Source: Microsoft
Headline: Microsoft shares its agenda for the 2025 Washington state legislative session
This year is historic for Washington state as we welcome Governor Bob Ferguson, the first new governor in twelve years. In the few weeks since his inauguration, Bob Ferguson has signaled a pragmatic approach to governance, launching a new era in Washington State. Alongside Washingtonians across the state, Microsoft welcomes the Ferguson administration.
Today, in line with our commitment to transparency, we are sharing our annual legislative agenda.
This year is also notable as the 2025 session is a biennial budget year where over the course of 105 days, the legislature will negotiate, write, and ultimately pass three distinct yet interdependent operating, capital, and transportation budgets, outlining the critical spending and revenue plans for the next twenty-four months. With a new federal administration, new governments around the world, and our new government here in Washington, this biennial budget process has a certain gravitas.
Indeed, this is a critical moment for our state. The complexity of our state’s economic fabric—aerospace, technology, life sciences, agriculture, and space—has resulted in both a growing population and now, more than ever, a moment of unprecedented technological progress, presenting opportunities for Washington State and Washingtonians. Given the pace of progress all around us and the unique role we play in the innovation economy, Governor Ferguson and our legislators must be equally agile with deft and delicate policies over these next weeks of the 2025 legislative session.
As in years past, Microsoft’s 2025 legislative agenda aligns closely with the priorities of Washingtonians. As a homegrown global company, we have an eye on these global shifts of change and opportunity. And in these global shifts of change and opportunity, the priority of policymakers in Olympia must be on maintaining and expanding economic vitality, addressing the crisis of affordable housing, supporting high-quality education, and improving public safety and quality of life for all of Washington.
People-centered outcomes with policies that genuinely increase housing supply
Washington and Oregon have the tightest housing markets in the United States and in Washington we need housing of every kind. There is wide agreement that Washington needs to add one million new housing units over the next 20 years to meet the needs of state residents, thereby making housing more affordable.
In 2019, Microsoft announced a historic investment of $750 million to support the creation and
preservation of affordable housing. This initiative aimed to help low- and middle-income workers, such as nurses, teachers, and police officers, who are increasingly unable to afford housing near their workplaces. Our investment contributed and preserved 12,000 units of housing for our neighbors in the Puget Sound region. What we learned through our financial investment, however, is that funding is not enough. We must increase the supply of land and do more to incentivize housing development.
As we have for the past decade, Microsoft supports policies that make it easier, faster, and less expensive to increase housing production. We need to unlock more land for housing, increase financing, and enable efficient and effective government permitting, including the use of new technology to speed up permit review. This includes reforms and incentives that enable more housing in areas with abundant employment and transportation modes, leveraging public investments in transit to provide affordable living options for people across various income levels, enabling them to build their lives closer to their jobs, schools, parks, and other neighborhood amenities.
Among the novel and promising ideas being advanced this session is to promote and unlock residential uses in commercial zones, especially in close proximity to frequent and reliable transit. The rise of online shopping has led to an increase in empty big box stores and underutilized strip malls surrounded by empty parking lots. Policymakers should prioritize rezoning underutilized commercial spaces along existing transit hubs to create vibrant new communities. Freeing up larger tracts of underutilized land will help housing developers overcome the first hurdle to building multi-family apartments, townhomes, and condos.
For the 2025 legislative session, the legislature must continue to take big swings at policy so that Washington State has housing for all.
Access to all types of education for all Washingtonians
In April, Microsoft will celebrate 50 years in business. In the decades after Microsoft was founded, Washington state shifted to a knowledge and innovation economy. Now, we are participating in the shift to an AI economy. And to meet the needs of this moment, we need an interactive jungle gym of skilling and credentialing opportunities for all Washingtonians so we can move both upward and across career paths to follow the job opportunities that hold the most promise now and as job opportunities evolve.
