House and Senate Republican media availability | Jan. 15, 2025

well uh good morning or good afternoon everyone I guess it's a little afternoon the opening ceremony has drug on a little bit uh welcome to the third day of session and the first day of Governor Ferguson's Administration uh I am house uh state representative Drew stokesberry I am the house Republican leader uh with me I have Senator John braa the Senate Republican leader uh and uh I also have with me on this side uh representative Chris Corey from Yakama the uh house Deputy Republican leader and rep also from yaka area uh representative Gloria Mendoza uh newly elected from the 14th District to uisa deliver uh the Republican response to Governor Ferguson's inaugural address um I'll just share a couple opening thoughts turn it over to my counterpart Senator Brawn uh and then uh we welcome any questions that that anyone has you know uh this was a really interesting speech and I actually am am trying to figure out exactly how to respond uh if if you compare uh governor for now former Governor iny's opening spe opening day speech uh or State of the State speech yesterday with my opening remarks I think that Governor Ferguson's speech looked a lot more like mine than it did Governor eny's um I'm not sure exactly how Democrats are feeling over there uh there was a lot of scowls from Democrat members of the legislature as Governor Ferguson was talking about some of these some of his priorities which uh have a lot of overlap with Republican priorities um if if anyone listened to my speech on opening day I talked about all the places where Washington is failing uh we have among the five highest uh we're one one of the five most expensive States for gas groceries and housing uh we have the fewest police officers per capita and among the highest rates for violent crime and property crime uh and half of our students are failing uh grade standards in in math Andor reading um Governor eny didn't paint that kind of picture when he gave his State of the State on Tuesday he talked a lot about puppies and rainbows um but Governor Ferguson was honest and I appreciate that he opened his speech by talking about all the ways Washington is failing in many of the areas he identified were the same ones Republicans have been talking about for years so I appreciate his honesty and his recognition of of basic facts and then Republicans have been talking for years about you know trying to solve Washington's problems trying to solve this Washington's problems um affordability public safety education and I appreciate that those are the things that Governor Ferguson talked about um I think if you look at some of the lines from his speech especially when it comes to budget areas there was a lot in common with things that Senator Bron and I have been talking about for years uh as have the rest of our caucuses so you know just like Governor Ferguson said about President Trump uh he will support him when he deserves support and he'll oppose him when he deserves opposition I think it's exactly how Republicans are going to feel about Governor Ferguson um there was a lot in his speech to agree with um and we're going to support him and his efforts uh when we have those areas of agreement of course we'll continue to call out places when uh we disagree on policy and we'll also spend the next 105 days holding him accountable for the promises he made today um but if he can follow through on those promises uh count me as as one who will be very very pleasantly surprised uh so with that I'll turn it over to Senator Braun thank you drew so John Brun state senator for the 20th district and Republican Senate leader I have with me today Judy warik who is our caucus leader and Drew stesy I'm sorry Stu over here Drew McAn apologize Drew uh who is our our new Deputy leader so congratulations to him uh pleased to be here this this afternoon uh that was certainly uh a surprising speech I think a pleasantly surprising I don't think I know his pleasantly surprising speech I've been saying for a while now that uh during his campaign and certainly in recent comments uh Governor Ferguson has adopted many in fact all just about all of the Republican priorities uh as he went through that process you know he's focused on Public Safety we've been focused on Public Safety he's even uh to his credit recognize the work by Senator hly to try to help fund Public Safety around our state uh there's more work to do there but I appreciate he's on the right on the right track he's focused on affordability uh he SP talked specifically about housing an area that uh both of our caucuses have been very active in in the last few years he talked about uh getting our K12 public education system back online I couldn't agree more uh with those priorities uh and and we could dig into that I'd be curious what questions you have there's a lot of overlap and I'm certainly pleased to see that you know as uh as representative stokesbury said you know we're going to we're going to where we can find places to agree uh to work with Governor Ferguson we're certainly going to uh the flip side of that is we're going to hold him accountable to his promises to people of the state of Washington I expect him to deliver based on what I've seen so far uh the last thing I'd say is you