Larsen Requests $77M for Northwest Washington, Including Island County Sheriff Radios and Hospital Expansion

For the families of sailors and aviators stationed at NAS Whidbey Island, obstetric emergencies test the limits of Island Health's existing surgical capacity. Rep. Rick Larsen addressed that constraint directly in a $77,113,331 package of federal funding requests he submitted to the House Appropriations Committee on April 2, which also targets a longstanding interoperability problem with Island County Sheriff radios.

The obstetrics request totals $2,715,000 and would fund construction of a dedicated operating suite for obstetric procedures and an upgrade to an existing surgical suite at Island Hospital. The expansion is designed to increase maternal and neonatal care capacity for both rural residents and the military families connected to NAS Whidbey who cannot easily reach larger hospitals on the mainland.

The second Island County request, $1,459,405, would modernize the Island County Sheriff's Office handheld and mobile radio systems and bring them into interoperability with federal, state and local radio networks. Aging radio equipment that cannot communicate across jurisdictions is a documented vulnerability in emergency response: during wildfires, search-and-rescue operations or multi-agency incidents, incompatible systems can slow coordination at exactly the moments when seconds matter most.

"This funding will create good-paying local jobs and improve infrastructure, public safety and education in Northwest Washington," Larsen said in a statement. "I will keep working with local leaders to bring home federal money to support working families and strengthen our communities."

The two Island County items are part of a broader 20-project slate spanning the second congressional district. Other requests include wastewater upgrades on Orcas Island, school safety improvements, marine facility repairs and funding for a Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Fuels research center.

These are requests, not guarantees. Under the community project funding process, projects must be accepted by the House Appropriations Committee, written into appropriations bills and passed by both chambers before federal dollars move. Larsen secured more than $13.9 million for 15 local projects in Fiscal Year 2026, a track record that strengthens the FY2027 slate but does not carry projects forward automatically. If the Sheriff's Office radio request fails, the county would need to find other sources to fund replacement of aging hardware. If the Island Health request falls short, the hospital's obstetrics surgical capacity would remain at current levels, leaving a gap that the federal request identifies as a regional health care priority.