Blog

As public pension unfunded liabilities are reduced, proposed bills would save funds by discontinuing extra payments once full funding is reached and provide COLAs for plan 1 retirees

Washington’s public pension plans are well funded. Overall, the funded ratio of all plans was 93% as of June 30, 2021 (the most recent data). All individual plans in Washington were over 90% funded, except for the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) plans 1 (which have been closed to new […]

On OSPI’s monitoring and accounting of federal relief money

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) has found that the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has “not yet established processes to monitor districts’ efforts to address the academic effects of restricted in-person instruction or outcomes of emergency spending”—despite federal and state requirements to that effect. School districts in Washington received three […]

Paid family and medical leave premium rate could increase to 0.9% next year

SB 5286, which would make changes to the paid family and medical leave (PFML) rate structure, was approved by the Senate Labor & Commerce committee on Tuesday. The bill reflects the recommendations of the legislative task force on paid family and medical leave premiums, and it comes after multiple periods over the past year when […]

January report on state tax collections: revenues for the most recent month exceeded forecast by $88 million

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

Washington is expected to have extraordinary revenue growth this biennium—it should be saved

In 2011, voters approved a constitutional amendment that requires a portion of any extraordinary revenue growth (EORG) to be deposited in the budget stabilization account (BSA, or the rainy day fund). This is a good budget practice because it forces the state to save extra money when revenues are especially high rather than unsustainably increasing […]

New brief: The State Should Avoid Tapping Reserves While Revenues Are Growing

A potential recession is a major risk to the state revenue forecast, but Washington’s strong budget sustainability practices—including the budget stabilization account (BSA, or the rainy day fund)—will help the state through a downturn. However, in 2021, despite not facing a revenue shortfall, the Legislature swept the BSA. (Pursuant to the constitution, this required only […]

Gov. Inslee proposes a historically large $4 billion bond referendum to reduce homelessness, on top of historically large regular capital bond bill

The biggest-ticket policy item in Gov. Inslee’s budget proposals is $4 billion in bonds for homelessness and housing programs, which would have to be approved by voters. State debt is limited by the state constitution. Under Article VIII, Section 1, the principal and interest payments on the state debt cannot exceed 8.25% of average general […]

Governor would fund Washington student loan program and shift more of its funding from the general fund to the workforce education investment account

In 2022, the Legislature enacted E2SHB 1736, which creates the Washington student loan program. Many program details were left to be determined later, with recommendations due from the Washington Student Achievement Council by Dec. 1, 2022. (The report has not yet been published.) However, E2SHB 1736 did specify that loans will not be issued unless […]

Gov. Inslee’s budget proposal would continue to fund the working families tax credit; two prefiled bills would make changes to the program

On Inside Olympia last month, Gov. Inslee talked about his budget proposals and said, “In fact, we’re actually doing a tax cut in this budget because it funds the working families tax credit. So 400,000 Washingtonians will get a tax cut starting February 1, if they apply for it.” The governor isn’t referring to a […]

What inflationary increase will be funded when school salaries are rebased this year?

Although almost half of the new policy spending in Gov. Inslee’s 2023–25 budget proposal would be used to increase employee compensation and provider rates, a relatively small portion of that would be for school employees. The state increased allocations for school salaries as part of its response to the McCleary decision on school funding (beginning […]