Zahilay wants more King County childcare funding, bus service, housing

Halfway through his first year as leader of Washington's largest county, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay laid out an agenda Wednesday that includes more investment in childcare and housing, new bus routes and efforts to make government more efficient and accountable.

Zahilay, in his first State of the County address, said the county is going through a period of tremendous change, with pivotal decisions soon to come that could echo for generations.

The status of the county's regional homelessness system is in flux, following a damning audit. The map of the region's growing light rail system is in flux, amid a massive long-term funding gap. And the county's budget is uncertain, with a federal government that has moved to cut funding from regions of the country with politics and policies opposed to the Trump administration.

But Zahilay did not offer any final decisions Wednesday on the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, on Sound Transit's efforts to build light rail to Ballard or on the county's relationship to the federal government.

Instead, in his speech at the Federal Way Performing Arts Center, he outlined the stakes and the challenges while offering more modest proposals.

Too many people are living outside, too many can't afford childcare and too many are losing their jobs due to a changing economy, Zahilay said.

These are not ordinary times; these are consequential times," Zahilay said. "The choices we make together will determine whether this region becomes more connected or more divided, more affordable or more out of reach, more inclusive or more unequal."

Just one month after Zahilay was sworn in - the first new elected executive in 16 years, the youngest, the first immigrant and the first refugee to hold the job - King County was hit with the worst floods in a generation. Zahilay's wife, Joyce, meanwhile, had just given birth to their second child.

"It's possible that Zoe became the first baby ever whose birth was announced at a press conference with FEMA," Zahilay said.

Zahilay on Wednesday emphasized previous policy announcements - his push to open 500 units of supportive housing in 500 days (a much less ambitious timeline than Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's push for 500 units by the start of the World Cup, a goal which has already been missed) and to look into a first-ever county housing levy for more funding.

He also announced a new permitting advisory panel that would look for ways to cut red tape and speed up permit approvals to make it easier to build housing faster.

Zahilay mentioned the Best Starts for Kids levy, which funds programs for early childhood, some of which have been the subject of an audit that found unapproved payments and possible fraud.

He said that when voters consider next year whether to renew the levy, he will propose doubling funding toward childcare for kids up to age 3, for a total childcare investment of more than $500 million.

Zahilay announced a plan for King County Metro over the next decade that would include nine new bus routes, four new RapidRide routes and increasing the number of routes with buses coming at least every 15 minutes.

Public trust has been strained, Zahilay said, by headlines about audit findings and perceptions that tax money is not solving problems.

"Too many people are asking a very important question: Is government actually working?" The answer, he said, is yes, but he outlined a series of steps, already in progress, to make government work better.

Zahilay has created an audit director position within his office, he said, and the county is conducting a base budget review for the first time in years "to make sure we hold every dollar accountable.

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 11:45 PM.