know I really liked one of his comments during the speech he said I'm not here to defend government I'm here to reform it well let me tell you Governor Ferguson here's your team y we ready to work with you on those on that effort so I'll stop there and take your questions so what did you done to the I've heard you guys like anything it's it's the first time we've had a governor in since I've been here that seems to live in this planet yeah yeah okay well I will I'll stir the PO what don't you like about Governor Ferguson's National plan you know what oh go ahead Chris Chris Corey 14th or 15th sorry I gotta get used to that uh District diaka um you know I appreciated his comments um on working with President Trump I think they were a lot different than some of the remarks from the former Governor yesterday um I think the focus on reproductive health care and some of the stuff may be a bit much given the fact that President Trump incoming president Trump has said it's a state's issue and Washington state has been very clear um both as you know legislators and as citizens who voted on this about where they stand on abortion access um and that's probably one of the biggest criticisms I have I mean I'm I'm with my colleagues here I was writing down notes and I was I was honestly confused because I was waiting to find something that I could I would really be upset about but um no we're here to help right these are really good bold ideas that we've been talking about for a long time um and I think for us is we're here to help and we're here to work with him where we can the real test for him I think it's going to be his ability to work with the Democrat majorities in the House and Senate yeah all respect prise your question what's wrong with this nation to it doesn't have to be that way um so yeah we're I think we're happy to embrace where we where we agree let's March forward together get those things done and uh let's see how this turns out in the next 103 days so my opinion um because I represent Central Washington I represent a lot of farmers there was a lot of farm Farmers that were promised that they wouldn't have to pay that extra gas tax um on their Farm Fuel it didn't happen didn't happen until late so he called that out that farmers agricultural needs to be supported and that was impressive to me I was like rep Cory I was looking for something to write down to say oh I didn't like this or didn't like that but um there was very little but I was very impressed that he called out uh promises that were made and not kept for our Farmers his remarks about of of what we all should be striving for which is agree with him when they agree and disagree when they disagree that's how I feel about soon to be president Trump um you know I don't agree with everything I don't agree with tariffs but there's plenty of good things that that I think he's going to do um I think we should be more about the quality of ideas and about the source of those ideas um and I think Governor Ferguson signaled a lot of that in his speech and if he spends the next 103 days living out the ideas of his speech I think uh Republicans will not have very much to complain about and the people of Washington will be a lot better off so um appreciate what he said and you know now the test is is he going to walk the talk but he certainly on day one talked the talk how many of you met with Governor F in yet or had meetings and and so what have you talked about uh i' I've been in communication with his uh chief staff um we had a meeting or two scheduled before session um they had to reschedule but we're supposed to meet tomorrow I want to ask you about K12 funding uh the governor's talked about free school lunches but should the priority be smaller classes you know I think if you look at the literature you will see that outside of kindergarten and maybe first second grade there's actually not a big connection between student outcomes and smaller class sizes uh Republicans have been talking about the need to both invest in education but also achieve outcomes um investing money where there's not a positive benefit is one of the things that we need to do less of so yes all four investing money into smaller class sizes uh where the evidence shows it improves outcomes um that that's not the case for all grade levels though um free school launches are something that a lot of um Republicans have been supportive of in the past there's a lot of reasons to do it again I think especially in a tight budget year we want to look at the Nexus between sort of student outcomes um but we do hear a lot about how difficult it is for kids to learn when they're hungry there's a ton of administrative burdens on schools to differentiate between the the families that do qualify and the families that don't qualify um so there is something to be said for the idea I can't say that every Republican will support it but a lot of Republicans have been in favor of that for a number of years uh but I think you know for us we're going to examine the issue on an issue by isue basis just because Ferguson opposed it doesn't make it a bad or just because Ferguson supports it doesn't make it a bad idea um we're going to look at how much it costs we're going to look at what the benefit is and weigh that accordingly yeah I I think