The 12 big questions facing Spokane and Washington state leaders in 2026

Yeah, there’s a lot happening in the federal government. But let’s not lose site of the big policy dilemmas facing our local and state leaders as we start 2026.

Here are a dozen questions our reporters will be following (among many, many others) this year.

Will Spokane County and company run a jail tax measure?

2026 may bring about the return of a multibillion-dollar tax ask for Spokane County voters – although it may hardly look like the 2023 failure it sprung from.

After voters handily rejected a $1.7 billion proposal for public safety and two new Spokane County jails three years ago, a broad coalition of private business leaders, criminal justice experts and elected officials across the political spectrum and county have joined forces for a potential revamp of the regional criminal justice system.

An action plan won’t be released by the group until “late spring,” according to the public-private partnership’s website. But officials state the focus has shifted to a more holistic approach to improvements, after its prior iteration faced critiques for overemphasis on the jail construction while offering scant details on other investments. They’ve tapped an internationally recognized former judge to consult on eliminating social strains on the system, and stressed the need for more addiction services in the region, while continuing to highlight capacity issues in the county’s current jail facilities.

The group also has managed to pull in once detractors, and turn opponents on the prior measure into allies, like with Spokane County and the city of Spokane. Despite the often-public disagreements between the coalition partners, they all agreed at an October 2025 news conference that the region needed a coordinated approach to its public safety and quality of life challenges – and to at least try to put together a funding proposal that voters would support in the near future.

It’s clear this go-round is not the last. What’s yet to be seen in the new year is just what the coalition will bring forward, when that plan will be put in front of voters and whether Spokane County voters will support it.

Will Spokane reduce gun violence by 10% by the end of 2026?

When Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall was sworn in to lead the department in August 2024, he often shared one of his main goals was to reform the police force with data-driven policing methods. The shooting death of 13-year-old Gavin Looper in late January 2025 only ignited more of Hall’s fervor to address gun violence, he explained to reporters at a news conference last year.

Bullets from a targeted shooting peppered a north Spokane home and killed Gavin, who was quietly playing video games inside.

“We are noticing an ongoing trend, not just here in Spokane, but across the country, where our offenders in gun violence are becoming increasingly more youthful,” Hall said at the time. “This is concerning to all of us, and should be concerning to the entire community. Where these folks are getting their guns and how they’re utilizing these guns at very, very young ages is an issue.”

Hall released a 2025-26 strategic plan for the department, most of which centers around policing more proactively, or a focus on preventing crime before it happens instead of focusing heavily on the response. To Hall, that includes situating more officers in crime-heavy areas, forming more police-to-person relationships within neighborhoods, using crime analysts to break down citywide offender data, collaborating with Spokane behavioral health organizations and relying more on technology to assist police in violent crime investigations.

In October, the city gained a new method to assist in solving gun-related crimes – the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network is a network that compares ballistic evidence to identify potential associations between multiple firearms.

“Crime guns are often used in multiple crimes, and NIBIN can link the firearms from various crime scenes, allowing law enforcement to quickly disrupt shooting cycles,” the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives states on its website.

With all of the data-driven methods Hall has tried to weave together, it’s his wish to reduce gun violence citywide by 10% at the end of 2026.

“SPD is committed to upholding the principles of evidence-based policing, constitutional policing, and community-oriented policing as the foundational organizational values of our agency,” Hall wrote in a letter to the public last year. “By leveraging data and research, we will implement strategies proven to reduce crime and effectively enhance public safety.”

Will Spokane stand by its tougher stance on public camping?

It has been a little dizzying watching Spokane’s shifting approach to homelessness over the last few years, and while local leaders seem to have landed on a heavier-handed policy than they initially supported, it remains to be seen if the ground will shift again in 2026. There are two new council members on the dais, at least one of whom, Councilwoman Sarah Dixit, sharply opposed criminalization, and other council members who were hesitant to approve stricter laws will have to judge whether they’re comfortable with the results of the balance they struck. Has the city settled into a new equilibrium? Will it flip-flop?

What will the new year bring for the region’s largest university?

There’s a new head honcho down in Pullman – and she has more changes in store for the state’s land -grant research university coming in 2026.

Since taking office as Washington State University’s 12th president last year, Betsy Cantwell has reversed controversial decisions by her predecessor, made major administrative staffing changes and set forth a monthslong process that will redesign the WSU system for years to come.

Last fall, Cantwell and the university’s governing board began a systemwide redesign planning effort that should bear fruit by early summer, when the university community members involved will finalize their “action plans.”

In launching the overhaul, Cantwell hopes to ensure long-term success and viability of the university system. She also hopes to eradicate a stubborn underdog mentality among the WSU community as it embarks on a new era of Pac-12 collegiate athletics, contends with staggering changes to higher education’s funding and continues ongoing efforts to attract more students and funding. The university should assume its role as a national leader in higher education – in academics, athletics and service to the public, she said.

The public can follow updates on the process, and learn how to get involved, on the university’s website dedicated to the redesign.

How will the city encourage more folks to move downtown?

Downtown Spokane faces high vacancy rates, falling property values and the public’s apprehension about safety. City leaders have attempted to give downtown Spokane a leg up by incentivizing the conversion of empty office spaces into residential units, and these have seen some success, but the effect has been limited. In 2026, Spokane has to complete its Comprehensive Plan – the guiding document for development in the city for the next 20 years – and the opportunity is there for the city to make more significant strides toward getting more people downtown, whether to live, work or play.

Who will be the next mayor and deputy mayor in Spokane Valley?

Every two years, Spokane Valley’s City Council votes on who will serve as mayor and deputy mayor for the next year. Spokane Valley has a city manager form of government, and the council votes to select one of its own to fill the role of mayor, who runs the weekly council meetings and largely fills a ceremonial role.

