An original version of an income tax proposal on the state's highest earners included much-needed funding for public defense — one of Lewis County’s biggest budget concerns. But the version supported by Gov. Bob Ferguson and passed by the Washington state Legislature earlier this week no longer includes that funding.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners sent a letter to the members of the Washington state Legislature on Monday ahead of the final push to pass the bill that majority Democrats have dubbed the “millionaire’s tax.”
Commissioners Lindsey Pollock, Scott Brummer and Sean Swope raised concerns that changes in the bill, including sales tax exemptions and the removal of funding for public defense, will worsen an already bleak budget outlook for Lewis County and other local governments.
“Rising caseload standards and a statewide shortage of public defense attorneys have dramatically increased these costs, placing growing pressure on county budgets,” the commissioners wrote.
The commissioners also renewed a familiar criticism among county governments that local governments are suffering under the burden of implementing new state policies and other obligations without additional funding from the state to do so.
“Cities and counties cannot simply choose whether to maintain roads, operate jails or provide public defense,” reads the letter. “When local revenues decline while responsibilities remain unchanged, the services residents rely on will inevitably be affected.”
The proposed income tax, which would not be implemented until 2029 assuming it survives legal challenges and possibly a voter referendum, also includes sales tax exemptions for certain items like diapers and over-the-counter medications. Washington state counties expect that exemption could further threaten their budgets.
According to Lewis County Manager Ryan Barrett, county officials are uncertain how much revenue they will lose from the exemptions. However, Barrett included that information from the Washington state Association of Counties (WASAC) suggests local governments statewide could lose as much as $300 million in revenue a year. That's roughly 10 times the size of Lewis County's entire yearly tax revenues.
Sales and use taxes make up the second-largest portion of the county's tax revenues and, according to Barrett, help support some of the most vital parts of the county budget including public safety and criminal justice. In 2025, the county took in just over $12.5 million in sales tax revenues out of its total tax revenue of just over $29 million.
“If the taxable base is reduced, it would mean less revenue available for those services unless it is replaced by another funding source,” Barrett said.
It would also mean that a potential public safety sales tax, which the county has considered to fund law enforcement and the larger local criminal justice system, might be worth less money than originally expected.
The removal of extra funding for public defense means the only proposed infusion of cash to help with a statewide crisis is out the window for now. State lawmakers said as the 2026 legislative session closed Thursday that public defense will be an issue they continue to grapple with in the coming years.
The crisis among local governments to fund public defense has been an ongoing problem and came to a head about three years ago in the form of a lawsuit filed by WASAC along with Pacific, Lincoln and Yakima counties.
The group filed suit against the state of Washington in 2023 alleging that the state is not providing adequate funding to local governments to provide public defense to individuals that cannot afford their own representation.
The situation has become even more dire in the last year after the Washington state Supreme Court issued a decision to reduce caseload limits for public defenders in the state in response to a public defense attorney shortage. The slashing of the caseload limits is intended to decrease workload and improve the quality of public defense across the state, but county governments say it will raise costs to provide public defense to unmanageable levels.
“Statewide public defense costs are projected to at least double, if not triple, over the next decade due to newly adopted caseload standards,” reads a previous statement from WASAC released in February of this year.
The new standards drop caseload maximums to about a third of the previous limit. The county already operates with a minimum slightly below the state maximum before the ruling with a maximum of 150 felony cases or 300 misdemeanor cases each year. The new standards slash that to 47 felony cases or 120 misdemeanor cases a year.
The adjustment calls on counties to implement the limits little by little by dropping their caseload limits by 10% of what is necessary each year over the next 10 years until they are in compliance.
For previous reporting by The Chronicle on how a public defense funding crisis could impact Lewis County, visit https://tinyurl.com/3ynpws6z.