when you talk about K12 I I think our first priority and I don't think that I don't know that uh Governor Ferguson would disagree we just it wasn't the the highlight of that speech is we got to cover the the Material supplies and operating costs that's the thing that's really hurting our schools most right now but once you get through this if we're in to if we can uh work through the budget challenges we have and they're substantial and get to a place where we can invest more in education I think you know the free School breakfast and lunch is a is a policy that will get a lot of traction on both sides of the aisle does the ton cont spe Inspire confidence of the parties can work together to close the budget that's it it inspires confidence we can work with the governor's office yeah yeah I mean yeah I think it comes down to is is that same approach taken uh by the Legislative leaders in particular the budget leaders we've seen that approach uh in historically in the Senate we've had bipartisan uh we had a long history of bipartisan budgets in the Senate broken by about 5 years in the last two years we've seen bipartisan at least as they came out of the Senate often times once they get to negotiation with the house Democrats they haven't been bipartisan but we we've seen that before it's not unrealistic to think we can see it again and especially in trying uh budget times that's the time that you know you look historically that's the time when there's the most likelihood that they're going to uh start you know decide they want to listen to some of the ideas we've had and you saw even in Governor eny's budget which I don't think anybody here would support there were a number of ideas brought forward over the last few years by Republicans so I think you're going to see a lot more uh Republicans suggested ideas in the budget this year and hopefully in future budgets senat one of the fs the governor did bring up was your limits on emergency Powers uh were you surprised to hear that shout out and do you expect that bill to get much discussion this session candidly I was a little bit surprised I did he didn't he didn't ask me if he could do that uh and I'm I'm perfectly happy to to work with him I think if he's mean if he means it and we've said all along you know if there you look the the bills suggested both by both Senate and House Republicans these are bills that had we had 40 Years of a republican Governor Democrats would have been suggesting these are not you know strong you know strongly partisan bills it just makes sure that the people and and the people's elected representative and the legislature have a strong voice uh during extended emergencies very reasonable in my opinion it was very refreshing to see the new governor agree with that yeah I agree and and for those who have forgotten I mean the issue was not we're not trying to uh um make it more difficult for the governor to respond to Urgent emergent situations if if Mount rineer and Mount St Helens erupts if there's a nuclear bomb um our reforms have nothing to do with the ability for the governor to respond quickly and immediately these are sort of long simmering states of emergency like we saw with with Co that we just we just want to make better so that government is more responsive to the public uh money K care for the money question got the 100 million for new cops you got the school breakfast and launches thing which U I don't remember where report against you don't seem to be pling at the mouth over it um You've Got U the I think it's a Republican bill to uh help provide uh low interest loans to uh officers and firefighters Etc there are some things in there that's going to take extra money would you support any sort of new taxes to u to get those programs up and running essentially everyone's in sort of a cutting mode but you're adding a few things as well so I think you have to understand right off the bat that we are not you know this is we're not in a recession corre our income our revenue is not shrinking in fact uh the state's Economist has projected that our Revenue will increase by5 billion dollar you know everything that you just mentioned uh is well I don't know the exact numbers but well short of half a billion dollars these are Big Numbers if we're talking about individually but in the in the scale of the budget It's relatively small amounts and we have Revenue growth well in excess of that so uh I don't I don't see the need uh and certainly am not supportive of the the tax proposals that have been suggested so far I think we can make this work and we should make it work without new taxes we we one of the the key points that I think Governor Ferguson made uh very strongly was that we have an affordability crisis here in our state many working washingtonians can't afford whether it's food gas housing uh Child Care Health Care these are things people are having trouble paying for the last thing we want to do is add additional tax burden and the reality is whether we choose to acknowledge it or not is the tax burden whether it's you know regardless of how it's laid on top of our state's population it almost invariably acrs to the cost of living here whether it's in the form of transportation which we see passed through from the climate commitment act or or other things or