Gov. Jay Inslee, who’s led Washington state for the past dozen years, delivered his final State of the State address Tuesday morning.
Its theme? Progress.
Inslee’s remarks came during a joint session of the full Legislature in the House chamber. The outgoing Democrat highlighted what he views as the state’s strong track record of success, citing its efforts on early childhood education and paid family leave as well as its legalization of gay marriage.
The three-term governor previously served in the state House and the U.S. Congress, and later launched a failed bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
“I woke up every morning these last 12 years asking how I could help Washingtonians realize their dreams,” Inslee said in prepared remarks. “And every morning I was filled with confidence in the genius, the compassion and the grand ambitions of our great state of Washington.”
Inslee pointed to certain accomplishments throughout his tenure. The state, he said, now offers the “most generous college financial aid program” in the country. It has banned so-called assault weapons and recently upheld a cap-and-invest program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as a tax on capital gains.
The governor underscored the state’s efforts to reduce youth homelessness and address behavioral-health needs.
Washington lawmakers also got a couple transportation-funding packages past the finish line, he said. Such efforts employed thousands of workers and helped offer free transit for riders 18 and younger.
“There’s more work to do, of course, but these accomplishments should give us confidence for the next steps,” Inslee said. “We keep moving forward. We pull together. Because we’re the state of Washington.”
But Inslee also touched on setbacks such as the Skagit River bridge collapse in 2013 and the following year’s Oso landslide, which claimed 43 lives.
Inslee sees a welcoming place at Washington’s core. The state has received refugees from war-torn areas such as Afghanistan and Ukraine and “inspired a nation with how we cared for each other during COVID,” he said.
“The secret to our success is we don’t leave anybody behind,” Inslee said. “We follow the science. And we work together to make extremely difficult decisions. Protecting that progress will be challenging this session.”
Inslee’s budget
Chief among the challenges is the state’s budget shortfall, estimated between $10 billion and $12 billion over a four-year span. During the Great Recession, Inslee said, the state made $11 billion in cuts to services and spending.
That meant pausing teacher pay raises and efforts to scale back class sizes, he said. It hampered mental-health services at state hospitals and safety-net programs for seniors, people in poverty and Washingtonians with disabilities.
This time around, the economy is chugging along, but inequities continue to worsen, he said.
Inslee urged lawmakers to view the 2025-27 budget differently. Reducing funding for programs — including housing and behavioral-health services — would slow the wheels of progress, he said. (Inslee has proposed a new wealth tax, plus a business-and-occupation tax hike, to help bridge the current budget gap.)
“Washington voters just sent a strong message that they want to continue the path we’re building,” Inslee said. “In 12 years, we have built a strong engine of increasing justice and increasing health for our residents. We can’t knock it off the tracks just as we’ve started rolling forward.”
A ‘clear mandate’
In Inslee’s view, the state Legislature possesses “a clear mandate to continue” making progress on the climate. The governor referenced the ongoing fires consuming Los Angeles; a woman affected by the blazes reportedly said she felt compelled to save her neighbor’s home because she could not sit back and do nothing.
“And I thought of my state, and how we are doing something,” said Inslee, who sent Washington firefighters to Southern California to assist in rescue efforts. “We’re building a clean energy economy that’s the envy of the nation, thanks to this Legislature.”
Nearly all scientists agree that climate change is real and caused by humans, he said. The crisis has only ballooned since the passage of the Climate Commitment Act — from worsened heat-dome events to spikes in fires and flooding.
Puget Sound has become increasingly acidified, he said, and ice caps are melting: “It’s called the Climate Commitment Act for a reason. We ought to honor that commitment.”
Trump administration
Inslee also warned of the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“Look: Our state will work with anyone on policies that are positive for Washington,” he said. “But we will not bend the knee to a would-be authoritarian’s worst impulses.”
That comment elicited cheers from Democrat lawmakers and jeers from Republicans, with some GOP lawmakers leaving the floor.
State Rep. Jim Walsh of Aberdeen, who is chair of the Washington GOP, told McClatchy after the address that he had hoped for a more bipartisan and conciliatory speech.
“I stayed as long as I could, but when the would-be authoritarian started attacking other people as authoritarians, the irony was just too much for me,” he said, pointing to Inslee’s COVID-19 stance that led to the termination of public workers who refused to get vaccinated. “You know, it takes one to know one, Mr. Inslee.”
The state will stay focused on its commitment to progress and following the Constitution, Inslee said.
Washington Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson, who has served as state attorney general since 2013, assumes his new role on Wednesday. Inslee called his successor “a guy who knows about defending Washingtonians.”
Inslee said his time in office has come to an end, but that the momentum on its path toward progress will continue.
“Washington state is a light to the world. We’re a beacon of progress by so many measures,” he said. “Because we follow the science. We work together. We refuse to leave our neighbors behind.”
The state ended the death penalty and banned conversion therapy aimed at LGBTQ+ youth, Inslee said. It has worked to safeguard reproductive health, he added, prompting Democrats to stand and cheer loudly.
Looking ahead he said lawmakers should “wake up with the same sense of confidence, optimism, and hope” that he has had as governor.