Now that the deadlines for passing bills out of policy and fiscal committees have passed, all eyes turn to the House and Senate floors as legislators spend the next week and half passing bills out of their respective chambers of origin. You can find our update on how Life Science Washington’s policy priorities fared in the committee deadlines here.
Some of the bills that survived to see another day include the following:
- Right to Repair (HB 1483)—includes LSW’s medical device exemption
- Biosimilars (SB 5594)—successfully amended to include LSW and BIO’s fix for pharmacist substitution policies
- Non-compete agreements (HB 1155)— a coalition of AWB members are trying to get an amendment that would exempt senior level employees from the provisions of the bill. If that provision is not in there, the consensus is that AWB and its members should oppose the bill.
As the legislature turns to the budget, key LSW priorities include the Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment Fund (CARE Fund), Career Connect Washington, and industry sector leads at the Department of Commerce, among others listed in our legislative agenda. The big question will be whether Democrats pursue new revenue. You can learn more about the budget situation at the resources compiled here.
Ferguson Releases Budget Priorities
The committee deadlines wasn’t even the biggest news out of Olympia last week—it was Governor Bob Ferguson’s news conference, where he outlined approximately $4B in additional budget cuts for the legislature to consider. These cuts, on top of those in Governor Inslee’s proposed budget, could cover nearly half of the state’s projected $15B gap between expected tax revenue over the next four years.
Included in the cuts is the elimination of a $6M backfill in federal funding for Career Connect Washington (CCW) that Governor Inslee had funded in his final 2025-27 budget proposal. Importantly, Ferguson’s proposal carries forward CCW’s ongoing appropriations. LSW’s partnership with CCW is critical for our efforts to drive industry-supported programming at our state’s community colleges and four-year universities, including replicating Shoreline’s biomanufacturing certificate program at Spokane Community College and supporting the University of Washington Bothell’s Center for Biotechnology Innovation and Training. In the coming weeks, LSW will be advocating to legislators about the importance of maintaining industry-supported career readiness programs like CCW.
Governor Ferguson said his cost-reduction framework focused on improving efficiency before considering new revenue options. He hopes this will guide the legislature as it considers a balance between program cuts and new revenues. The governor emphasized, “Washingtonians expect that we will increase revenue as a last resort… I will not start contemplating additional revenue options until we have exhausted efforts to improve efficiency.”
In developing the $4B in Ferguson’s proposed cuts, state agencies were instructed to assess programs based on specific criteria, targeting:
- Recently launched programs
- Those funded by temporary federal aid
- Programs over four years old
- Services reaching fewer than 1,000 people annually
- Programs lacking performance tracking or mandated by legislation
Have questions, comments, or concerns about these bills or any other pending legislation? Get in touch with LSW’s Public Affairs Manager, Curtis Knapp.