Blog

April report on state tax collections: revenues for the most recent month were $4.6 million less than the amount forecasted

Friday the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) issued its monthly report on general fund revenue collections. This report covers payments received between March 11 and April 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 […]

Major K–12 policy proposals in the Senate- and House-passed budgets

The Senate- and House-passed 2023–25 operating budgets would change funding for school employee salaries, special education, and transitional kindergarten. The two houses have also passed policy bills on these topics. School Employee Salary Inflation Both houses have now passed, and the governor has signed, ESB 5650. The bill specifies that the inflationary adjustment for school […]

Proposed real estate excise tax bill would increase the top rate (but not for commercial properties for two years)

Tomorrow morning SHB 1628 is scheduled for executive session in the House Finance Committee. SHB 1628 would increase the real estate excise tax (REET). (I wrote about the original version here.) As approved by the House Committee on Local Government in February, the bill would increase the top REET rate to 4.0% for the portion […]

Will the state backfill programs funded with document recording surcharges?

[Updated 4/14] The Office of Financial Management (OFM) has written to the Legislature to express its concerns with the operating budgets passed by the House and Senate. One of the items specifically mentioned by OFM is that the Legislature should “ensure appropriate backfill for lower-than anticipated document recording fees to maintain current services and programs.” […]

The House and Senate would add a new $100 document recording assessment to fund a covenant homeownership program

Both the House and Senate have passed slightly different versions of HB 1474. The bill would add a $100 “covenant homeownership program assessment” for each recorded document. (This would not apply to birth, marriage, divorce, or death documents; marriage licenses issued by a county auditor; certain name change orders; documents recording government wage liens or […]

New brief: Comparing the Senate- and House-Passed Operating Budgets

Compared to the 2022 supplemental, the Senate-passed operating budget proposal would increase 2023–25 appropriations by 8.2% and the House-passed proposal would increase appropriations by 9.4%. Neither the Senate nor the House would increase general taxes. To fund the new, ongoing spending, both proposals—but especially the House’s—would use one-time funds, including reserves. Read the report here.

Under Senate and House budget proposals, paid family and medical leave premium rate could increase to 0.82% or 0.83% next year

SSB 5286, which would make changes to the paid family and medical leave (PFML) rate structure, has been passed by both the Senate and the House. I described the bill here. The bill requires the premiums to be set to maintain a new three-month reserve. The legislative task force on paid family and medical leave […]

House operating budget would shift federal relief money previously appropriated for learning loss to special education

The enacted 2021–23 operating budget appropriated $553.1 million from the federal elementary and secondary school emergency relief (ESSER) fund to address pandemic learning loss. This money is mostly from the third ESSER round, which must be spent by Sept. 2024. Washington’s school districts received $1.668 billion from the third round and the Office of Superintendent […]

The hospital safety net assessment program could be permanently extended; budget proposals assume $452 million in general fund savings in 2025–27

The Legislature looks set to extend and overhaul the hospital safety net assessment (HSNA) this year. Under current law, an assessment is levied on hospitals’ non-Medicare inpatient days. The collections are then returned to providers as Medicaid payments, which generates the federal Medicaid match. Those funds can be used to supplant state spending. This policy […]

Tax policy, benefit policy, and economic impact provisos in the budget proposals

The Senate and House 2023–25 operating budget proposals include various provisos related to tax policy, benefit policy, and economic impacts. (This post refers to the budget proposals as passed by the Senate and approved by the House Appropriations Committee.) First, the Senate proposal would reauthorize the Tax Structure Workgroup (TSWG). In December, the TSWG recommended […]