A $2 billion budget deficit dominated Washington’s legislative session, and while many headlines focused on income taxes on Washingtonians, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) took a $10 million budget hit. This comes on top of a $3 million cut in 2025 despite a 38 percent increase in hunting and fishing license fees. The new cuts include $1.9 million from the wildlife program, $1 million from biodiversity, $1 million from administration, $1.5 million from business services and $580,000 from land maintenance. And at least 11 warden positions will remain vacant.  

Of note, the session was also met with the ongoing fallout from the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission's rejection of WDFW's own scientific recommendation to downlist gray wolves, as well as several threats to lawful firearms.  

• HB 1311 - Implementing WDFW's gray wolf recommendation. We strongly supported WDFW’s proposed downlisting of wolves from state endangered to state sensitive during the most recent wolf status review. The Washington Wildlife Commission rejected that recommendation, so this bill was introduced to implement the change legislatively. The bill failed. 

• SB 5960 and HB 2221 - Restoring and sustaining healthy ungulate populations. These bills would direct WDFW to initiate wolf and other predator management where ungulate populations were below objective. Wolves are recovered in Washington and across much of the U.S. and should be managed in balance with other wildlife. While we agreed with the intent of these bills, we urged thoughtful caution — managing wildlife by statute is not optimal and should be a last resort when the commission process breaks down. This legislation failed. 

• HB 1442 - Wolf-livestock conflict and local collaboration. This bill would provide WDFW with greater flexibility to work with local governments on gray wolf management. This bill failed. 

• SB 5203 - Wildlife crossings and habitat connectivity. Establishing a state fund for wildlife crossings and corridors will help Washington leverage federal dollars and elevate connectivity as a management priority — a direct benefit for elk, mule deer and other wide-ranging species. This bill failed in the House. 

• SB 5443 - Charitable fundraising modernization. We joined Ducks Unlimited and a broad coalition of nonprofits in supporting this bill to modernize charitable gambling laws and remove outdated restrictions that limit conservation fundraising. These laws have not kept pace with how organizations operate today, and the restrictions directly hamper RMEF's ability to raise conservation dollars in Washington. This legislation was killed. 

• HB 1685 - Wildlife commission restructuring. This bill would have stripped the wildlife commission of its authority and made the WDFW director a direct political appointee of the governor. This was a response to the commission’s well-documented disfunction in recent years. This bill failed. We encourage Governor Ferguson to restore the commission by appointing qualified, moderate commissioners who understand their mandate to sustainably manage Washington's fish and wildlife. 

• SB 5099 - Additional requirements for licensed firearms dealers. Federal Firearms License holders are among the most regulated and law-abiding businesses in the state. The prior session already imposed significant new burdens that are driving smaller dealers out of business before those rules have even taken full effect. This bill would layer on additional regulations. Gun dealers are not the problem. Criminals are the problem. Weakening the firearms retail sector has real consequences for conservation: Pittman-Robertson excise tax revenues generated by firearms and ammunition sales are foundational to wildlife funding in Washington, and their erosion threatens organizations like RMEF. This bill failed. 

• HB 1386 - New tax on firearms, parts and ammunition. We opposed this bill imposing a new state tax on firearms, firearm parts and ammunition. A state tax stacked on top of the existing federal Pittman-Robertson framework does not direct dollars to wildlife conservation. Instead, it simply burdens lawful purchasers and further strains the commercial ecosystem that conservation funding depends on. This bill did not pass. 

• SB 5098 - Weapons restrictions in public buildings and parks. We opposed this bill restricting the possession of weapons on state and local public properties, including county fairgrounds. This could have prohibited conservation banquets often held at these facilities. This bill failed. 

About Hunt 2 Conserve 

Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org. 

(Photo credit: Joe Mabel)