After today’s Senate vote to pass a compromise 2020 state supplemental operating budget, 9th Legislative District Sen. Mark Schoesler criticized the plan for its sharp increase in spending. “The supplemental operating budget is supposed to make minor adjustments to the original two-year budget passed by the Legislature, but this budget...

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, says the latest state revenue forecast shows that the Legislature should roll back the huge business-and-occupation tax increase that it imposed on certain services earlier this year. The fourth-quarter revenue forecast, released today, shows an increase of $299 million over the third-quarter forecast from September....

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler blasted the Senate’s approval tonight of a bill that would raise fuel costs through a higher tax on one of the state’s leading industries and be particularly hard on rural Washington. Substitute Senate Bill 5993 was passed virtually along party lines, 27-22. It now goes...

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, responded to today’s release of the Senate Democrats’ 2019-21 operating budget proposal by calling on the Democratic majorities in the Senate and House to back up their calls for “tax fairness” by passing legislation that lowers regressive taxes on Washingtonians. “One of the main arguments...