Budget

The operating budgets approved by the W&M and Appropriations committees would reduce the four-year ending balances originally proposed by their chairs

On Monday, the Senate Ways and Means (W&M) Committee and House Appropriations Committee amended and approved their chairs’ proposed 2021 supplementals and 2021–23 operating budgets. Compared to the W&M chair’s original proposal, the budget passed by W&M would increase spending from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) by $3.2 million in 2019–21 and by $81.5 […]

Comparing the 2021 supplemental proposals from the House and Senate chairs

The 2021 supplemental operating budget proposals from the House Appropriations chair and the Senate Ways & Means Committee chair agree that the maintenance level for funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) for 2019–21 is down $926.0 million1.365 billion, to $52.774335 billion. (The maintenance level is the cost of continuing current services, adjusted for inflation and […]

House Appropriations chair’s operating budget proposal would increase appropriations by $1.293 billion less than the Senate chair’s proposal

The House Appropriations Committee chair has proposed an operating budget that is broadly similar to the Senate Ways & Means Committee chair’s proposal. Both would impose a capital gains tax and drain the rainy day fund (the budget stabilization account, or BSA). Both would balance over four years, leaving unrestricted ending balances of $199 million […]

Including federal relief funds, 2019–21 spending in the Senate W&M chair’s operating budget would increase by 33% over 2017–19

The Senate W&M chair’s operating budget proposal would appropriate $52.701 billion in 2019–21 and $59.215 billion in 2021–23 from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO). Those amounts represent increases of 17.9% and 12.4% over the previous biennium, respectively. However, they do not include the federal relief funds the state has received and will receive. According […]

Senate W&M chair’s operating budget proposal would increase NGFO appropriations by 12.4%, impose a capital gains tax, and drain the rainy day fund

The Senate Ways & Means Committee chair’s operating budget proposal would appropriate $59.215 billion in 2021–23 from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO). For the 2021 supplemental to the 2019–21 operating budget, the proposal would reduce appropriations by 1.9% (mainly due to the reduced cost of continuing current services), for a revised 2019–21 appropriations level […]

Transportation and capital budget proposals would appropriate some federal COVID relief dollars

Yesterday the chair and ranking member of the House Capital Budget Committee released their proposed capital budget for 2021–23. The House and Senate Transportation Committee chairs released their proposed transportation budgets on Monday. The three budgets would make use of federal funding that is expected to come to Washington from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) […]

New brief: State Revenues Are Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

State revenues are now expected to match the pre-pandemic Feb. 2020 revenue forecast. Revenues in 2019–21 are now forecast to be $52.334 billion (an increase of 13.6% over 2017–19). In 2021–23, revenues are expected to grow by 8.2%, to $56.615 billion. In 2023–25, revenues are expected to grow by 5.8%, to $59.906 billion. Given the […]

The 2020 revenue rollercoaster has returned to where it started, and the current budget balances without increasing taxes or using the rainy day fund

State revenues from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) are now back to what was expected in Feb. 2020—the forecast on which the current budget was based. Kriss wrote about today’s revenue forecast here. Compared to Feb. 2020, revenues are now expected to be down $355.47 million for 2019–21, up $297.67 million for 2021–23, and […]

A roundup of our posts about the 2021 supplemental and 2021–23 budget proposals

[Updated] We’ve written several posts about the operating budget proposals that have been made so far. I’ve collected links to them all below, for reference. (And I will update this post as we write more about these and future proposals.) Overviews: New operating budget proposal from W&M ranking member would reduce taxes, leave the rainy […]

Comparing the bottom lines of the operating budget proposals

The table below compares key points from the balance sheets of the three budget proposals. (The full outlooks are available here, here, and here.) Gov. Inslee would increase taxes, while Senate and House Republicans would reduce them. (The $97 million increase in revenues in the House Republican proposal is actually a transfer from the rainy […]