Budget

New operating budget proposal from W&M ranking member would reduce taxes, leave the rainy day fund intact

Yesterday Sen. Wilson, ranking member of Ways & Means, proposed a striking amendment to the Senate operating budget. She had previously proposed a budget back in February, without the benefit of the improved March revenue forecast or the latest federal relief bill. The new proposal would appropriate $3.780 billion less in 2021–23 from funds subject […]

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 2021–23 operating budget proposals

For 2021–23, the proposals from the Ways & Means and Appropriations Committee chairs assume that the maintenance level (the cost of continuing current services, adjusted for inflation and enrollment) for funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) is $55.983 billion. (The Ways & Means and Appropriations committees amended and passed their chairs’ budget proposals yesterday, but […]

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) […]

How will the Senate operating budget deal with the “curse of riches”?

As Sen. Rolfes suggested at the Ways & Means Committee meeting last week, the operating budget (to be proposed this afternoon) may not have a complete plan for all the federal relief funding coming to Washington. (See also David Schumacher’s comments on Sunday’s episode of AWB’s Capitol Focus.) It is not yet clear exactly how […]

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 […]