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Senate chair’s operating budget proposal would increase appropriations by 7.9%, use WRPTA

The Senate Ways & Means Committee chair has proposed an operating budget for 2023–25 that would appropriate $69.184 billion from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO). (That figure includes $50.2 million that would be appropriated by E2SSB 5536, which relates to controlled substances and the Blake decision.) This level of appropriations would be a 7.9% […]

State transportation revenues are estimated to track closely to what had been estimated in Feb. 2022, but they are still below pre-pandemic estimates

On Monday, the Transportation Revenue Forecast Council adopted a new transportation revenue forecast. (The documents were posted yesterday afternoon.) Under the forecast, the state is estimated to collect $6.598 billion in transportation revenues in 2021–23 and $7.046 billion in 2023–25. Looking at the 10-year forecast window, the March 2023 forecast estimates that transportation revenues will […]

The transportation revenue forecast would be more transparent under a proposal to move responsibility for it to the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council

On Monday, the Senate Transportation Committee heard ESHB 1838, which was passed unanimously by the House earlier this month. The bill would move responsibility for the transportation revenue forecast from transportation agency staff to the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC). This would substantially improve transparency. Under current law, the Office of Financial Management (OFM) […]

Legislators have $3 billion more in revenues than when they wrote the current budget

Gov. Inslee’s operating budget proposals were based on the November 2022 revenue forecast, but legislators will rely on the March forecast. As Kriss reported yesterday, compared to the November forecast, the March revenue forecast increased the estimated revenues for the current biennium, but decreased estimated revenues for the next two biennia. Altogether, over the budget […]

Forecast of state revenues decreased

At its quarterly meeting today, the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) updated its forecasts of state revenues. These new forecasts reduce the amount available over the current and next bienniums by a total of $289.4 million. The economic forecasts upon which these revenue forecasts are based were prepared prior to the collapse of […]

Senate Chair’s capital budget proposal would devote a much higher level of resources to housing programs than has been typical, without a dedicated housing bond referendum

Senators Mullet and Schoesler (the Vice Chair and Ranking Member of the Ways & Means Committee, capital budget) have released their capital budget proposal for 2023–25. For the biennium, it would appropriate $7.890 billion from all funds. Adjusted for inflation, that is a decrease of 4.9% from the current capital budget. The Senate chair’s proposal […]

Will the operating budget repeal or reduce an already appropriated extra pension payment?

As part of the 2021–23 biennial budget, the Legislature appropriated $800.0 million from the general fund–state (GFS) to make an extra payment toward the unfunded actuarial accrued liability (UAAL) of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) Plan 1. The payment is scheduled for June 30, 2023. In 2021, the Legislature had also transferred the balance of […]

March report on state tax collections: revenues for the most recent month exceeded forecast by $110 million

Tuesday the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) issued its monthly report on general fund revenue collections. This report covers payments received between February 11 and March 10 for the sales tax, the use tax, the business and occupation tax, the public utility tax, the tobacco products tax, and penalties and interest (collectively the […]

Is the Washington future fund proposal still in play?

On Friday (fiscal committee cutoff day), the House Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on HJR 4204. Later in the meeting, the committee passed the resolution. (HJR 4204 was requested by the state treasurer; its companion, SJR 8205, was not heard by Ways & Means.) HJR 4204 would amend the state constitution to allow the […]

Report on state student loan program raises questions about its sustainability

Last week I wrote about HB 1823, which would remove sustainability requirements from the yet-to-be-implemented Washington student loan program. (See that post for details about the 2022 legislation and how HB 1823 would change it.) Instead of specifying program details, the 2022 legislation required the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) to “design a student loan […]