This 12 months is historic for Washington state as we welcome Governor Bob Ferguson, the primary new governor in twelve years. Within the few weeks since his inauguration, Bob Ferguson has signaled a realistic strategy to governance, launching a brand new period in Washington State. Alongside Washingtonians throughout the state, Microsoft welcomes the Ferguson administration.
At present, according to our dedication to transparency, we’re sharing our annual legislative agenda.
This 12 months can be notable because the 2025 session is a biennial funds 12 months the place over the course of 105 days, the legislature will negotiate, write, and in the end go three distinct but interdependent working, capital, and transportation budgets, outlining the important spending and income plans for the subsequent twenty-four months. With a brand new federal administration, new governments around the globe, and our new authorities right here in Washington, this biennial funds course of has a sure gravitas.
Certainly, it is a important second for our state. The complexity of our state’s financial material—aerospace, know-how, life sciences, agriculture, and area—has resulted in each a rising inhabitants and now, greater than ever, a second of unprecedented technological progress, presenting alternatives for Washington State and Washingtonians. Given the tempo of progress throughout us and the distinctive function we play within the innovation economic system, Governor Ferguson and our legislators have to be equally agile with deft and delicate insurance policies over these subsequent weeks of the 2025 legislative session.
As in years previous, Microsoft’s 2025 legislative agenda aligns intently with the priorities of Washingtonians. As a homegrown international firm, we now have a watch on these international shifts of change and alternative. And in these international shifts of change and alternative, the precedence of policymakers in Olympia have to be on sustaining and increasing financial vitality, addressing the disaster of reasonably priced housing, supporting high-quality training, and bettering public security and high quality of life for all of Washington.
Folks-centered outcomes with insurance policies that genuinely improve housing provide
Washington and Oregon have the tightest housing markets in the US and in Washington we’d like housing of each form. There’s extensive settlement that Washington wants so as to add a million new housing items over the subsequent 20 years to satisfy the wants of state residents, thereby making housing extra reasonably priced.
In 2019, Microsoft introduced a historic funding of $750 million to assist the creation and
preservation of reasonably priced housing. This initiative aimed to assist low- and middle-income employees, reminiscent of nurses, academics, and law enforcement officials, who’re more and more unable to afford housing close to their workplaces. Our funding contributed and preserved 12,000 items of housing for our neighbors within the Puget Sound area. What we realized by way of our monetary funding, nevertheless, is that funding is just not sufficient. We should improve the provision of land and do extra to incentivize housing improvement.
As we now have for the previous decade, Microsoft helps insurance policies that make it simpler, sooner, and cheaper to extend housing manufacturing. We have to unlock extra land for housing, improve financing, and allow environment friendly and efficient authorities allowing, together with using new know-how to hurry up allow overview. This consists of reforms and incentives that allow extra housing in areas with plentiful employment and transportation modes, leveraging public investments in transit to supply reasonably priced residing choices for folks throughout varied revenue ranges, enabling them to construct their lives nearer to their jobs, colleges, parks, and different neighborhood facilities.
Among the many novel and promising concepts being superior this session is to advertise and unlock residential makes use of in business zones, particularly in shut proximity to frequent and dependable transit. The rise of on-line buying has led to a rise in empty large field shops and underutilized strip malls surrounded by empty parking heaps. Policymakers ought to prioritize rezoning underutilized business areas alongside present transit hubs to create vibrant new communities. Releasing up bigger tracts of underutilized land will assist housing builders overcome the primary hurdle to constructing multi-family flats, townhomes, and condos.
For the 2025 legislative session, the legislature should proceed to take large swings at coverage in order that Washington State has housing for all.
Entry to all kinds of training for all Washingtonians
In April, Microsoft will have fun 50 years in enterprise. Within the a long time after Microsoft was based, Washington state shifted to a information and innovation economic system. Now, we’re taking part within the shift to an AI economic system. And to satisfy the wants of this second, we’d like an interactive jungle fitness center of skilling and credentialing alternatives for all Washingtonians so we are able to transfer each upward and throughout profession paths to observe the job alternatives that maintain probably the most promise now and as job alternatives evolve.
Washington companies are creating nice jobs, however many individuals lack the mandatory expertise or credentials to achieve them. We want our state to prioritize insurance policies that tackle the talents hole limiting employment choices for too many individuals. As a frontrunner in international know-how, Washington can be a frontrunner in future applied sciences like AI, clear power, and quantum computing, which is able to create a brand new wave of significant family-wage jobs. Washingtonians have to be ready with the proper expertise to take part within the economic system now and within the economic system of the longer term.
