Last night the Legislature passed a 2017–19 capital budget (SSB 6090). Of course, normally the capital budget would have been approved last year, but legislators had tied its approval to finding a solution to the state Supreme Court’s Hirst decision. (The 2016 decision was about ensuring adequate water supply before granting building permits.) As the AP reports, the Legislature also addressed that issue last night, with the passage of ESSB 6091.

New appropriations in the capital budget total $4.195 billion, including $1.033 billion for public schools. Last spring, the Senate and House had passed separate versions of the capital budget; we wrote about them in this policy brief in May. As we mentioned, they were only $157.5 million apart at the time. The table below compares these versions with the one that was passed by the Legislature last night.

Total appropriations in the budget passed last night are $43.0 million higher than in the April House version and $200.4 million higher than in the March Senate version. Appropriations for public schools are lower in the budget that passed last night than in the earlier versions, but they still exceed the 2015–17 capital appropriations for public schools by $87.6 million. (Our May policy brief includes a chart showing public schools capital appropriations over time, on page 4.)