Kent lobbyists brief council on 2025 legislative outcomes, including new 0.01 sales-tax option for public safety

Brianna Murray, the city’s contracted lobbyist from Gordon Thomas Honeywell, told the Kent City Council on June 3 that the 2025 Washington legislative session produced a mix of budget cuts, new revenue measures and new mandates that will affect Kent’s policy and budget choices.

"We are going to try and capture a hundred and 5 days of intense activity into 20 minutes," Murray said as she opened the presentation to council. The briefing covered the operating, capital and transportation budgets and named specific pieces of legislation with direct consequences for Kent.

Why it matters: The session left the state with a roughly $15 billion budget shortfall that the legislature addressed with about $6 billion in cuts, $4.3 billion in new revenue measures and $2.3 billion in reserves. For Kent, that dynamic both reduced the pool for local capital earmarks and produced a new limited local tool — a councilmanic 0.01 sales-tax for public safety — that the council said it may consider.