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Issaquah lobbyist briefs council on 2025 legislative session: SR 18 funding preserved, mixed results on city priorities
Summary
City lobbyist Shelley Helger summarized outcomes of the 2025 Washington legislative session: partial funding was secured for the SR 18 widening, several city requests advanced, some grants were reappropriated, and other priorities were delayed or vetoed.
City Government Affairs Specialist Shelley Helger briefed the Issaquah City Council Monday on the results of the 2025 Washington legislative session, describing a mix of wins and setbacks for the city amid a state budget shortfall.
Helger said the 2025 operating budget totals $77.8 billion, the capital budget $7.5 billion and the transportation budget $15.5 billion. Facing a multibillion‑dollar shortfall, the legislature combined spending reductions and new revenue to balance the biennial budgets, Helger told the council.
On transportation, Issaquah — as a member of the Southeast Area Legislative Transportation Coalition — sought protection for previously allocated funding for State Route 18. Helger said Representative Victoria Hunt secured a House amendment providing $10 million in the upcoming biennium and that the final budget allocates $15 million to SR 18 in the upcoming biennium and $25 million in the following biennium, with remaining funds placed in future biennia. She said the project’s planned construction start in 2027 was canceled and construction is now scheduled for 2029; WSDOT will change the contracting approach from design‑build to design‑bid‑build.
Helger described several other city outcomes. A city request for a two‑year pilot using biometric monitoring devices at the Issaquah jail — roughly $88,000 — was included in the legislature’s budget but was later removed by a gubernatorial veto. A $2.7 million request for a digital permitting upgrade was not funded. The city secured $100,000 in the capital budget to begin the "Creeks to Peaks" vision and won a $1.4 million capital allocation for bomb‑cyclone recovery work arising from storm damage. Representative Callan led a successful reappropriation of $3 million originally awarded in 2019 to the Issaquah Opportunity Center; Helger said the funds were moved into a more flexible local community project program.
Helger also walked through policy changes that will affect local planning and land use. An amendment to House Bill 1491 corrected a Department of Commerce interpretation of "major transit stop" tied to middle‑housing law implementation; the city worked with sponsors to secure language the city requested. The legislature passed changes to parking minimums (a bill Helger referenced as Senate Bill 5184 in committee work) and provided up to three years for local implementation; the legislature also increased flexibility for real estate excise tax uses. Helger emphasized that many policy and implementation details will require city staff work in the coming months.
Councilmembers asked about the impacts of gubernatorial vetoes on local service providers; Helger urged the council to document impacts to help inform supplemental budget discussions when the next revenue forecast arrives. She also recommended the city prioritize spending reappropriated and newly awarded funds so they are demonstrably used before future budget requests.
"The city's delegation worked hard to advance the city's priorities in an incredibly challenging session," Helger said. "We had some important wins and we need to remain focused on implementing those allocations and monitoring impacts going forward."