long-term investment that will affect our housing Supply or our BR broader economy taxes aren't the answer when we're already seeing a record you know lower growth than we have in decades so Senator Braun and I were elected in 2012 the state budget was 32 I would challenge any of you to go do your man on the street interview and ask him as your family's uh income seen that same growth rate and the answer is resounding no um and the previous administration every budget proposed had tax increases uh and it's refreshing to see that the that that is hopefully coming to an end and that the budget gimmicks that have uh gotten budgets done the last few cycles that all of us have spoken about on the floor that these were not sustainable uh budgets has come home to roost it's refreshing to see Governor Ferguson say that we're not going to do those gimmicks anymore and we've got to pass a real budget so yeah when when the kneejerk reaction is to raise taxes I again I I take it back to the Working Families of the state and say hey is your has your family income doubled more than doubled in the last 12 years and it's no yeah U the good news is like Senator Brun said we we still continue to have Revenue growth so this is this shortfall is entirely self-manufactured right with decision Mak that's happened here in Olympia um last year myself and others on the appropriation committee we authored and showed how we can do budgets that um address these without raising taxes and as a matter of fact removing um some of the taxes around the capital gains tax and the climate commitment act so that's that's one we can we can do that part of it priorities part of it is you know this continually pushing off mandates and adding stuff down the road getting uh fixing some of those but also he's we've got new administrators coming into um the different executiv agencies and there's a lot of bloat there um that has just been tacked on year-over-year because we don't do zerob based budgeting and so um if the governor and his administration is serious about that you know commitment to taking a scalp to the budget we can do this without new taxes and I think that should be our understanding from day one is no new taxes there's no need to take more from the people of the state of Washington been few years we're not used to you all smiling we're not here for us too thanks your counterparts across the AIS are not right now but if they're having a discussion what what do you think the Democrats are going to going to think about both your well I mean we'll see I'm glad you noticed that Drew I leaned over I sit next to our cockus chair Peter AER on the floor I leaned over and I said look at the look at the difference between our members and theirs our members were turning around smiling at each other the Democrats were just sitting there with this stoic scowl with the stoic scows on their face nearly the whole time um Republicans probably stood up 8 to 10 times uh I texted our floor leader that I can Skip Leg Day today because I've been up and down enough times uh I I bet the Democrats stood up two or three times for for things that Ferguson said so from initial reactions we seemed a little more encouraged by what he had to say than than our counter pars on the other side of the aisle um you know but that also uh presents a challenge for Bob Ferguson and and you know John and I mentioned wanting to hold him accountable will he be willing to stand up to the radicals and extremists in his own party I sure hope so uh we we'll be there to help if if that's the if that if if necessary but you know that'll be his big test is is he willing to stand up for the priorities he articulated even if it means even if it means standing up to the radicals in his own party I hope so yeah and I I would I would just like to add I think one thing you can take away from that is the Republicans here in Washington state are not about Party politics so when we hear things we like from the governor we're going to support him and help him get that done um even though he's not from our party so it's not who it's coming from it's the idea and hopefully we can work with the Democrats on that and uh pass something that's more bipartisan this year than it's been in the past the governor's said to be floating already a big business tax you prob heard about that similar to The Big Bang tax they did a couple years ago so aren't you kind of worried that this is a pump F and that you're you know at the end of the session there's going to be new taxes and high ending just like always what do we do about that all we can act on is what we know what we know is the governor Ferguson stood up there and and reflected a lot of our principles a lot of the priorities we've set over the last several years uh and so until until he shows that he didn't mean it all we can do is is sit here and say yeah we're with you as long as you mean what you say and and hopefully and and we'll see I don't know I've heard a little rumor about a potential attacks out there we have not seen details so I don't know if that's real and I don't know if if that's actually something he's talking about um but uh but until we know that I think we have to just call it like we see it and as we see it today is he's he's talking about the right things to make