Microsoft additionally helps insurance policies that improve Ok-12 pupil achievement, foster profession consciousness in center college, and encourage extra college students to pursue post-secondary credentials. Providing all Washington children these alternatives has lengthy been a precedence for Microsoft. This 12 months, lawmakers are advancing insurance policies that create seamless pathways into increased training by way of assured enrollment and beneficiant eligibility for the Washington Faculty Grant program. We’re excited in regards to the work being completed in these areas.
We additionally encourage the state to ascertain extra apprenticeships in high-demand fields and develop increased education schemes to provide sufficient certified candidates to match out there jobs.
These are the insurance policies that create a jungle fitness center of alternative.
Committing to our statewide transportation plan
Our transportation system is the lifeblood of our state, and our state legislature has completed extraordinary work lately. We’ve got many necessary tasks underway throughout the state. Folks depend on our roads, highways, rail, and ferries to journey to work, college, get hold of healthcare, and discover recreation. Employers additionally rely on dependable transportation to maneuver components and merchandise across the state and past. We applaud the work that has been completed to maintain Washington transferring.
This biennium, the precedence is to make sure that tasks presently underway are accomplished on time, present adequate upkeep funding for present services, and proceed to make mandatory investments in transformative regional tasks, together with extremely high-speed rail within the Cascadia hall.
Cascadia on the forefront of the digital economic system and seeking to the longer term
Washington state serves as one of many world’s main facilities for the event of synthetic intelligence know-how. Advances in synthetic intelligence are enhancing customer support interactions, transaction processing, and workflow effectivity throughout varied sectors. Microsoft sees extraordinary alternatives for our state authorities to leverage native AI experience to maximise public assets. We look ahead to taking part in these essential conversations, that are extra necessary than ever this 12 months.
As we glance to the longer term, we’re optimistic. Microsoft’s long-standing partnership with the state of Washington has been a part of the success of our state. As we have fun our 50th anniversary, we’re as dedicated as we now have ever been to collaborating with lawmakers to safe our state’s vibrant future. We look ahead to working collectively to satisfy the challenges and alternatives of the subsequent 50 years.
We see this as a singular alternative to associate with Governor Ferguson and the legislature to advance Washington State utilizing know-how and innovation, growing particular person productiveness capability, and increasing entry to authorities companies for Washingtonians.
State budgets which can be sustainable and prioritized
An important coverage payments the legislature will go, nevertheless, would be the funds payments. Greater than something, this invoice will replicate the state’s priorities now and for the subsequent two years. Budgets are the place Washington’s tax {dollars} are put to work. Over time, Microsoft has supported focused tax will increase for necessary packages and companies. We’ve got supported and defended almost each transportation bundle in current historical past. We supported the creation of the Workforce Schooling Funding Act to develop increased training alternatives for all Washingtonians. We’ve got additionally offered tens of millions in matching funds to assist speed up reasonably priced housing. And simply final 12 months we helped lead the enterprise neighborhood in defending the Local weather Dedication Act.
This 12 months, legislators are dealing with grim funds information—a funds deficit starting from $10 to16 billion, relying on who you ask and the way you do the maths. Importantly, Washington State is just not in a recession. This deficit is just not as a consequence of an financial downturn that precipitated a decline in revenues. In actual fact, most revenues are nonetheless marginally growing or flat. Very merely, our policymakers in Olympia have handed budgets that went past our means.
We imagine this problem affords a chance to reexamine current spending and Washington State’s priorities of presidency.
We be part of others in Washington in asking simple questions in regards to the outcomes Washingtonians are gaining from previous and present state investments. In the end, the state funds is the state’s most necessary funding alternative for bettering financial competitiveness and inspiring personal sector job development.
We stand prepared
This 12 months, we stand able to work with Governor Ferguson and the Legislature to search out options to all these challenges.
The 2025 legislative session is a pivotal second for our state. With the can-do spirit Washington has all the time been recognized for, we’re optimistic our legislature and Governor Ferguson will collaborate and discover artistic options to our most urgent challenges. Like so many others throughout the state, we at Microsoft are desperate to be companions.
Collectively, we are able to create a brighter, extra equitable future for Washington State.
