Red pen politics: 7 vetoes Gov. Bob Ferguson made in the Washington state budget

Yahoo

24-05-2025

Gov. Bob Ferguson using a red pen to partially veto a bill on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
Before Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the next state budget on Tuesday, he vetoed a few dozen spending provisions scattered throughout its 1,366 pages.
The plan he approved lays out $78 billion in spending over two years. The roughly 55 items he removed add up to around $22.3 million in savings.
He zeroed out funding of contracts to nonprofits serving foster youth, college students, immigrants, and seniors. He canceled spending for studies and work groups. Ferguson's veto message, containing an itemized list, spans 15 pages.
Here are some of the targets of Ferguson's veto pen.
The Garage is a cafe where high school students can drop in after school and receive tutoring, counseling, or case management services.
It will lose $300,000, or roughly one-fifth of its budget. If the dollars cannot be made up through private donations, the center will look at reducing its services for teens. The reduction would have a 'massive impact' in the community, said KayLee Jaech, the group's executive director.
The governor wrote in his veto message that supporting programs and services for youth is important, but cited budget constraints.
Mentor Washington has been recruiting, training and providing support for mentoring programs for at-risk youth in Washington using $1.55 million in contracts with the Department of Children, Youth and Families. About half is getting spent now on a pilot effort focused on foster youth.
Lawmakers shaved $1 million of that sum in the budget they sent Ferguson. While he noted the significant reduction for the 'valuable' program, he axed the remaining $550,000.
'We need to find a way to regroup and reconfigure what service looks like moving forward,' said Jolynn Kenney, executive director of Mentor Washington.
Centro Cultural Mexicano in Redmond provides services for low-income, immigrant, and Spanish-speaking residents in King and Snohomish counties.
They will lose a $200,000 state grant, which helped connect clients with health care, financial coaching, small business assistance, internships, and home buying services — all at no cost.
Free services like this help support communities, Ferguson said. But he said that due to the budget challenges, this program was something the state couldn't afford.
Refugee Women's Alliance provides services to refugees and immigrants, including an ice skating lesson program for preschoolers from diverse and low-income families.
They will lose the $200,000 the Legislature allocated for the skating program. They have previously received money from the state and have also partnered with the Seattle Kraken and One Roof Foundation.
Political conservatives were sharply critical of this grant-funded program on social media. The governor said that while youth enrichment opportunities like this are beneficial, this one needed to be cut because of the budget deficit.
A year ago, the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges received $257,000 'solely for the creation of a Hospitality Center of Excellence' at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
It launched in January with its leadership drawing up a game plan to strengthen ties between culinary programs on campuses with hospitality businesses and organizations. A key goal was to develop best practices and strategies for workforce education and training in the industry.
Not now. It will close up shop in July. Though the Legislature did budget $408,000 for two years of operation, Ferguson deemed the 'worthwhile endeavor' not affordable and crossed it out.
The state Department of Ecology won't get $816,000 of Climate Commitment Act proceeds to assess Washington's siting and permitting authority around potential wind energy projects in federal waters off the state's coast. The agency was also going to look into the ecological impacts of such undertakings as part of a broad analysis.
'Given the current federal administration's position on offshore wind, this work is less
time sensitive,' Ferguson wrote in his veto message, adding he is 'committed to continued dialogue with coastal Tribes regarding the future of offshore wind projects.'
Meanwhile, Ecology did receive $338,000 to develop 'planning, engagement, and evaluation tools for effective ocean management and offshore wind energy development.' And Ferguson left $500,000 in the budget to contract with 'a nonregulatory coalition' in Seattle that wants Washington to be able to receive power from future floating wind projects off the West Coast.
How many places in Washington market themselves as 'senior independent living' communities for individuals aged 55 years and older?
Lawmakers put $80,000 in the budget for the state Department of Commerce to come up with an answer. And, by July 1, 2026, the department was to make recommendations on creating a registry of senior living locations as a consumer protection move for residents and prospective residents. Not going to happen.
'Supporting our seniors is important to me but I am vetoing this item because of the state's significant fiscal challenges and funding cuts from the federal government,' Ferguson wrote to lawmakers in his veto message.