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Budget agreement would increase 2017–19 appropriations by $941.0 million

Yesterday evening the conference agreement on the 2018 supplemental operating budget was announced. It would increase near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) appropriations by $941.0 million over enacted 2017–19 appropriations. That’s $176.5 million less than the Senate-passed budget and $560.6 million more than the House-passed budget. (For more on the budgets that passed each […]

Striking amendment to property tax reduction bill would redirect revenues away from the general fund (which would affect the BSA)

Last night, Sen. Rolfes introduced a striking amendment to SSB 6614 that would reduce the state property tax for CY 2019 and ultimately reduce revenues deposited in the budget stabilization account (BSA, or rainy day fund). Last year the Legislature created an additional state property tax to support public schools. Combined with the original property […]

New policy brief: The Senate- and House-Passed Supplemental Budgets Would Fully Fund School Salary Increases

The Senate and House have passed 2018 supplemental budgets that would increase NGFS+ spending by $1.117 billion and $380.4 million, respectively. Both would fully fund the increase in school staff salaries required by the McCleary decision, which should satisfy the state Supreme Court. Also, both the Senate and House would reduce state property taxes—but they […]

Friday budget action

On Friday, the state Senate passed a 2018 supplemental operating budget. It would increase near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending by $1.117 billion over enacted 2017–19 appropriations. (Another $25.2 million would be spent from the proposed dedicated McCleary account.) Floor amendments added $3.9 million to the version that was passed by the Ways […]

Striker to House Appropriations budget would fully fund school staff salary increases in SY 2018–19

The most significant spending difference between the budgets passed by the House Appropriations and Senate Ways & Means committees is that the W&M budget would fully fund the increase in school staff salaries in SY 2018–19 and the Appropriations budget would not. Walker Orenstein of The News Tribune notes that Appropriations chair Timm Ormsby has […]

Ways & Means changes property tax reduction proposal to 2018; otherwise, not many changes to committee-passed budget proposals

On Wednesday, the Senate Ways & Means and House Appropriations committees passed the 2018 supplemental operating budgets proposed by their respective chairs on Monday and Tuesday. Each committee made amendments to the proposals, but the broad strokes of the proposals remain the same. For more on the original proposals, see here, here, here, and here. […]

Comparing the policy changes in the budget proposals

As I wrote yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee chair’s operating budget proposal would increase near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending by $377.4 million. That includes maintenance level reductions of $151.2 million and policy level increases of $528.6 million. The chart below compares the NGFS+ policy changes to those of the Senate chair ($1.235 […]

House chair’s budget proposal would spend $727.2 million less than Senate chair’s

Today House Appropriations Committee chair Timm Ormsby proposed a 2018 supplemental operating budget that would increase 2017–19 near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending by $377.4 million. 2017–19 NGFS+ appropriations would total $44.086 billion. This proposal would spend $727.2 million less than the Senate chair’s proposal, which was released yesterday. (For more on the […]

Policy changes in the Senate budget proposal exceed those of the governor’s by $356.8 million

The 2018 supplemental operating budget proposed yesterday by Sen. Rolfes, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, would increase 2017–19 near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending by $1.105 billion. That figure is made up of maintenance and policy level changes. Maintenance level is the cost of continuing current services, accounting for caseload, inflation, […]

Senate chair’s supplemental budget proposal would increase spending by $1.1 billion

Today Senate Ways and Means Committee chair Christine Rolfes proposed a 2018 supplemental operating budget that would increase 2017–19 near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending to $44.813 billion. This is an increase of $1.105 billion over the enacted 2017–19 budget, and it is $143.8 million more than Gov. Inslee proposed in December. The […]