On January 23, 2026, Washington House Republicans introduced House Joint Memorial 4013, formally asking Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson to elect Washington into the federal §25F scholarship tax credit and citing a conservative estimate of roughly $732 million in annual donations to Washington SGOs if the state opts in.
A group of Washington House Republicans introduced House Joint Memorial 4013 on January 23, 2026, a formal legislative request asking Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson to opt the state into the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (§25F). The memorial was read for the first time and referred to the House Education Committee the same day. Its prime sponsor is Rep. Michael Keaton (R), who represents the 25th Legislative District including Puyallup and serves as the assistant ranking Republican on the House Education Committee. Among the 25 Republican co-sponsors is Rep. Jim Walsh (R, 19th District, Aberdeen), who also chairs the Washington State Republican Party. The memorial leans on a striking number drawn directly from its own text: a conservative estimate of approximately $732 million in annual donations to Scholarship Granting Organizations serving Washington students if the state participates.
The request is procedurally specific. HJM 4013 is addressed to Gov. Ferguson and the Office of Financial Management, and it asks the governor to exercise his authority under IRC section 25F(g)(1)(B) to elect Washington’s participation, then to submit the required list of qualified SGOs to the IRS by January 1, 2027, or as early as practicable. That structure reflects how §25F actually works: the credit was created by Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, and it is the governor of each state, not the legislature, who makes the election. The bill text accurately summarizes the mechanics, noting that the federal credit is worth up to $1,700 per taxpayer annually, that scholarships are limited to households at or below 300 percent of area median gross income, and that the program is effective for tax years beginning in 2027. We break down the governor-election structure and the household income limits in our explainers on how the credit works.
For Washington families, SGOs, and donors, the memorial is a marker rather than a green light. A joint memorial carries no force of law; it is a formal expression of the chamber’s sentiment directed at the governor, and the decision still rests entirely with Ferguson. The $732 million figure (rounded by some secondary coverage to “more than $700 million”) signals the scale of donation volume that could flow to Washington scholarship organizations if the state participates, but none of it materializes unless the governor signs the election. The pressure has not come only from Olympia: U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner (WA-05, R) publicly pressed Ferguson in December 2025 to opt Washington in, after praising Colorado for moving early. Washington currently has no state tax-credit scholarship program of its own, which means §25F would represent a brand-new channel of private scholarship funding rather than a federal layer stacked on an existing state credit, the pattern seen in mature school-choice states.
The contrast with states that have already acted is sharp. Republican and Democratic governors alike have made the election: Virginia was the first state to opt in, Colorado’s Gov. Polis moved in December 2025, Florida followed in January 2026, and New York’s Gov. Hochul elected in May 2026, putting 27 states on the IRS advance-election list by mid-2026. Democratic governors have not moved uniformly, however, a split we examine in our coverage of how Democratic governors are dividing on §25F. Ferguson’s silence places Washington squarely in the undecided column, where a memorial from the minority party is unlikely on its own to force a decision.
As of June 2026, the only recorded action on HJM 4013 is the January 23 first reading and referral to the House Education Committee, with no further movement, consistent with the memorial stalling in committee. Whether Washington joins the program now depends almost entirely on whether Gov. Ferguson chooses to make the election before the January 1, 2027 effective year. We track Washington’s status, its lack of a current state program, and any movement from the governor on our Washington state page and on the national participation map. For SGO operators preparing in case Washington opts in, a §25F program is largely an operations and compliance build, and a growing number of organizations are standing up donor-acquisition and scholarship workflows on software written for the federal credit from the start. Operators can study existing participating organizations across the national SGO directory.
