OLYMPIA… The state’s failure to deal with water contamination at the Special Commitment Center for sex offenders on McNeil Island has led to a $7.325 million judgment in a class-action lawsuit brought by hundreds of residents of the center.

Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, says this is the latest in a long and expensive string of payouts by the state and is certainly justification for legislation he and other Republican senators have already filed that would provide legislative oversight and force state agencies to explain themselves when their mismanagement results in a payout of $1 million or more.

“When we filed the bill, we hadn’t even heard of this ‘brown water’ case involving the Special Commitment Center and McNeil Island, but now there are 7.3 million more reasons to take action,” Gildon explained.

Gildon pre-filed Senate Bill 5144 on Jan. 7 and yesterday received a letter from the state attorney general’s office, dated Jan. 14, reporting the outcome of the case of Malone, et al, v. Strong, et al, in the western Washington district of the U.S. District Court.

“When you add up the judgments and settlements of the past two years alone, the costs of mismanagement by state agencies totals over a half-billion dollars. This type of liability represents one of the largest projected increases in the upcoming budget,” said Gildon, who is Senate Republican budget leader.

“Clearly, it’s time to hold these agencies accountable by making them provide an explanation to the Legislature for their bad behavior. At a minimum, we can try to determine where things are going wrong and make changes to practices and procedures in order to prevent future harm while also saving taxpayer dollars.”

SB 5144 has been referred to the Senate Law and Justice Committee, which will decide whether to hold a public hearing on the proposal.

These payouts from the past four years would meet the $1 million threshold in Gildon’s legislation:

• Department of Children, Youth and Families: 151
• Department of Social and Health Services: 14
• Department of Transportation: 10
• Department of Corrections: 9
• Washington State Patrol: 3
• Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Commission, Washington State University: 2 apiece
• Office of the Attorney General, Centralia College, Seattle Central College: 1 apiece

OLYMPIA… The budget leader for Senate Republicans says the $7.5 billion spending increase in the tax-heavy operating budget proposal unveiled by outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee today shows exactly why state lawmakers are facing a multibillion-dollar deficit.

Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, is the new Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee. He offered this reaction to Inslee’s $79.5 billion budget proposal, which would add $13 billion in taxes over the next four years:

“Governor Inslee proposed a double-digit spending increase in the very first budget he submitted to the Legislature – breaking his no-tax pledge in the process – and he’s going out the same way. Tax-and-spend to the end.

“Just two weeks ago the governor imposed a spending freeze, on the grounds that state government is facing a significant budget deficit. Then he turns around and puts out a budget that would greatly outspend the available revenue and continue to grow the state workforce. So much for holding the line.

“Let’s be clear: there is a deficit ahead, but it’s caused by overspending, not by a recession or a drop in revenue. The governor could have come up with a budget that lives within the additional $5 billion in revenue that is anticipated. Instead, he wants to spend even more and impose additional taxes on Washington employers to help make up the difference. When the cost of doing business goes up, consumers feel it too. His budget would make living in Washington even less affordable.

“The state budget was just over $31 billion when Inslee took office. This new budget of his would put it at just under $80 billion. That’s a staggering amount of growth – it approaches triple the spending while the population of our state has grown by just 14% in the same period.

“Republicans have no shortage of ideas for saving Washington from more tax increases. Some of our proposals have been ignored in past years, but maybe now they will be taken seriously. Governor-elect Ferguson has been talking like he is more interested in spending reductions than tax increases, and he will have the chance to join us in pursuing savings.

“We know there are opportunities to deliver services more efficiently – you just have to look hard enough. Governor Inslee went the other direction.”

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OLYMPIA… Sen. Chris Gildon will lead Republicans on the Senate Ways and Means Committee for the 2025-26 legislative term. The Puyallup lawmaker had been assistant Republican leader on the budget committee for the past two years.

Lawmakers must pass three biennial budgets during their 2025 session, which will begin Jan. 13. The largest of the budgets will fund the operation of most state agencies.

Gildon said his focus will be on producing a responsible and sustainable operating budget that addresses the priorities of government while respecting the needs and concerns of Washington taxpayers.

He said Republicans will question spending proposals that seem unnecessary and inefficient, and offer reforms that maintain or improve the delivery of services at less cost.

“The Legislature hasn’t faced a budget deficit in many years, but we seem to be in that position now – despite $5 billion in anticipated revenue growth, a low unemployment rate and no economic recession on the horizon. The problem is not too little revenue. It’s too much spending, mostly in the form of demands coming from the executive branch.

“No one seems to agree on the size of the projected gap between revenue and spending. The governor’s office and some of my Democratic colleagues have suggested it’s $10 billion or maybe even $12 billion. Either way, legislators on the majority side are already talking about raising taxes, despite knowing that many of the families they represent are struggling financially.

“Democratic leaders have suggested that the people of our state would be willing to pay higher taxes. That’s not the message I am hearing from my constituents. Republicans want living in Washington to be affordable, and that means tax increases should be a last resort, not the first option.

“We should be looking hard at the spending side of the new budget before anything else. Governor-elect Ferguson recently declared that pursuing savings and efficiencies are the ‘first, second and third conversation’ as far as he is concerned. That’s encouraging, and we intend to hold him to that.”

Gildon, elected to the Senate in 2020 after serving the 25th Legislative District for two years in the House of Representatives, will continue serving on the Senate Housing Committee.