Washington businesses are creating great jobs, but many people lack the necessary skills or credentials to attain them. We need our state to prioritize policies that address the skills gap limiting employment options for too many people. As a leader in global technology, Washington is also a leader in future technologies like AI, clean energy, and quantum computing, which will create a new wave of meaningful family-wage jobs. Washingtonians must be prepared with the right skills to participate in the economy now and in the economy of the future.
Microsoft also supports policies that enhance K-12 student achievement, foster career awareness in middle school, and encourage more students to pursue post-secondary credentials. Offering all Washington kids these opportunities has long been a priority for Microsoft. This year, lawmakers are advancing policies that create seamless pathways into higher education through guaranteed enrollment and generous eligibility for the Washington College Grant program. We are excited about the work being done in these areas.
We also encourage the state to establish more apprenticeships in high-demand fields and expand higher education programs to produce enough qualified applicants to match available jobs.
These are the policies that create a jungle gym of opportunity.
Committing to our statewide transportation plan
Our transportation system is the lifeblood of our state, and our state legislature has done extraordinary work in recent years. We have many important projects underway across the state. People rely on our roads, highways, rail, and ferries to travel to work, school, obtain healthcare, and find recreation. Employers also depend on reliable transportation to move parts and products around the state and beyond. We applaud the work that has been done to keep Washington moving.
This biennium, the priority is to ensure that projects currently underway are completed on time, provide sufficient maintenance funding for existing facilities, and continue to make necessary investments in transformative regional projects, including ultra high-speed rail in the Cascadia corridor.
Cascadia at the forefront of the digital economy and looking to the future
Washington state serves as one of the world’s leading centers for the development of artificial intelligence technology. Advances in artificial intelligence are enhancing customer service interactions, transaction processing, and workflow efficiency across various sectors. Microsoft sees extraordinary opportunities for our state government to leverage local AI expertise to maximize public resources. We look forward to participating in these crucial conversations, which are more important than ever this year.
As we look to the future, we are optimistic. Microsoft’s long-standing partnership with the state of Washington has been part of the success of our state. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we are as committed as we have ever been to collaborating with lawmakers to secure our state’s vibrant future. We look forward to working together to meet the challenges and opportunities of the next 50 years.
We see this as a unique opportunity to partner with Governor Ferguson and the legislature to advance Washington State using technology and innovation, increasing individual productivity capacity, and expanding access to government services for Washingtonians.
State budgets that are sustainable and prioritized
The most important policy bills the legislature will pass, however, will be the budget bills. More than anything, this bill will reflect the state’s priorities now and for the next two years. Budgets are where Washington’s tax dollars are put to work. Over the years, Microsoft has supported targeted tax increases for important programs and services. We have supported and defended nearly every transportation package in recent history. We supported the creation of the Workforce Education Investment Act to expand higher education opportunities for all Washingtonians. We have also provided millions in matching funds to help accelerate affordable housing. And just last year we helped lead the business community in defending the Climate Commitment Act.
This year, legislators are facing grim budget news—a budget deficit ranging from $10 to16 billion, depending on who you ask and how you do the math. Importantly, Washington State is not in a recession. This deficit is not due to an economic downturn that caused a decline in revenues. In fact, most revenues are still marginally increasing or flat. Very simply, our policymakers in Olympia have passed budgets that went beyond our means.
We believe this challenge affords an opportunity to reexamine recent spending and Washington State’s priorities of government.
We join others in Washington in asking straightforward questions about the outcomes Washingtonians are gaining from past and current state investments. Ultimately, the state budget is the state’s most important investment opportunity for improving economic competitiveness and encouraging private sector job growth.
We stand ready
This year, we stand ready to work with Governor Ferguson and the Legislature to find solutions to all these challenges.
The 2025 legislative session is a pivotal moment for our state. With the can-do spirit Washington has always been known for, we are optimistic our legislature and Governor Ferguson will collaborate and find creative solutions to our most pressing challenges. Like so many others across the state, we at Microsoft are eager to be partners.
Together, we can create a brighter, more equitable future for Washington State.
Tags: affordable housing, Education and Jobs, transportation, Washington state
