WA millionaires tax fight cements rising GOP star status of Tri-City lawmaker
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rep. Connors drew up GOP’s blueprint for a marathon tax debate that bogged down Democrats.
- Less than a quarter of bills passed this session, 267 out of about 1,100 introduced.
- Democrats passed a 9.9% tax on household income exceeding $1 million.
A two-term Tri-Cities lawmaker is getting serious praise from her Republican colleagues for tangling up Democrats’ floor time and strategy in Olympia.
State Rep. April Connors, R-Kennewick, was elected House Republicans’ floor leader in November 2024. Her job is to organize legislative strategy and debates, and initiating and responding to parliamentary action.
Peers say efforts by her and other legislative GOP leadership have proven crucial to thwarting and bogging down bills proposed by majority Democrats. Connors drew up her party’s blueprint on the 25-hour marathon debate over the so-called “millionaires tax,” which she deemed the “fight of the century.”
Her caucus has called her a “formidable presence,” and one media outlet, the Washington State Standard, called Connors one of the few Republican “winners” of the 2026 session for her ability to “burn floor time” to kill Democratic bills.
Effort to kill millionaires tax
Less than a quarter of the bills introduced this session were ultimately passed by the Legislature — a record-low 267 out of some 1,100.
But the Kennewick Republican sees it a bit differently.
“When you have a 24-hour debate like that, it doesn’t just kill Democrat bills. There’s Republican bills that might not make it through as well,” Connors told the Tri-City Herald recently. “But part of having a big debate is slowing down the clock, and it is stopping other bad, harmful bills.”
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Connors, alongside Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, the deputy minority leader, sat down with the Herald to dissect this year’s 60-day session and to detail how Republicans used procedure to get their priorities across.
Democrats hold a 59-39 majority in the state House of Representatives, and have had control of it since 2002. The House is one of two chambers that writes, debates, amends and passes bills that go before the governor to become state law.
For the minority party, floor strategizing has become one of a few sharp tactics to slow down bills they don’t like that enter the final homestretch.
The strategy seemed to work well enough on the income tax bill, a piece of legislation that Republicans assert is unconstitutional and is likely to be amended in future sessions to include lower earners. The debate was possibly the longest in state history, and included hours of passionate rebuttal and at least 80 proposed amendments.
But in the end, Democrats were able to pass the 9.9% tax on all household income that exceeds $1 million. House lawmakers were delirious after having been up for some 37 hours straight.
Republicans say drawn-out debates are the exception, not the rule, but this one counted.
“Being an effective floor leader in the Legislature means knowing when to make a deal and when to fight,” said state Rep. Jim Walsh, the Aberdeen Republican who separately serves as chairman of his state party. “Not all legislators know the difference. Connors does.”
Corry said long debates should be used “like a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.” When it came to a precedent-shattering income tax, Republicans say the juice was worth the squeeze.
“Our members stayed on point, they stayed on topic,” Connors said.
Some of the amendments were to hold Democrats accountable to programs they claimed it would fund, such as free lunches for public school students. That revenue was promised, but not secured in the legislation.
Others attempted to patch perceived flaws in the bill. Republicans proposed an amendment to help small business owners and farmers who organize their business as a pass-through entity, meaning they claim revenue as income to later reinvest.
Democrats have previously highlighted options for these business owners to mitigate the impacts.
GOP calls tax ‘slapped together’
Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, is the floor leader across the aisle.
She said Connors was willing to work with her to get the work done without adding too much unnecessary burden on lawmakers’ health and wellbeing during the tax debate that ran overnight.
“We have some serious human things to worry about and April was an incredibly strong partner with me to figure out how to deliver on our parties’ missions and keep it humanity centered,” she said.
That included allowing lawmakers to take proxy votes instead of full roll call votes on some of the 80+ amendments proposed on the floor. Stonier, who has served eight years as the House Democrat floor leader, knew how important the fight was for Republicans and even some from her own party, something she has a “deep respect” for.
“She knows how much I respect her, even though we don’t agree on things,” Stonier said of Connors. “Her job is to give me a headache, and she does a good job at it.”
Corry said the focus on the debate from their side was less about millionaires and more about how this didn’t address the state’s regressive tax system. He said it simply set up a new revenue source for Olympia. He expects Democrats will propose further “tweaks and adjustments.”
He thinks the fight worked out well. There was bipartisan opposition, and Republicans were able to corral eight Democratic votes in the House to oppose it. Corry argues the more prudent approach for Democrats should have been to pass this as a constitutional amendment, but he argues it’s just not popular enough with lawmakers or the public.
“Nobody in Olympia knows how to write income tax law because we’ve never done it,” Corry said, adding that it seemed “slapped together.”
200+ Southeast WA millionaires
The first income tax collection won’t start until 2029, and Senate Democrats estimate it will bring in about $3.5 billion annually. It’s anticipated to affect about 21,000 filers, or less than 0.3% of the state’s population.
It could affect hundreds in the Tri-Cities region.
About 195 millionaires live in the 8th Legislative District, including Benton and Franklin counties, which Connors represents. It could also impact 97 filers in the 16th Legislative District, which stretches from Richland to Walla Walla.
Republicans say those high earners will flee, while Democrats argue many of those will stay in the Evergreen State and will be happy to contribute more of their wealth to state programs and tax exemptions for low earning families.
Still, Corry says Washington is losing about 47 taxpayers a day who are moving out of the state, though the state’s population continues to grow. Connors, whose background is in real estate, says she sees families fleeing already due to the estate and capital gains taxes.
Those shifting their primary residence out of state are also taking with them philanthropic contributions to nonprofits, which could impact services for low-income children, disabled residents or migrants.
“In the reality, if the majority party thinks that high earners are going to give 10% and then keep giving as much to our local nonprofits, I think we are going to see a huge hit that way as well,” Connors said.
As Tri-City lawmakers return to their districts, Connors and others are still hearing praise from constituents for their willingness to engage in a record-breaking debate.
“I’m shocked how, (for) many people, that is what stuck in their minds. They are thankful. Everywhere we go,” she said. “You would hope that you can change hearts and minds when you’re up there talking for 24 hours straight about something you know and believe is going to be bad.”
A lawsuit has already been filed by a group that includes former Attorney General Rob McKenna in an effort to overturn the millionaires tax. Conservative group Let’s Go Washington also recently filed a referendum to repeal the law, but Secretary Steve Hobbs rejected it and the state Supreme Court will hear arguments on the appeal later this month.
