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“Levy swap” proposals surface

The Seattle Times has a story about three legislative proposals to reduce reliance on local school property tax levies that emerged on Wednesday: State lawmakers Wednesday put forth three competing proposals to address part of a court mandate for K-12 education that would reduce schools’ reliance on local tax levies. … The three tax-levy proposals […]

March 11–April 10 state revenue collections were $39.4 million greater than forecast, however much of this good news was due to the timing of a refund

This afternoon the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update. Here are the key bullets on revenue from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the March 11 – April 10, 2015 collection period were $39.4 million (3.7%) higher than the February forecast. Much of this month’s surplus was […]

New brief: 2015-17 Operating Budget: Spending Priorities

We have a new policy brief comparing the House- and Senate-passed operating budgets. Briefly: A better economy is expected to bring in an additional $3 billion in revenue. The House-passed budget increases spending by more than $5 billion over 2013– 15. The Senate-passed budget increases spending by more than $4 billion over 2013– 15. Policy […]

Carbon taxation in the offing?

Apparently some form of carbon taxation could still happen this year, despite the fact that it did not make it into either House or Senate budget proposal. It was a main source of revenue in Gov. Inslee’s proposed budget, but the House proposal would increase revenues in different ways. From Crosscut: House Environment Committee chair […]

In Focus this week: Ports agreement, Expedia to Seattle, state finances report

Renovations for Seattle's PacMed Center costlier than anticipated

Interesting story from the Seattle Times on the saga of the PacMed Center in Seattle. (It’s the lovely and a bit imposing building that sits atop the hill just south of I-90 and east of I-5.) It fell on hard times after Amazon left in 2011, and in 2013 the state decided to lease it […]

Senate-passed operating budget would spend $1 billion less than House budget

Earlier this week the Senate passed a 2015-17 operating budget that would spend $37.958 billion. That’s an increase of $4.164 billion over 2013-15. The House has also passed a budget (see here); it would spend about $1 billion more. The chart below compares the policy changes made by each budget proposal. We’ll be writing more […]

Policy Today: Competing State Budgets: Revenue Review

Policy Today: Senate Budget

House passes a 2015-17 budget that would spend $38.962 billion

Yesterday the House passed a 2015-17 budget. Amendments increased NGFS+ spending over that approved by the House appropriations committee by $2.6 million, to $38.962 billion. Of the $2.6 million increase, $1.0 million is for project-based math and science. (According to the fiscal.wa.gov description: “Funding is provided for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction […]