The latest supplemental proposal is a striking amendment from Rep. Hunter.  There’s a lot more of the same (this is the fifth different supplemental proposal): fund transfers, new revenue, spending reductions.

In the two supplementals the House has already passed (2/29 and 3/8), a one-day delay in school apportionment payments was included, as a way to shift $330 million from 2011-13 into 2013-15.  The current proposal would not do that.

The striker would leave the lowest ending reserves of any of the proposals: $335.7 million.  By comparison, the other ending reserves proposed were: $450 million (House-passed 2/29), $502 million (Senate-passed 3/3), $351 million (House-passed 3/8), and $437 million (Senate-proposed 3/15).

The new striker would make the second fewest policy level reductions (see the chart below). Policy level reductions were: $408 million (House-passed 2/29), $798 million (Senate-passed 3/3), $293 million (House-passed 3/8), $666 million (Senate-proposed 3/15), and $315 million (House-proposed 4/4).  (The 2/29 and 3/8 House numbers are adjusted to remove the effect of the school apportionment shift.)

Some highlights of today’s proposal:

• It includes the reductions that the Senate (3/15) and House (3/8) made to many agencies and programs: auditor reduction, attorney general reduction, secretary of state archive reduction, central services savings, central services reforms, and PEBB funding rate reduction. (See this post for more information on these changes.)
• It would eliminate supplemental disproportionate share hospital payments (saving $13 million).
• In the Department of Corrections, a structured community supervision violation process (HB 2826) would be implemented (saving $15 million).
• Several changes would be made to nursing home rates (saving $14 million).
• Underexpenditures in the temporary assistance for needy families and working connections child care programs would be realized, and eligibility adjustments would be made (saving $127 million).
• It would implement a statewide teacher and principal evaluation system (ESSB 5895).
• The reductions in higher education are mainly due to the PEBB funding rate reduction and the other changes I mentioned in the first bullet above.
• The proposal would make an accounting change related to how long local tax distributions are held in the general fund (HB 2822). This would add $238 million in new resources.  (The local portion of sales taxes collected by the Department of Revenue is currently deposited into the local sales and use tax account daily.  Under the bill, the state would hold these funds in the general fund until the end of the month before depositing them into the local sales and use tax account.)
• It would repeal Initiative 728 (HB 2824).
• Under HB 2825, public employees hired after July 1, 2012 would not be eligible for alternate early retirement.
• Under HB 2827, a statutory balanced budget requirement would be put in place.