As I wrote on Monday, the House Appropriations Committee Chair proposes increasing appropriations from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) by $2.074 billion compared to enacted 2025–27 appropriations.

Of that, $1.734 billion is maintenance level (the cost of continuing current services, adjusted for enrollment and inflation) and $340.5 million is net new policy. (The House and Senate chairs agree on the maintenance level.) The estimated effect of the new policy in 2027–29 is to reduce spending by $80.3 million.

The new policy in the House Chair’s proposal is net of $1.611 billion in increased spending and $1.271 billion in spending reductions.

Major proposed NGFO policy increases include (for 2025–27 unless otherwise noted):

• $962.8 million to backfill the state liability account and increase related central services charges to agencies ($312.5 million in 2027–29).
• $71.0 million to restore assumed Medicaid program integrity savings that will not be realized.
• $64.4 million in funding from cannabis revenue distributions ($93.7 million in 2027–29).
• $47.8 million for various changes in response to federal H.R. 1 ($144.6 million in 2027–29).
• $25.0 million for the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance.
• $25.0 million for the state health care affordability account ($30.3 million in 2027–29).
• $15.0 million for UW’s Center for Behavioral Health and Learning.
• $84.0 million in 2027–29 for debt service on capital budget projects.

Major proposed NGFO policy reductions include (for 2025–27 unless otherwise noted):

• -$330.0 million by partially shifting funding for the Working Families Tax Credit from the NGFO to the climate commitment account.
• -$239.9 million by shifting funding for the higher education institutions from the NGFO to the institutions of higher education operating fees account. (The operating fees account would then be backfilled using the institutions’ capital budget building accounts.)
• -$112.8 million from various changes to Working Connections Child Care enrollment and rate policies (-$488.1 million in 2027–29).
• -$70.0 million for the disproportionate share hospital program, assuming that federal reductions will be delayed (-$36.1 million in 2027–29).
• -$49.9 million from 3% administrative reductions to many agencies ($80.7 million in 2027–29).
• -$33.0 million from moving the Apple Health expansion population from managed care to fee-for-service (-$2.5 million in 2027–29).
• -$25.1 million by reducing local effort assistance enhancements by $100 per pupil (-$20.5 million in 2027–29).
• -$21.2 million from a one-year delay in the assisted living facility rate rebase.
• -$21.1 million by reducing school bus depreciation payments (-$42.2 million in 2027–29).
• -$20.4 million by aligning funding with expected expenditures for long-term civil commitment beds (-$22.7 million in 2027–29).
• -$20.0 million by shifting funding for emergency housing to the Washington housing trust account.
• -$19.0 million by reducing the Transition to Kindergarten program (-$50.1 million in 2027–29).
• -$14.0 million by reducing the maximum Running Start enrollment (-$30.4 million in 2027–29).

The chart compares policy changes in the House Chair’s proposal to those in the proposals from the Senate Chair and Gov. Ferguson, by budget area. (I wrote about the Senate Chair’s proposal here and here.)