OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Jay Inslee delivered his first in-person State of the State Address to the Washington state Legislature since 2020 on Tuesday, outlining his vision for the state.
The governor reflected on the progress made in recent years in tackling issues like mental health, housing, and climate change. Inslee also detailed how the state plans to continue those efforts in the coming years.
"When there’s not enough housing for all, rents and prices skyrocket beyond what many can afford," Inslee said. "Until we fix our housing crisis, thousands of people will remain homeless."
Washington state is short 81,000 housing units, according to Inslee, and Washington's population grew by nearly 1 million people in the last decade. Housing stock only grew by 315,000 units during this time. Inslee said the state needs 1 million units in the next 17 years.
Inslee cited the state's rapid-acquisition housing program, which began two years ago, that helped to speed up the process of developing affordable housing.
He also spoke about his budget proposal from December, which included a $4 billion referendum that will "significantly speed up the construction of thousands of new units that will include shelters, supportive housing and affordable housing."
These efforts would be combined with additional behavioral health support, substance use treatment, employment services and more.
Behavioral health was another point of emphasis for Inslee.
He spoke about an "unprecedented" rise in demand for competency evaluation and restoration services, a 60% increase in court orders since 2018 and a 145% increase in inpatient referrals since 2013.
Although the state has added hundreds of forensic beds, Inslee emphasized that more needs to be done.
"But even with all these investments, this exponential growth in court orders and referrals is not manageable or sustainable. Nor is our criminal justice system an effective way to connect people to the treatment they need. We should be prioritizing diversion and community-based treatment options rather than using the criminal justice system as an avenue to mental health care, particularly because competency services only treat people to be well enough for prosecution," Inslee said.
House Minority Leader, Rep. J.T. Wilcox, said he's willing to explore Inslee's housing proposal.
"It's not the worst suggestion that's come. Will we support it? I want to listen to testimony and go through the process on this," said Wilcox, R-Yelm.
Wilcox said he's eager to see what borrowing $4 billion would do to the state's credit rating.
Sen. John Braun, Senate minority leader, was more skeptical.
"Just based on the math, this proposal doesn't work. It just doesn't," said Braun, R-Lewis County.
Braun said the state needs to make it easier, and cheaper, for the private sector to build homes.
The governor's budget proposal also includes an increase of $3 billion in K-12 education, $120 million of which will go to "better support school districts as they meet the needs of every student they serve, no matter how complex the needs."
On the topic of the climate, the Climate Commitment Act passed in 2021 is now live, and will provide roughly $1.7 billion for projects to bring down emissions, create jobs and generate healthier communities.
The act also funds a voluntary riparian program that offers landowners assistance to protect and recover salmon habitats.
Reproductive rights were another focus of Inslee's as he spoke about the impact of the reversal of Roe vs. Wade and potential further abortion restrictions at the federal level.
"We must protect patient data and privacy. We must protect access from the threat of health care consolidation and cost barriers," Inslee said. "We must protect patients and providers from persecution by vigilantes and activist politicians in anti-choice states. And we must pass a constitutional amendment that expressly establishes a fundamental right to reproductive freedom in Washington state."