The following summary is based entirely on official Washington State legislative, agency and budget documents. Each source is linked so readers can review the record directly.

HB 2625

A campaign mailer characterizes Mike Steele’s vote for HB 2625 as a “101% tax increase.”

The Legislature’s nonpartisan bill report describes something different: the bill would have allowed eligible local governments and park districts to ask voters to approve a 0.1% local sales tax for parks and recreation.

The measure passed the House but did not pass the Senate. It never became law, imposed no tax and generated no revenue.

SB 6561

The mailer also suggests revenue from HB 2625 was used to provide college financial assistance to undocumented students. The two bills were separate, and HB 2625 produced no revenue.

The final version of SB 6561 that became law created repayable, low-interest student loans—not free tuition or grants.

The state matching component depended on private contributions. State matching funds:

• Could not exceed the private contributions received.
• Could be released only after proof of those contributions.
• Were capped at $2 million per biennium.

The Required Private Funding Was Never Secured

In its official 2023 program update, page 30, the Washington Student Achievement Council stated that the program was contingent on private donations and that “Private funding has not been secured.”

By 2025, the program was still inactive. The Senate’s 2025–27 Operating Budget agency detail, page 155, recommended eliminating funding for the state match and suspending administrative funding, expressly noting: “The program is inactive.”

The final 2025–27 conference budget report, page 284, made the same funding reductions and again identified the program as inactive.

Taken together, these official records show that the required private funding never materialized and no taxpayer-funded loans were issued through the program.