Gov. Inslee has proposed his 2016 supplemental budget. It would increase near general fund-state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending for the 2015-17 biennium by $520.5 million. In addition to that spending, the governor would use $178.2 million of budget stabilization account funds for emergency fire costs.

The table below shows the breakout of policy changes versus maintenance level changes (costs to continue current services). Net policy changes total only $260,000 — this is due to fund shifts within the Department of Natural Resources that move $171.2 million from the general fund to the disaster response account and budget stabilization account for fire suppression.

The governor proposes $41.8 million in transfers to the general fund from other accounts. This includes $10.0 million from the performance audit account.

Separately, the governor hopes to make more people interested in becoming teachers by increasing the minimum teacher salary and increasing pay by at least 1 percent for other teachers and staff. He would pay for this by "closing or limiting several outdated tax breaks . . . ." We have seen them before: limit the use tax exemption for extracted fuel, change the nonresident sales tax exemption to a refund, apply the sales tax to bottled water, and limit the REET foreclosure exemption.

We'll have more on this. In the meantime, I'd like to thank OFM and LEAP for providing the public more detail on maintenance level changes than they have in the past.