Budget

Higher education capital budget requests come mainly from UW and the community and technical college system

The community and technical college system (CTCS) and five of the six public four-year higher education institutions have made capital budget requests for the 2024 supplemental. (Washington State University has not requested anything for the capital budget.) Altogether, the higher education institutions are requesting $199.7 million in 2023–25 and $288.2 million in future years. Of […]

Capital budget request from Commerce focused on housing, clean energy projects, and broadband

For the 2024 supplemental capital budget, the Department of Commerce has requested $1.276 billion in 2023–25. This is the largest capital request for 2023–25 from any agency, representing 68.4% of all agency capital requests for the biennium. The request also includes estimates of future spending for the proposals. Spending from 2025–27 through 2031–33 would total […]

OSPI’s supplemental capital budget request would use capital gains tax revenues to increase school construction funding formulas and for small district modernization grants

The 2024 supplemental capital budget request from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) would increase capital appropriations for the agency by $202.2 million for 2023–25, and estimated appropriations through 2031–33 would increase by a total of $5.858 billion. The 2023–25 amount is 10.8% of total capital budget requests statewide and the ten-year […]

Sundry agency budget requests: bond retirement, capital gains, arts, and conservation

The following notable items from various agency budget requests are in terms of the general fund–state (GFS) unless otherwise noted: For bond retirement and interest, the state is recommending adjustments based on the debt service of existing bonds as of Aug. 31, projected debt service from the issuance of bonds that are currently authorized, and […]

WSDOT is requesting $1.060 billion more for 2023–25—not including additional funding for culverts

The Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has requested $1.060 billion from all funds for the 2024 supplemental. That would be an increase of 10.4% over enacted 2023–25 appropriations for the agency. However, the supplemental request does not include the estimated additional $725 million that could be needed for fish passage barrier removal in 2023–25. Additionally, the […]

Dept. of Natural Resources is requesting an additional $23 million for its wildfire response and forest restoration program

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is requesting a 5.8% increase to its general fund–state (GFS) appropriations for 2023–25. On top of that, it is requesting a larger transfer from the GFS to the wildfire response, forest restoration, and community resilience account (25P). The 25P account was created as part of 2SHB 1168 in 2021, […]

Secretary of State requests supplemental funding for elections, for TVW, and to backfill document recording fee revenues

The Office of the Secretary of State is requesting a 40.4% increase to its 2023–25 general fund–state (GFS) appropriations. The largest item is $23.8 million in 2023–25 to reimburse counties for election costs. According to the request, the enacted 2023–25 biennial budget “does not allocate sufficient funds to reimburse the state share of costs to […]

The Office of Independent Investigations is requesting a 63% funding increase

The Office of Independent Investigations (OII) is asking the Legislature to increase its 2023–25 appropriations by 63.2%. (All of the appropriations for the OII are from the general fund–state.) The OII was created by the state in 2021. Under the enacting legislation, ESHB 1267 (codified as RCW 43.102), the OII is authorized to conduct investigations […]

Health Care Authority requests just a 3% increase to its budget, but that doesn’t include the impacts from the caseload forecast

For the 2024 supplemental operating budget, the Health Care Authority (HCA) has requested an increase to its 2023–25 general fund–state (GFS) appropriations of $222.6 million (3.0%). However, that includes several placeholders that will add significantly to the total. Of the amount that is included in the request, $142.2 million is at the maintenance level (the […]

Public school enrollment and the school-aged population are expected to continue to decrease for the next several years (and other notes from the caseload and population forecasts)

Last week, the Caseload Forecast Council (CFC) adopted the November caseload forecast. The caseload forecast helps to determine the maintenance level (the cost of continuing current services, adjusted for enrollment and inflation) for the state operating budget. This particular forecast will be used in the governor’s 2024 supplemental budget proposal. (The Legislature will base its […]