The House Appropriations Committee Chair’s 2019–21 operating budget proposal did not make any appropriations from the budget stabilization account (BSA, or rainy day fund), as we wrote in a policy brief yesterday. Scratch that.

Yesterday evening the committee approved several amendments to the budget proposal. The official budget numbers haven’t been updated yet to reflect these changes, but one of the amendments reduces FY 2019 (in 2017–19) general fund appropriations for the Department of Natural Resources by $38.9 million. These funds would have been used for fire suppression costs.

Meanwhile, HB 2159 has been introduced. It would appropriate $38.9 million from the BSA in 2017–19 for fire suppression costs incurred during the 2018 fire season. Because the governor declared an emergency last year due to wildfires, making this appropriation would not require a three-fifths vote of the Legislature. (Pursuant to legislation enacted in 2017 and 2018, the Legislature has already appropriated $41.5 million from the BSA for fire suppression and disaster response in 2017–19.)

The general fund savings from this amendment allowed for other amendments to be adopted that increased spending. There are a few big-ticket items, including $23.7 million from not requiring the deduction of state forest and other revenues from school districts’ general apportionment payments and $13.2 million for “hatchery production that is prioritized for southern resident orca prey and hatchery improvements.”