Emily Makings

Public schools spending makes up 47.5 percent of 2015-17 budget

As we’ve noted, Gov. Inslee signed the 2015-17 operating budget last night. The budget appropriates $18.157 billion for public schools — a $2.894 billion (or 19.0 percent) increase over 2013-15. This represents 47.5 percent of the budget (it was 45.2 percent of the 2013-15 budget). The Senate summary of the budget notes that spending is […]

Happy fiscal new year?

Today is the first day of fiscal year 2016 and the first day of the 2015-17 biennium. You might ask: What’s happy about it? Last night Gov. Inslee signed the 2015-17 operating budget. That’s the good news — government is not shut down today. The bad news is that the Legislature has not passed HB […]

Policy changes in the operating budget (as passed) — including deferral of I-1351

Yesterday the Legislature released the details of its 2015-17 operating budget deal and passed the budget bill. As passed, the bill appropriates $38.219 billion (near general fund-state plus opportunity pathways) for the biennium. Maintenance level changes increased spending by $5.360 billion over 2013-15, and policy level changes reduced spending by $934.5 million — for a […]

Operating budget details released

The numbers behind the 2015-17 operating budget deal have finally been released. In terms of near general fund-state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending, the deal would appropriate $38.219 billion — $4.425 billion more than in 2013-15 (and slightly more than the last House and Senate proposals). The Senate summary of the provisions is here, and […]

Worker's comp COLA is 4.2 percent for FY 2016

The Department of Labor and Industries has announced that workers’ compensation benefits will increase by 4.168 percent in fiscal year 2016. This is due to the increase in the state’s average annual wage last year. The maximum monthly benefit will increase to $5,482.90 (from $5,263.50). According to L&I, “Less than 4 percent of L&I claimants […]

Operating budget and transportation package deals reached, but no numbers yet

Early Saturday Gov. Inslee and legislators reached an agreement on a 2015-17 operating budget. Unfortunately, at this point we’re still short on details — they are expected to be released this evening. The Seattle Times has a good story on the available information, and here’s a one page summary that was handed out to the […]

Policy changes chart update

To the chart showing the policy changes proposed in the various budget offers, I’ve added the policy changes proposed by Sen. Andy Hill yesterday. Also, I updated the numbers for HB 1106 to reflect the bill as passed by the House Appropriations Committee on June 23. The latest Senate proposal would appropriate $38.208 billion (NGFS+) […]

New brief: A Current Law Transportation Budget is Enacted; Will a New Transportation Revenue Package be Next?

Although a new transportation revenue package has not been agreed to yet, a current law transportation budget for 2015-17 has been enacted. We take a look at what’s included in a new policy brief. Briefly: The Legislature has enacted a current law transportation budget for 2015–17. It appropriates $7.619 billion in operating and capital funds, […]

From the Senate, two new budget proposals

Sen. Andy Hill, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, has released two new budget proposals. The first is PSSB 6051, which would maintain the current level of appropriations for July, in case the Legislature doesn’t pass a new biennial budget before the end of the fiscal year. (Here is the summary document.) It would […]

House tuition-related funding, and a modest proposal for GET

The House operating budget proposal would freeze resident undergraduate tuition, and the various editions of the proposal have provided various amounts of state funds to support institutions that would potentially be losing increased tuition revenues. The table below shows how the proposals offered yesterday compare to the House-passed version. 2P2SHB 1106 would provide additional state […]