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D. C. Fly-in Marks 11 Years of Leading Employers to the Nation’ s Capitol
Governor, AG speak at Legislative Day & Hill Climb
AWB’ s 11th annual D. C. Fly-in in December brought a delegation of Washington business leaders to Washington D. C. for face-to-face meetings with federal decision-makers.
The AWB delegation met with nearly every member of Washington’ s congressional delegation and leaders from the Departments of Commerce and Transportation, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Canadian Embassy. Discussions focused on permitting reform, infrastructure, trade, tariffs and more.
The fly-in group included the owners of small family-owned businesses, public agency officials and top members of international companies headquartered in Washington state.
For more information, contact Emily Wittman, AWB’ s lead government affairs director for federal issues, at emilyw @ awb. org.
Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown spoke with AWB members at the annual Legislative Day & Hill Climb in January.
Ferguson addressed the state’ s multi-million-dollar budget shortfall and reiterated his commitment to sign a budget aligned with the state’ s revenue forecast. He also outlined major proposed transportation and housing investments and continued efforts to streamline permitting and licensing, building on an executive order signed in 2025.
The keynote luncheon at Saint Martin’ s University also included a fireside chat with former investigative journalist Jesse Jones, in his new role as executive director of Your Washington. Jones discussed how the new state agency is working to improve how residents and businesses experience state government.
2026 Redbook Highlights Washington’ s Strengths and Shortfalls
AWB’ s 2026 Competitiveness Redbook— a data-driven snapshot of how Washington compares to other states across 61 economic indicators— was released in January. The report shows Washington continues to lead in areas such as trade and a high-tech workforce, but also ranks among the worst states for tax competitiveness and remains a high-cost place for employers.
Key findings include:
• Washington ranks sixth worst in the nation for tax competitiveness.
• The state has long benefited from some of the nation’ s most affordable electricity, but that advantage is eroding for both residential and industrial customers.
• Washington pays the highest unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation benefits in the country.
To explore more data, find the 2026 Redbook in the“ Reports & Data” section of AWB’ s website. To request print copies, email AWB’ s Jason Hagey at JasonH @ awb. org.
14 association of washington business