Clark County urges state to fund health services

The Clark County Council adopted a resolution last week calling on the Legislature to maintain funding for public health services through a statewide initiative known as Foundational Public Health Services.

Funding from Foundational Public Health Services supports development of Clark County’s health assessment and health improvement plan, analysis and publishing of public health data, communicable disease case investigation, immunization education and outreach, data modernization, emergency preparedness, chronic disease prevention and built environment initiatives, according to the resolution.

The state’s ongoing budget challenges led to cuts of $12 million from the program this fiscal year across Washington. Reductions totaled about $175,000 in Clark County, said Marissa Armstrong, communications manager for Clark County Public Health.

Foundational Public Health Services is a significant funding source for Clark County Public Health, accounting for nearly a third of its overall $23.7 million budget this fiscal year, Armstrong said.

“The increased investment in public health has allowed us to enhance and increase services to the community,” Armstrong said in an email.

Further cuts to the public health services may be on the horizon as the legislative session comes to an end and lawmakers vote on Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed supplemental budget, which includes a $29 million reduction for Foundational Public Health Services. In the 2025-27 budget adopted last year, the Legislature allocated more than $300 million to the initiative.

The funding reduction is part of several budget cuts proposed by Ferguson to fix the state’s $2.3 billion shortfall.

The resolution also calls for lawmakers to address a change made last year to state taxes on vapor products, which funded Foundational Public Health Services. The change defines “tobacco products” to include anything that contains nicotine.

Since most vapor products contain nicotine, they will now be taxed as tobacco products instead of vapor products. Taxes on tobacco products go to the state general fund, which means tax dollars on vapor products that were going toward Foundational Public Health Services will now go to the state general fund.

Armstrong said there are currently legislative bills aimed at addressing the issue.