{"id":729284,"date":"2026-06-27T13:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729284\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:45:27","slug":"with-cracks-showing-in-wa-economy-ferguson-forms-new-council-to-look-for-fixes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729284\/","title":{"rendered":"With cracks showing in WA economy, Ferguson forms new council to look for fixes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against this backdrop, Ferguson on Thursday signed an executive order creating a Governor\u2019s Economic Development Council<\/a> that will advise him and help draft a statewide economic development plan by June next year. <\/p>\n

One objective is to make recommendations to market Washington as a destination for out-of-state businesses. Another is to identify barriers to growth that lie in state regulations.<\/p>\n

RELATED: WA employers added jobs in May, but unemployment rate stayed stuck at 5.2%<\/a><\/p>\n

Only a few weeks ago, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was touting his state as a destination<\/a> for businesses looking for an alternative to \u201chigh-tax, high-regulation blue states,\u201d after Washington-based Janicki Industries announced an $800 million expansion there.<\/p>\n

The 26-member council will serve as a venue for \u201ccandid discussions,\u201d Ferguson said, adding that he plans to attend every quarterly meeting. The Democratic governor said Washington hasn\u2019t convened such a panel in two decades.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Unemployment in WA reaches highest rate since 2021<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, Ferguson said Washington has a \u201clot to be proud of,\u201d citing strong national rankings for the state\u2019s economy and productivity. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we cannot take our strength for granted, and indeed we have many challenges,\u201d he said before signing the order.<\/a> \u201cToo many Washingtonians are out of work. Our state is unaffordable for too many Washingtonians, and we have areas where those rankings are not so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Tech layoffs drive Seattle-area unemployment above 5%<\/a><\/p>\n

The council is also tasked with evaluating the competitiveness of Washington\u2019s economy compared to other states and identifying strategies to increase jobs.<\/p>\n

Leaders from Microsoft, Boeing, Puget Sound Energy, the Washington State Labor Council and the state\u2019s Building and Construction Trades Council are among those who will serve on the panel. Lt. Gov. Denny Heck is the lone elected state official, aside from Ferguson. <\/p>\n

Too little, too late?<\/p>\n

Business interests have been increasingly critical of Ferguson and Washington Democrats during the governor\u2019s first year-and-a-half in office, chafing over billions of dollars in new and increased taxes pushed through to fill a budget shortfall in 2025 and a regulatory climate they describe as onerous. <\/p>\n

RELATED: From coder to shuttle driver: Where Seattle’s laid off tech workforce is now<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly three in four respondents to an Association of Washington Business survey this spring reported their tax burden as a top business challenge, up 18% since winter 2025. Just 7% rated Washington\u2019s economy as strong or very strong, with almost half expecting a recession in the next year. Their feelings about Washington\u2019s standing were worse than their thoughts on the national economy.<\/p>\n

Joe Fain, president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and a former Washington state senator, believes the state can get on a stronger economic track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic that the governor is taking a serious problem seriously,\u201d said Fain, who is not on the panel.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany say it\u2019s too late. But if our elected leaders take what comes out of this effort seriously and are honest about how high costs and complex regulations are hurting businesses of all sizes, Washington can still control its own destiny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: New lawsuit challenges constitutionality of Washington\u2019s \u2018millionaires tax\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Morgan Irwin, vice president of government affairs at the Association of Washington Business, said he hopes state leaders have the will to change course. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we have the people in place here to make a real difference, but that\u2019s going to take upsetting some of our friends,\u201d said Irwin, whose boss is on the new council. <\/p>\n

Mike Katz, chief business and product officer for T-Mobile, will serve on the panel. He hopes to provide feedback about \u201csome of the unintended consequences\u201d of state leaders\u2019 decisions. He wants a more predictable business environment, and said ever-changing state policies can put the Bellevue-based company at a disadvantage nationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been one of the hardest things for us is the unpredictability of the changes on a year-over-year basis for our employees,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to live through the unpredictability of not knowing what next year has to hold, whether it\u2019s with taxes or anything else, and I would say the same for the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Washington\u2019s historic income tax on high earners is now law<\/a><\/p>\n

Last month, former Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire noted as much during an Association of Washington Business meeting: \u201cWe have lived on luck. We are overspending. We are not allowing businesses to be able to predict tomorrow, and that is not healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson argues he\u2019s already done some work to boost economic development, such as using reserve funds to create jobs in quantum computing and other sectors, spearheading investments in housing construction and signing another executive order on his first day in office to cut down on the time it takes to get a state permit. <\/p>\n

But some of his fiercest critics remain unconvinced by those efforts or the new council.<\/p>\n

\u201cFerguson doesn\u2019t need to spend more taxpayer dollars to form a committee to study something that Washington State already had figured out,\u201d said Brian Heywood, a hedge fund manager and founder of the conservative political committee Let\u2019s Go Washington. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe state knew the answer when I moved here 16 years ago: make it easy to build houses and businesses, reduce regulations, and eliminate unnecessary taxes \u2014 and he can start with the unconstitutional income tax,\u201d Heywood said. <\/p>\n

The group is gathering signatures<\/a> for an initiative to repeal the income tax on high earners<\/a> that lawmakers and Ferguson approved earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Looking to 2027<\/p>\n

Washington officials will learn Friday from the state economist how revenues are doing, giving a preliminary sense of the shortfall<\/a> they\u2019ll face as Ferguson drafts his first two-year budget proposal for the Legislature to consider early next year.<\/p>\n

Ferguson has committed to not proposing new taxes in his proposal, which he said will grapple with \u201cin all likelihood, a multibillion-dollar shortfall.\u201d He said he\u2019ll be focused on budget cuts, especially on newer programs launched since 2019. <\/p>\n

He acknowledged the concerns from credit rating agencies that Washington is spending more than it takes in and tapping reserves to make ends meet. A top priority in budget talks for him will be ensuring the state\u2019s sterling bond rating is preserved, as a downgrade would increase interest rates on state borrowing and add millions of dollars in new costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure we\u2019re addressing our long-term budget situation in a sustainable way,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy for me to say that. It\u2019ll be challenging to do it, but that\u2019ll be my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expects that the budget lawmakers deliver to him to sign in 2027 won\u2019t include tax hikes, but stopped short of committing to veto tax proposals at this early stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a long way to go,\u201d Ferguson said. <\/p>\n

The governor also said the Legislature, which is controlled by heavy Democratic majorities in both chambers, needs to \u201crefocus on the impact of policies that are adopted and what that impact is on the business community.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by the Washington State Standard.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Against this backdrop, Ferguson on Thursday signed an executive order creating a Governor\u2019s Economic Development Council that will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-729284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}