Washington State better and we're willing to help if that's where he's headed can can I just that uh Governor uh Ferguson just came from campaigning and he spoke that he he talked to 39 counties and it's hard to ignore the people and so all of those um priorities that he talked about were coming from the people so I'm hoping that he keeps to his promise and that uh he follows through so I'm looking forward to seeing that happen so yes we're very optimistic and we're looking forward to him uh keeping his promise if I may I'd like to go briefly back to Drew's question about the Democrats because I don't think they are all sad I think there's a lot of good government you know serious Democratic legislators out there that are I at least I hope were pleased to see a governor who stood up and was just trying to make government run well and I think that if that's what he does I think there's a lot of of solid moderate Democrats will fall in line and and help us do that yeah go ahead I just wanted to ask about some of the um like the sales tax exemptions legislation that I think jokes you've talked about in the past have have there been like speaking of Democrats in the legisl have there been members from across the aisle that have reached out about some of these proposals um that you think could gain more traction with Ferguson's remarks today or or anything like that I'm just curious like May what you've heard from your colleagues across the aisle about these proposals particularly around sales tax exemptions well I mean it's early uh Alicia rule has a bill that overlaps with some of the stuff we've been talking about I think her bill exempts diapers um ours is a little broader it exempts other other products that new moms and their babies need like car seats um you know so there is some commonality and going back to what Senator Bron said there are are some you know reasonable Democrats that share a lot of our priorities that are pretty straightforward make Washington safer make Washington more affordable make our schools have better outcomes uh so yeah you know there are a few Democrats that have been open to these ideas that we this is not the first year we've talked about um exempting taxes on diapers uh we we were the first caucus to start talking about ex um exempting breast pumps uh uh and that's law now so you know there there's potential there uh and to sort of build on on the question that Danny was asking um yeah you know there's part of me that wants to be a cynic and wants to be skeptical uh but on the other hand we're never going to get anywhere if nobody trusts anybody to be telling the truth when they're talking um Governor Ferguson went went out on a limb today uh and you know if you went line by line in that speech there's about half things that you know were were nice reflections of Washington's history uh and as a history student I you know appreciate it and then about half was substantive and if you look at the substantive half I think more than half were priorities that Republicans have talked about and less than half were things Democrats have been talking about so he went out on a limb and I appreciate that uh and if we're ever going to get any of these things done um I got to check a little bit of my cynicism at least until he's given me reason to not do that anymore yeah and he didn't say no new taxes no he didn't no and and you know if we if we're serious about making Washington affordable I you know I think we need to avoid taxes I I don't think a new tax on jobs will do anything but result in fear jobs uh the Democrats just got done putting a tax on carbon so that we would emit less carbon um what do they think is going to happen if we put a tax on jobs uh I appreciate uh Governor Ferguson opposing the wealth tax it's not really a wealth tax it's an innovation tax um and it you know might only be paid by by a small number of washingtonians but it would be it would affect and be felt by virtually everybody in this state and it would mean that the next Amazon and the next Microsoft that have done so much to grow our state's economy and grow our state's budget which is allowed us to help the people that need it uh wouldn't show up in Washington State uh and so I appreciate that that Governor Ferguson has opposed that idea and you know we're going to encourage him to oppose other new taxes that will result in higher cost or washingtonians but you know to to get back to the real question if if he's saying that he wants to work with us on stuff we're going to work with him on those things yeah and and to the point about taxes I've got a copy of the speech here and I plan on keeping it at my desk and bringing it around with me because there's a lot of good promises in here that I want to help and get done um you know while he didn't say there would be new taxes he's he said or wouldn't be any new taxes excuse me he didn't say any he talked about prioritizing and and rightsizing the budget guess what you've got people at this table and on our two caucuses that have great ideas to help them get that done without any taxes so if he's looking for people to work with we're going to be here for him on that so um there's two ways to do this and I think I would think if you talk to a majority of the people of the state of Washington right now