Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Shelly Short’s subscribers Feb. 24, 2026. To subscribe to Sen. Short’s e-newsletters, click here.

Your 7th District delegation: With Rep. Hunter Abell, R-Inchelium (left) and Rep. Andrew Engell, R-Colville (center).

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope you will be able to join us Thursday for a telephone town hall meeting!

I’ll be getting together with my seatmates, Reps. Hunter Abell and Andrew Engell, for an hour-long community conversation about the top issues in Olympia this year. You can be part of it, too, because the telephone format allows you to ask questions of your lawmakers.

People across the 7^th Legislative District will receive calls shortly before the town hall meeting begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. When you hear the message, just stay on the line and you will be connected. You also can call in to the town hall meeting by dialing (509) 404-3050.

The telephone format allows us to reach all corners of the state’s largest legislative district while the 2026 legislative session is in progress – something that would be difficult face-to-face. The 7^th district covers about 20 percent of Washington state by area, including all or part of Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Spokane and Stevens counties.

This annual telephone town hall is one of the highlights of our legislative session, because it allows us to hear directly from the people of our district. No holds are barred during these calls, though we do ask that you stick to state issues.

We’ve got plenty to talk about this year, from an income tax to restoration of wildfire funding. I hope you are able to participate!

More than 100,000 people sign in against income tax in the House; other controversial bills advance

Budget proposals provide full funding for wildfire prevention

Marathon floor sessions in the House and Senate over the last several weeks advanced hundreds of bills for further consideration in this year’s session.

Things are moving quickly in this short 60-day legislative session. We have just three weeks before our scheduled adjournment on March 12, and we have been putting in long hours on the House and Senate floors to beat deadlines for the passage of bills. Tomorrow is the three-quarters mark for this year’s session, and here are some of the highlights.

Income tax remains session’s biggest battle

For nearly 100 years, Democrats and special interest groups dependent on public spending have tried to get Washington voters to support an income tax. The problem is the people keep saying no, every time they are asked, 10 times since 1934. So tax advocates are going a different route this year in the state’s longest-running political battle. Senate Bill 6346 would impose an income tax without a public vote, eliminating the public’s voice in the matter and setting up a court challenge tax advocates think they can win.

This legislation passed the Senate last week 27-22 and it has been setting such records for unpopularity that tax advocates say the numbers can’t be right. When this bill got a hearing in the Senate, 61,000 people signed in to the Legislature’s website to declare their opposition. A hearing Tuesday in the House doubled that to 116,874. When tax supporters questioned the numbers, an audit of 5,000 signatures showed a duplication rate of about 9 percent. If we use that to adjust the total to 104,485, it’s still the biggest show of public opposition any bill has received in the Washington Legislature since we started counting public sign-ins five years ago.

This bill imposes a 9.9 percent income tax on everyone in the state, with a standard household deduction for the first $1 million of income, allowing advocates to call it “a tax on millionaires.” This tax is a concern for all of us, because the deduction could be reduced or eliminated by any future Legislature with a simple majority vote, something likely to happen in short order. In addition, many people who are not wealthy would be snared from the start, because this tax would apply to small business owners who report business income on personal tax forms. This income tax would make Washington one of the highest-taxed states in the nation, eliminate any incentive to make spending more efficient, reduce philanthropy and wreak havoc on our economy.

Some bills live, some bills die

Other controversial bills that are advancing this session include a bill allowing an unelected board to remove elected sheriffs from office if they do not meet with Olympia’s approval (Senate Bill 5974) and a measure allowing prosecution of environmental-law violations as felony crimes (Senate Bill 5360).

Bills that failed to make the cut include a measure that would have made it far more difficult for the public to run initiative campaigns and reduce the people’s opportunity to oppose the agenda of the party in power. Senate Bill 5973, which would have banned pay-per-signature-drives and imposed other restrictions, failed to receive a vote by last week’s deadline for passage of bills in the Senate. Democrats say they will try again next year.

Meanwhile, a measure that would have snarled home construction statewide failed on the Senate floor in the final minutes before last week’s deadline. Senate Bill 5609 would have injected state government into local permit processes for residential construction in the name of protecting tribal cultural resources. While protecting tribal cultural resources is important, this bill would duplicate work already being done on the local level while driving up costs and putting much-needed housing projects at risk. As Senate Republican floor leader, I stopped this bill with a motion that brought action to a standstill; you can read about it here.

Budgets fund firefighting program

Budget proposals in the House and Senate provide full funding for wildfire prevention, a big win for our area. Since 2021, Washington has been on the leading edge of efforts to respond effectively to wildfire, putting emphasis on thinning forests and clearing fuel from forest floors, establishing defensive lines in advance, and obtaining and positioning resources effectively before fire seasons begin. This investment already is paying off in reducing the size and severity of wildfires, but we can’t fall back – and in last year’s budget, we did. The good news is that this year’s budget proposals in the House and Senate restore last year’s $65 million cut in wildfire funding and keep our program on track.

Proposals for comprehensive wildlife management (Senate Bill 5960, House Bill 2221) in the eastern part of the state received hearings but did not advance this year. Sometimes a fresh idea takes a while to catch on, and we’ll be back again next year. Meanwhile, other bills of importance to our area continue to advance, including a measure to fix pension issues at the Port of Pend Oreille and another providing greater transparency in decisions by insurers regarding wildfire risk and allowing homeowners to appeal adverse decisions regarding homeowners’ coverage.

In the news:

Liberty Bell High School Climate Club brings concerns to Olympia

This delightful story from the Methow Valley News describes a visit from students at Liberty Bell High School in Winthrop as they testified in favor of the memorial calling on Congress to maintain federal wildfire programs. To see this testimony, click here.

Four local students testify before Senate Agriculture Committee

Students from Liberty Bell High School’s Climate Club got a taste of real-world lobbying in Olympia last month, with a focus on legislation intended to make the Methow Valley safer during wildfire season.

As a bonus, students Mira Hirsch, Liam Kiefer, Orlo Parkinson and Rowan Kelley found time for a quick shopping spree in Olympia’s thrift stores.

While the shopping may have been a highlight, the centerpiece of the trip was the student’s Jan. 29 testimony in front of Sen. Shelly Short and other members of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

To read rest of story, click here.

Thanks for reading!