State lobbyist briefs Moses Lake council on 2026 session, flags budget risks from 'millionaire's tax'

Briana Murray, the city’s state lobbyist, told the Moses Lake City Council on May 18 that the 2026 legislative session produced a smaller-than-usual number of enacted laws but included major tax and transportation actions with implications for city budgets.

Murray said the Legislature approved 268 new laws this session and highlighted Senate Bill 6346 — described in the presentation as a 9.9% tax on income above $1 million — as the most publicly visible change. "The most significant action that was taken this session that's received a great deal of media attention is the millionaire's tax proposal," she said.

The bill, Murray said, bundled an income tax with a set of sales‑and‑use tax exemptions (for hygiene products, diapers and certain medications) that will lower collections of both state and local sales tax. "Those sales and use tax exemptions that were included in the bill alongside the income tax will have an impact on city budgets," Murray said. The Legislature allocated $200 million to offset those impacts in a future year, but Murray said how that funding will be distributed — which jurisdictions will receive support, whether it will be one‑time or ongoing, and whether it will scale — remains "unknown at this time." She added the new tax does not take effect until 2029 and is already facing legal and initiative challenges.

Murray also reviewed Moses Lake‑specific outcomes. She said the city’s request for $2.64 million for a sewer‑line replacement project was partially funded: "At the end of the day, the legislature did appropriate $924,000 to the project," she said. According to Murray, the appropriation is intended to pay for a redundant pipeline that the city cannot finance from the public works emergency repairs account, while the replacement of the failed pipe may be eligible for that emergency account.

Council members asked how broader tax changes would affect Moses Lake. Murray said statewide cost estimates were still being prepared by the Department of Revenue and that city‑level breakdowns were not yet available but could be developed over time.

Why it matters: Murray’s briefing tied statewide tax and transportation decisions to local budgeting and infrastructure planning. Councilmembers and staff will need more detailed, jurisdiction‑level revenue projections to quantify near‑term impacts — and to decide whether to press the Legislature for a clearer distribution mechanism for the $200 million mitigation pool.

Next steps: Murray urged the council to continue engagement with its 13th‑district legislators and to prepare requests early for the 2027 session, especially on water supply and the Moses Lake Crossing project. She also encouraged the council to track ongoing litigation and initiative activity affecting the tax bill.