City hears mid‑session state legislative update as transportation, capital budgets face cuts

Shelley Helder, the city’s contract lobbyist with Gordon Thomas Honeywell, told the Bothell City Council on March 4 that the Washington state Legislature is at the halfway point of its 60‑day session and that major budget decisions remain unsettled.

Helder said the operating budget — the one most commonly cited in news coverage — and the transportation budget are facing serious shortfalls. “The state transportation budget in this upcoming biennium is facing a billion dollar shortfall,” she said, and predicted project delays and new revenues may be needed to balance that budget.

The update matters because Bothell’s 2025 legislative agenda includes five priorities that depend on state action, the city manager said. Helder reviewed the council’s priorities and the bills she and staff are tracking: preserving Shelton View Forest as recreational land, a $1.9 million capital budget request for the Wood Quest utility project, policies and investments for multimodal connections, removing barriers to housing construction, and a package of other housing and local‑government items.

On Shelton View Forest, Helder said turnover in leadership at the Department of Natural Resources has slowed substantial progress but staff continue to pursue a path forward. On capital requests she described the Wood Quest utility request as “ambitious” and noted Representative Doer has prioritized it; Helder said high demand on the capital budget makes funding uncertain.

On multimodal projects, she said the strain on the transportation budget means “it’s not likely that there’s going to be significant investment in local multi‑modal resources,” but legislators are considering policy options to make shared‑street and multi‑use path concepts more feasible without jurisdictional transfers of state routes.

On housing, Helder said the council’s priority is to remove barriers to construction and that the city has focused on bills that staff believe will have the most effect. She cited Senate Bill 5184 (statewide parking minimums) as a bill the city is monitoring; the bill had passed the Senate and was in the House Local Government Committee at the time of the briefing.

Council members pressed for follow‑up on several bills they had heard about, including proposals on paid family and medical leave, bargaining over artificial intelligence in public‑sector workforces, and first‑responder occupational disease recognition. Helder said staff will follow up and provide more detail. Council members also raised the city’s occasional policy differences with the Association of Washington Cities and asked staff to bring strategy options for articulating Bothell’s position when AWC’s stance differs from the city’s.

City staff said they will return to council with updates as bills pass cutoffs and as the Legislature moves through the house‑of‑origin deadline on March 12.

Helder’s update was informational; no council action was requested or taken.