and if they heard this messaging they would be relieved they'd be optim istic like we are today that um it's less about Party politics and fighting over here and it is more about getting stuff done for the people of the state and yep you didn't he didn't say he'd veto taxes but if you do what he says on the spending side you won't need new taxes in the first place yeah I'd like to reinforce that you know the I think our job uh at least from on the Republican side is to present reasonable thoughtful budget savings that that don't affect services to the people state of Washington help us run more efficiently and show show the way lead the way on how to balance the budget with without additional taxes that's our challenge we're willing to take it on govern started off the speech talking about housing after history lesson uh the executive orders around permit reform already signed do you think those go far enough what else could be done this session Good Start yeah I haven't seen the text of them yet but I think there's a lot of work to be done there and I think unfortunately the you know you look at the regulations and the the fees and the taxes that have been passed over the last decade this is not an easy thing to unwind if there was a Magic Bullet to fix it we would have it right um so I welcom it as a good start but and I I encouraged by what he said today but there's a lot of more work to be done I hope I hope his appointments of the Building Code Council reflect people that are in the industry and understand the consequences of what that Council does so there's a whole host of things that uh we need to look at there that I hope you'll take a hard look at with us and you know getting back to my point about him being a lot closer to the speech I gave on opening day than the speech that Jay Insley gave yesterday um my opening day speech mentioned the fact that the average permit delay in building a new house is 6 and a half months um the cost of a complying with regulations it adds a $144,000 to the cost of the medium priced home in Washington um a lot of that's driven by local government not just state government but that's the right attitude um so again haven't read the text of the executive order I'll do that sometime later today but um the way he described it in his speech it's very consistent with the point I made on Monday that if we want to build more housing we can't have a 6 and a half month delay we can't add $144,000 to the cost of a new starter home um and if we can fix the regulations on the state level that's you know one place to start beyond the speeches I mean how much of a contrast you see here between what governor person had to say today and what it was like the past 12 years for Republicans working with the in administration I would you say that that was particularly particularly strange or difficult relationship governor iny for whatever reason just has never I think and he might even admitted himself you'd have to ask him but he would never particularly interested or engaged in the leg legislative process you know he had he he'd come up you know some years with priority bills and he might you know spend an afternoon you know walking around talking to legislatur but by and large was not materially engaged it was different than uh and I didn't serve with Governor gregwire but uh I understand her to have been very engaged and what I heard today sounds like Governor Ferguson will be more like Governor gregwire more engaged in both you know in you know talking to and listening to uh legislators on both sides of the aisle to try to get the solution that works best for Washington State I think it's very encouraging but there's a lot of work in front of us to make it actually happen and go ahead I had a brief conversation with Governor Ferguson before we went in and uh I said I have one request and uh that was your predecessor I was in the house for 10 years before the Senate and under Governor iny he came into this room once in in the 10 years I was here and I just I find that incredible that uh you know a co-equal branch of government you you he basically ignored um and uh Governor F's credit he said I'll come every time he ask me to so we'll take him up on that because I think it's important to have that dialogue so he will be invited to the Senate Republican caucus to visit and I hope he comes to to ask if the relationship is is strained uh implies there's a relationship to begin with uh which didn't exist uh I mean to to Drew's Point um and you know another contrast between the two Governors um I think I met with Governor Insley maybe two to three times in my one session or as as leader um the very first time I met with him at the be first first meeting of the session last session very first thing I brought up was the uh Farm was the a exemption from the CCA uh and his response was that ecology told him that it was already being it was already accomplished the farmers were already getting the the refund which was just utterly false um and now Bob Ferguson realizes it's an important enough issue to specifically call out and admit that we still need to get it done uh in his State of the State so night and day difference in just acknowledgement of reality okay all right well thank you very much for being here thank you thank you