Close readers of the policy brief we published this morning (Washington Revenue Review: Revenues Are Still Growing Strong, But for How Long?) may have noticed some new budget terminology: “funds subject to the outlook,” or the NGFO (near general fund–outlook).

Previously legislative fiscal committee staff had based budget presentations on the near general fund–state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+). Happily, the fiscal committees have apparently decided to dispense with this unwieldy term in favor of a simpler name.

The NGFS+ and the NGFO are rollups of the same three accounts: the general fund–state, the education legacy trust account, and the opportunity pathways account. (Under the four-year balanced budget requirement, a positive ending balance is required on this basis.)

The new terminology may not be fully set in stone yet, though. In the November revenue forecast, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council refers to the rollup as the “near general fund” or NGFS.

But, when you look for budget information at fiscal.wa.gov, among the accounts you can search for are the NGFO and another new rollup, the NGFT (near general fund–total). The NGFT is the NGFO plus the pension funding stabilization account and the dedicated McCleary penalty account.

In 2017, the state transferred $925 million from the budget stabilization account to the pension funding stabilization account. Then, as part of the 2017–19 budget, the state appropriated half of that to pay for state employee retirement contributions in lieu of the general fund and stated that it was the intent of the Legislature to do the same with the second half of the funds in 2019–21.

The dedicated McCleary penalty account was created to hold the penalties the state accrued as part of the McCleary school funding case. As part of the 2018 supplemental, the state transferred $105.2 million from the general fund–state to the dedicated McCleary penalty account and then appropriated it all for K–12 purposes. As the state is now in compliance with the McCleary decision, there will be no need for this account in 2019–21.