadways are a mess. There are bumpers and tires, sometimes even couches on the side of our highways. When you come into Washington from Oregon, there is big, beautiful sign that says ‘Welcome to Washington,’ and you’re greeted with trash on the highway.”

Fortunato’s bill would increase coordination during lane closures between the state agencies in charge of keeping highways and roads litter-free in order to clear large debris.

“You probably have seen the signs on the highway for an Ecology crew, but they don’t have the ability to clean up large items, but the state Department of Transportation does,” Fortunato added. “This simple proposal gets these agencies to communicate with each other and use their resources to keep our highways beautiful.”

The legislation was approved unanimously and now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Affordable housing work in jeopardy

Washington state’s housing problems spurred the creation of a housing-policy committee in the 2019 legislative session. However, tax efforts by legislative Democrats may undermine the committee’s work to address affordable housing.

Too many solutions legislative Democrats are promoting to address affordable housing are focused on raising taxes to subsidize ever-increasing costs. One proposal wants to raise the real estate excise tax to fund housing. This Socialist approach robs homeowners’ equity to fund more expensive government housing.

A recent report to the committee noted that non-profit, government funded housing costs 23 percent more than housing built by the private market. I offered amendments to prohibit more taxes to pay for government regulation instead of providing housing for people were rejected.

The Democrats seemed determined to undermine any approach to provide families with children a home of their own. They seem intent on cramming them into homeless camps, tiny homes and low-income government projects.

The Association of Washington Cities recently recognized my work in the committee and his legislation creating what he is calling “housing affordability zones.” Senate Bill 5802, which received a public hearing Feb. 20, would provide incentives to cities to lean into affordable-housing development with exemptions from fees and limits on building permits.

An official with the Association of Washington Cities says my proposal is “one of the only ideas that have been advanced this session that would directly promote private single-family development meeting a more affordable price point.”

I’m really concerned because while we are trying to tackle this self-imposed affordability crisis, some think the answer is to keep adding costs to housing. You don’t make housing more affordable by adding more taxes and regulations on housing.

Elephant in the Dome – Sen. Fortunato talks transportation and much more

Listen to my take on issue before the legislature in new episode of the Senate Republican’s podcast where I discuss transportation, taxes, education funding and affordable housing.

Truth in government bill seeks to change state agency name

Taxpayer advocate and state Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, has introduced truth-in-government legislation that accurately portrays the work of a state agency.

Senate Bill 5925 would change the name of the state Department of Revenue to the Department of Taxation. The simple name change required an over-500-page bill.

“I was at a conference and learned that Hawaii is doing it right,” said Fortunato. “They have what’s called the Department of Taxation. I think we need more truth in government, so I sponsored this legislation to make it clearer to people what our state agency does.”

According to its mission statement, the state Department of Revenue seeks “to fairly and efficiently collect revenues and administer programs to fund public services and advocate sound tax policy.”

“The reality is that this state agency doesn’t generate revenue,” Fortunato said. “Revenue is what businesses and people generate from the sale of goods and services. This is a tax collection agency and their name should reflect that.”

The measure was referred to State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections committee.

Transportation Survey

I need your input. Please take the survey below concerning transportation plans being considered in the Senate. Below are examples of revenue sources for a new transportation package. Note billions in new taxes and fees versus my proposal that uses existing revenues you already send to Olympia.

 

Create your own user feedback survey

Keeping more education dollars in the classroom

Many school districts are concerned about the cost of unfunded mandates from the state. Those can be solved with additional funding. The problem is where to get the additional funding from. As of the latest count, the state has passed over 1477 regulations down to the local school districts. I’ve introduced legislation that would allow districts to obtain waivers from these costly regulations that don’t directly contribute to the education of the child in the classroom.