Some council members can be counted out . Councilman Al Merkel, for instance, rarely gets his motions seconded at the dais, and Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger’s Islamophobic post on her personal Facebook page late last year brought sharp criticism to the council – which leaves current Mayor Pam Haley, current Deputy Mayor Tim Hattenburg, Laura Padden, Ben Wick and new Councilman Mike Kelly to vie for the two seats. It’s just a question of popularity and who can get the votes of their fellow council members.

Last year, the council voted to keep Councilwoman Pam Haley as mayor and make Councilman Tim Hattenburg the city’s deputy mayor. Haley was first elected as mayor in 2022 and has been on the council since 2016. Haley also served as deputy mayor in 2018. If she is selected as mayor again this year, she could be the longest serving mayor in the history of Spokane Valley. Earlier in 2025, though, Haley took a leave of absence from the council after a heart attack, leaving Hattenburg to step into a mayoral role while she recovered. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if Hattenburg was elected to maintain his seat as deputy mayor this year, particularly after covering for Haley for several months of the year. But if council members have any concerns about Haley’s health following her heart attack, it hasn’t shown during council meetings.

Will Spokane continue to find new ways to spur residential development?

Zooming out from downtown Spokane, the year ahead also poses interesting challenges with the city’s residential development. The city has made significant strides in encouraging residential development, at times leading the way for the state writ large, but following a major boom in multifamily and small-lot residential development in 2023 and 2024, permits seemed to slow significantly this year. Changes to the city’s Comprehensive Plan in 2026 likely will lay out the city’s plan for re-energizing residential development over the next two decades, but local leaders also are looking toward a few less orthodox ways to boost development.

There’s an effort by some on the Spokane City Council, led by Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke, to get the state to allow cities like Spokane to conduct fairly radical experiments on property taxes. (Pick up a Spokesman-Review on Monday to learn more on that). The mechanisms are complicated, but the overall effort comes down to shifting more of the property tax burden off of structures and onto the land under them, discouraging people from holding onto under- or undeveloped land and relieving some of the tax burden normally created when someone invests heavily into a property. Getting this over the finish line in 2026 will be a long shot, but it will be worth watching this and other ostensibly pro-development policies in the year ahead.

Will progressives claim the last seat on the Spokane City Council?

Conservatives lost one of their two seats on the Spokane City Council in November after Dixit narrowly won election against incumbent Councilman Jonathan Bingle. That leaves Councilman Michael Cathcart as the sole conservative left on the dais, and he made clear last year that he plans to run this November for Spokane County auditor with the blessing of retiring County Auditor Vicky Dalton. If he wins that race, an appointee will be selected by Cathcart’s progressive council colleagues to serve the remaining two years of Cathcart’s term.

Councilman Zack Zappone is also widely rumored to be running for state office this year – a rumor he repeatedly ducked and dodged on the campaign trail in 2025. While no conservative, Zappone has differed from his more progressive colleagues on some issues, including by supporting tougher laws regulating the homeless. If Zappone runs and wins, it could lead to a further leftward shift on the dais.

How will lawmakers balance the budget?

For the second consecutive year, the state’s budget deficit will be the focus of legislators when they return in about a week. While this year’s budget isn’t quite as dire as the $16 billion deficit they faced last year, lawmakers must still close an estimated $2.3 billion gap through June 2027. As he prepares for his second session in office, Gov. Bob Ferguson has proposed the state end special tax exemptions for drug wholesalers and data centers, tap $1 billion from the state’s rainy day fund, cut $800 million in spending and shift unspent funds from across state government.

Now, it’s time for state lawmakers to weigh in. The quick 60-day session is scheduled to begin on Jan. 12 and end on March 12.

In struggles between Nick Brown and Donald Trump, how often will Brown win?

While you’d be hard-pressed to find much support for President Donald Trump among Democratic state officials, it’ll be important to see how their relationship with the federal government develops over the next year.

Washington has been among the states most frequently challenging federal policies, with Attorney General Nick Brown filing or joining 49 lawsuits against the Trump administration over the past 11 months to protect more than $15 billion in federal funding over the next decade.

According to state officials, changes at the federal level have had a direct impact on Washington’s budget. In his recent budget proposal, Ferguson wrote that new requirements for food stamps and Medicaid programs included in the One Big Beautiful Bill could require Washington to spend $165 million in state funds to cover the gap. With Trump in office and Republicans in control of Congress, it seems inevitable that more disagreement will arise.

Will state leaders backtrack on an income tax?

Should those who make more than a million dollars a year pay a state income tax to balance Washington’s tax code? Ferguson believes so and thinks voters will agree. But it would take a flip-flop. The Legislature overwhelmingly passed a measure banning state and local income taxes less than two years ago.

Ferguson recently signaled support for a 9.9% tax rate, which could bring in an estimated $3 billion a year. The revenue from the tax would not help Washington’s short-term budget outlook, with the money likely not available until 2029. Ferguson said he’s confident the idea could survive legal challenges, and voters will have the opportunity to weigh in.

Over the next two months, what Ferguson calls the “millionaires’ tax” will be among the most closely-watched ideas in Olympia.

It’s election year. Will Democrats fare well outside of Puget Sound?

Michael Baumgartner trounced his 2024 opponents to become Eastern Washington’s newest congressman, handing Democrats one of their worst losses in the past 20 years and winning by a larger margin than Trump. He remains a clear favorite to retain his seat, but it’s likely to be a tougher contest with the president’s flagging approval ratings .

Meanwhile, the announcement late this year that in the congressional district to the west, Rep. Dan Newhouse won’t run again, could make for a crowded field.

Mitchell Roland, Nick Gibson, Emry Dinman, Alexandra Duggan and Emily White contributed to this report.