January 14, 2026
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope all of you enjoyed the holiday season! Here’s wishing you a happy and healthy 2026. I’m back in Olympia for the 2026 legislative session, which began Monday and is scheduled to end March 12.
With the session underway, I want to make sure that you know how to reach me about issues that are important to you. As of last Monday (the first day of session), bills are being introduced in both chambers, the House and the Senate. Please take a moment to peruse the legislative website (www.leg.wa.gov), where you will find information about your legislators, bills that have been introduced, when committees are meeting and how to participate in the process.
If you see a bill you are interested in, sign up for email notifications to follow it throughout the session. You are also welcome to testify for or against a bill (remotely or in-person) should it receive a public hearing.
During last year’s legislative session, Sen. Harris and his 17th District seatmates, Reps. Kevin Waters and David Stuebe, met with Evergreen School District students who were at the Capitol for the “We The People” civics competition.
To share your position on a bill with me, please make sure to “comment on the bill.” Those emails come directly to my office. Or you are more than welcome to email me directly at paul.harris@leg.wa.gov. My legislative assistant is Toni Camp, and her email is toni.camp@leg.wa.gov. We are happy to have Amy Chartrey back with us as our session aide. She is the person you will likely reach first when calling our office at 360-786-7632, and her email is amy.chartrey@leg.wa.gov. Again, Amy is only with us during session.
I serve on four Senate committees that meet two hours each at least three times per week. They are Early Learning and K-12 Education (on which I’m the “ranking” or lead Republican member); Environment, Energy and Technology; Health and Long-Term Care; and Transportation.
If you would like an appointment (virtual or in-person) please reach out to Toni and let her know. I try to be available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and we will do everything in our power to find a time that works, between my committees and our “floor action” in the Senate chamber.
I truly appreciate hearing from you. Your voice does make a difference. Please continue reaching out. The bottom line is, my door is open to you. I’m here to listen. Thank you for trusting me.
It’s an honor to serve you.
Sincerely,
Please join us for 17th District Zoom town hall meeting on February 18!
I’m pleased to share that Reps. David Stuebe and Kevin Waters will be joining me at a 17th District town hall meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, February 18, starting at 6:30 p.m.
We will discuss bills and issues before the Legislature this session, and we will answer questions from people who attend our town hall meeting.
To register for our Zoom town hall meeting, please use this link.
We look forward to having you and other 17th District residents join us on February 18!
Senate Chamber.
Legislature must address state budget problem
The No. 1 topic around the Capitol during this first week of session is the deficit forecast for the state operating budget and how best to resolve it.
My Republican colleagues and I oppose more taxes because Washingtonians cannot afford it! Families here in the 17th District and across Washington are worried about their personal financial situations. When employers are forced to pay more in taxes, the increased costs of doing business eventually reach consumers. Washington is already one of the least affordable states in the nation. This needs to end.
At an early-December meeting of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which deals with state budget and tax issues, nonpartisan staff told committee members there will be an estimated $4.3 billion deficit in the state’s near-general fund by the end of the 2029 fiscal year. That includes a $1.5 billion deficit in the current two-year budget cycle, which will end in June 2027.
This gap is despite the majority Democrats’ vote this past session to raise taxes by nearly $12.5 billion over four years – a state record. Amazingly, some Democrats are looking again at new taxes to balance the budget.
For instance, there is talk of a bill to create a state income tax, despite voters and the state Supreme Court having rejected similar proposals many times over the past century.
Democrats also might try to enact a new tax that treats stocks and other financial assets like taxable property, as though they are homes or parcels of land. And some Democratic legislators are targeting Washington’s largest employers with a new 5% payroll excise tax on wages above $125,000. This jobs-tax proposal would target about 3,500 companies in our state and take roughly $3 billion from them annually. It’s the last thing that our state’s job-providers need and definitely won’t make Washington’s economy stronger.
Instead of focusing on yet more tax hikes on top of the historically expensive tax package passed in 2025, it’s time for the Legislature to prudently manage the state’s budget growth.
During this 60-day session, the operating-budget writers in the Senate and House will focus on crafting what we call a “supplemental” operating budget. I hope the adjustments that budget will make don’t also make living in Washington even less affordable. It can be done, because last spring my Senate Republican colleagues offered a budget proposal that did not include tax increases without reducing spending on essential services.
I also hope Republicans will have more of a role in developing this year’s supplemental budget than we’ve been allowed to have in the past. The state capital and transportation budgets usually are handled in a bipartisan fashion. It would be nice to see that with the operating budget, too.
The record-setting tax package passed by majority Democrats last year even affected public schools and nonprofits. It hit school districts by expanding the state’s retail sales tax to a wider variety of services, including temporary staffing – which districts frequently use for special-education services or positions that are difficult to fill. The Legislature needs to fix this problem before adjourning in March.
While my Democratic colleagues were willing to raise taxes by billions of dollars, they also made some spending cuts that raise questions about their priorities. Those include a significant cut in funding to prevent the wildfires that have become a greater concern in much of the state, including the Columbia Gorge and other parts of Skamania and Klickitat counties. Those dollars need to be restored.
Another disappointment with last year’s budget was the funding cut to the Brockmann mental-health facility in Vancouver. The facility and its 48 brand-new beds weren’t even allowed to open despite the need for treatment in the Vancouver area.
I will continue to advocate for Washingtonians by promoting budget proposals that will prevent additional taxation and promote jobs, while preserving our state’s services, environment and economy. I will ask my fellow legislators to look at areas where waste and overspending can be cut in order to balance our state operating budget.
During the 2025 session, Senator Harris sponsored Senate page Brooke Boyden.
Looking for Senate pages this year!
Do you know a teenager who would like to spend a week in Olympia working at the Capitol? Applications for the 2026 Senate Page Program are being taken. The application form is here. As a state senator, I’m able to sponsor several Senate pages during the legislative session.
Senate pages help senators and their offices and deliver messages to members on the Senate floor. Pages attend and participate in Page School, where they learn more about how the Legislature works. Senate pages earn a stipend of $67 a day, though it is subject to taxes. (Pages need a Social Security card to collect the stipend.)
Pages must be 14 to 16 years old at the time they participate in the program, and they must attend a school in Washington or be homeschooled in our state. To be a page, students must receive approval and recommendation from their teacher and principal. (This requirement is waived for homeschooled students.)
The page program is a great way for Washington teens to see the Legislature in action and to meet other students from around the state.
For more information about the Senate Page Program, please go here. You can also email the page program at SenatePageProgram@leg.wa.gov if you have questions.
Staying connected with the Legislature
There are many ways for you to stay up to date with what is happening during the 2026 session and throughout the year:
- My Senate website, where you will find my contact information, biography, bills and other information.
- The Capitol Buzz, a daily roundup of online news stories. Click on the link to subscribe.
- TVW, our state’s version of the C-SPAN public-affairs network. TVW broadcasts Senate and House floor and committee action live online and on certain cable channels.
- The Legislature’s website, where you may view bill reports, committee agendas and information about upcoming activities in the Legislature.
- A list of state agencies, boards, and commissions is here.
- To track legislation, click this link to find information on specific bills and other measures.
PLEASE NOTE: Any email or documents you provide to this office may be subject to disclosure under RCW 42.56. If you would prefer to communicate by phone, please contact Sen. Harris’s Olympia office at (360) 786-7632.
To request public records from Sen. Harris, please contact Tim Ford, the designated public records officer for the Secretary of the Senate and Senate members, at Senate.PublicRecords@leg.wa.gov.