West Richland lobbyist reports wins in 2025 session; council adds road-rights priority for 2026

Jennifer Ziegler, the city’s contract lobbyist, briefed the West Richland City Council on results from the 2025 Washington legislative session and outlined priorities for 2026.

Ziegler said the session had been “an unbelievably challenging legislative session,” and told the council the city’s top win was preserving funding for the SR‑224 Red Mountain project. She said the Connecting Washington package included about $30 million for the 2025–27 biennium and that the city successfully preserved “the last remaining segment” of roughly $15.9 million and arranged for that money to flow through the Washington State Department of Transportation to the city.

Ziegler also told the council the city secured $309,000 through the state capital budget’s local community projects program for a backup generator project. She described…