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Running tally of 2019 revenue legislation, 2nd edition

[UPDATE 6/27/2019: An updated version of the table is available here.] Last week, I posted a table of the revenue effects of legislation passed by the Legislature this session. Since then, several fiscal notes have been added or updated. The latest information is in the table below. Note that these numbers are still not final. […]

School district levy limits increased, and more property tax collections diverted from the rainy day fund

On the last day of the legislative session, the Legislature passed two bills that make changes to school district funding: ESSB 5313 and ESHB 2140. (Gov. Inslee has not yet signed either bill.) The Legislature has long limited the amount that school districts can raise through local levies. In calendar year 2018, school districts were […]

Running tally of 2019 revenue legislation

[UPDATE 6/27/2019: An updated version of the table is available here.] In the March revenue forecast, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council estimates that 2019–21 revenues in funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) will be $50.555 billion. The 2018 supplemental budget passed just last year was based on revenues of $44.990 billion. Despite the estimated […]

Legislature appropriates $52.8 billion in 2019–21 operating budget and other legislation

On Thursday afternoon, the House and Senate budget chairs announced that they had come to an agreement on the operating budget, but details were not released to the public until Saturday afternoon. The budget was passed by the Legislature yesterday (just a day later), the final day of the legislative session. As passed by the […]

House Appropriations approves B&O surcharge for higher education—should it be subject to the four-year balanced budget requirement?

As part of his 2019–21 operating budget proposal, the Appropriations Committee Chair had proposed HB 2158, which would impose a “workforce education investment” business and occupation (B&O) tax surcharge on certain businesses to fund higher education and career connected learning programs. As originally proposed, HB 2158 would appropriate $389.6 million in 2019–21, on top of […]

Budget agreement reached (but not made public), and Senate passes several tax bills

Yesterday afternoon, the chairs of the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee announced that they have come to an agreement on the 2019–21 operating budget. This means that the Legislature could finish on time on Sunday. However, no details of the budget have been released. Joseph O’Sullivan reports in the Seattle Times, […]

Senate Considers Changes to the Hazardous Substance Tax

The state hazardous substance tax (HST) was created by Initiative 97, which voters approved in November 1988. This tax applies to various products deemed by the state Department of Ecology to present a threat to human health or the environment. The current tax rate is 0.7 percent of the wholesale value of the product. Petroleum […]

House Appropriations Committee moves budget-related bills

Yesterday the House Appropriations Committee amended and approved several budget-related bills. (This follows House Finance action on some of these bills last week.) HB 2159, as approved by Appropriations, would appropriate $42.3 million from the budget stabilization account (BSA, or the rainy day fund) in 2017–19 for fire suppression costs. (Originally, the bill would have […]

House Finance Committee approves tax bills assumed in the House budget (plus, a REET proposal side-by-side)

On Friday, the House Finance Committee amended and approved HB 2156, HB 2157, and HB 2158, all of which are assumed in the operating budget passed by the House. We described these bills as originally proposed in our brief on the House- and Senate-passed budgets. HB 2157 and HB 2158 are scheduled to be heard […]

W&M amends, approves several budget-related bills

Yesterday the Senate Ways and Means Committee approved several budget-related bills (outlined below). Significant changes were made to some of the bills. SSB 5998 would make the real estate excise tax (REET) rate graduated. The Senate budget assumed enactment of a graduated REET, but the vehicle was SB 5991, which would have increased revenues by […]