Governor Ferguson Veto Update 2026

By Jim Hedrick, GSI WA State Lobbyist and Spokane Regional Advocate

Legislative Session

Governor Bob Ferguson wrapped up executive action on 2026 legislation last week, issuing a limited number of targeted partial vetoes across several measures. Of the 268 bills passed by the legislature, Ferguson signed 261 bills into law in their entirety and exercised partial veto authority on just seven bills, including the three supplemental budget measures. The governor did not issue a full veto of any bill this session.

Most vetoes addressed technical or administrative issues, such as removing obsolete statutory references, correcting timing conflicts, or eliminating unfunded studies. Other vetoes reflected agency implementation constraints or legal considerations identified during the review process. Within the supplemental operating, capital, and transportation budgets, the vetoes largely focused on program feasibility, fund solvency, and ensuring alignment with federal requirements.

Bottom line: Ferguson’s veto actions were limited, technical, and narrowly tailored, with no philosophical disagreement with the Legislature on any bill.

BUDGET BILL (Partial) VETOES:

Senate Bill 5998 – Operating Budget (3 section vetoes and 16 sub-section vetoes that fall into 5 categories)

Fiscal / Overfunding Adjustments– Several provisions vetoed due to funding levels or fiscal concerns:

• Secretary of State – Talking Book Program: Determined to be overfunded relative to program needs.
• Secretary of State – Primetime Family Reading: Removed due to fiscal
• Department of Commerce – Retail Crime Prevention Grants: $500,000 removed due to fiscal constraints (program of interest to large retailers including The Home Depot).
• Department Commerce – Andy Hill Care Fund: Removes $12 million appropriation, leaving an $18 million fund balance deemed sufficient funding through biennium.
• Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) – Developmental Disability Dental Services: Additional funded capacity not aligned with current client census.

Implementation / Administrative Concerns – Several provisions vetoed reflecting agency implementation limitations:

• Washington Technology Solutions: Budget language did not provide adequate flexibility for the appropriation.
• DSHS – Agency restructuring (“Reimaging”): Determined to be an overreach of legislative authority into agency management.
• Department of Commerce – Clean Energy Permitting Grants: Vetoed because grant funding could not be distributed as written.
• Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) / Department of Children, Youth & Family Services (DCYF) – Best Practices Dashboard: Agencies unable to meet the implementation timeline set in the budget.

Health and Human Services Programs – Provisions vetoed because budget cuts conflicted with existing obligations or operational needs:

• Health Care Authority (HCA) & Department of Health (DOH) – 988 Crisis Line IT Platform: budget cuts were inconsistent with obligations already incurred for system
• Health Care Authority (HCA) – Medicaid Quality Improvement: vetoed because the directive language would divert agency resources.
• Health Care Authority (HCA) – Electronic Health Records: the budget directive required implementation requirements without providing funding to complete it.
• Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) – Veteran Suicide Prevention Grants: cuts would prevent administration of the program.
• Department of Health – Watch Me Grow Program: removed cuts to the direct mail outreach which has already printed and paid for.

Program Administration / Technical Corrections – Some vetoes removed duplicative or problematic provisions:

• DCYF – 30-Day Program Change Notification: requirement already addressed in
• Department of Ecology – Climate Resilience Work Group: language could place federal funding at risk.
• Office of Financial Management – IT Investment Pool: budget structure would prevent spending across multiple biennia.

Accounts and Fund Transfers – Provision vetoed to address account solvency or regulatory compliance:

• State Treasurer – Death Investigators Account: insufficient revenue to cover
• State Treasurer – Air Operating Permit Account: transfer inconsistent with federal regulatory requirements.

Senate Bill 6003 – Capital Budget (4 sub-section vetoes) – Vetoes focused on legal conflicts and statutory inconsistencies.

• Commerce – Behavioral Health Capacity Grants: vetoed language attempting to amend the 2021–23 budget bill which is no longer in effect, obsolete reference.
• Commerce – Building Communities Fund: provision requiring 100% reimbursement conflicted with statute that sets a 25% cap on state funding.
• Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) – Woodland Pond Sale: vetoed due to an ongoing lawsuit involving the property between Port of Woodland and the
• State Parks – Capital Project Pool: appropriation placed in the wrong fiscal

Senate Bill 6005 – Transportation Budget (3 sub-section vetoes and 1 full section veto) –

Vetoes were tied to insufficient funding for mandated activities:

• Department of Licensing – Auto Dealer Inspections: no funding provided; requirement would divert resources from other programs.
• Department of Licensing – Parking Ticket Data in Vehicle Registration: additional programmatic requirement added without funding.
• Department of Transportation (WSDOT) – SR-520 Landscaping: provision shifted landscaping responsibility from local governments to state.
• WSDOT – Section 310 Local Program Expenditure: this section reduces the total Motor Vehicle Account—State appropriation in the Local Programs section, however a proviso in the section was not also reduced and therefore the appropriated amount would have exceeded total available funds.

POLICY BILL (Partial) VETOES

House Bill 1903 – Low-Income Energy Assistance

• Section 4 vetoed due to a lack of funding for the proposed advisory group to the low-income energy assistance program.

House Bill 2215 – Climate Commitment Act (CCA) Compliance

• Section 7 vetoed the emergency clause because it conflicted with the implementation timeline of the program (issue raised by the Pacific Propane Gas Association).

Senate Bill 6113 – Tax Administration

• Section 19 vetoed to remove an obsolete reference after the additional aircraft tax passed last year was repealed in another bill.
• Section 23 vetoed to eliminate a duplicative tax waiver program that would have cost the Department of Revenue (DOR) $500,000 to administer.

Senate Bill 6246 – Trade-Exposed Industries and the Climate Commitment Act (CCA)

• Section 3 vetoed because the legislature did not fully fund the $1.5 million it would have cost the Department of Ecology for an independent study of emissions and job leakage from emissions-intensive, trade-exposed facilities.