Budget

House chair’s operating budget balances over four years because it assumes higher-than-normal reversions

The House Appropriations Committee chair’s 2023–25 operating budget proposal would appropriate $70.044 billion from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO). That’s $859.9 million more than has been proposed by the Senate Ways & Means Committee chair, and it would be an increase of 9.2% over enacted 2021–23 appropriations. (The House chair’s proposal would appropriate $359.0 […]

Senate chair’s 2023 supplemental would reduce 2021–23 appropriations by $711.5 million

As in Gov. Inslee’s operating budget proposal, the Senate Ways & Means Committee chair’s 2023–25 proposal balances in part thanks to reductions in appropriations for 2021–23. The Senate chair’s 2023 supplemental proposal would reduce 2021–23 appropriations from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) by $711.5 million. Maintenance level (the cost of continuing current services, adjusted […]

Like the governor’s operating budget proposal, the Senate chair’s is heavy on provider rates and compensation

The Senate Ways & Means Committee chair’s operating budget proposal would increase appropriations from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) by $5.059 billion compared to the enacted 2022 supplemental. (That includes appropriations in other legislation.) The maintenance level (the cost of continuing current services, adjusted for enrollment and inflation) is estimated to increase by $914.5 […]

Senate chair’s operating budget proposal would increase appropriations by 7.9%, use WRPTA

The Senate Ways & Means Committee chair has proposed an operating budget for 2023–25 that would appropriate $69.184 billion from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO). (That figure includes $50.2 million that would be appropriated by E2SSB 5536, which relates to controlled substances and the Blake decision.) This level of appropriations would be a 7.9% […]

Legislators have $3 billion more in revenues than when they wrote the current budget

Gov. Inslee’s operating budget proposals were based on the November 2022 revenue forecast, but legislators will rely on the March forecast. As Kriss reported yesterday, compared to the November forecast, the March revenue forecast increased the estimated revenues for the current biennium, but decreased estimated revenues for the next two biennia. Altogether, over the budget […]

Senate Chair’s capital budget proposal would devote a much higher level of resources to housing programs than has been typical, without a dedicated housing bond referendum

Senators Mullet and Schoesler (the Vice Chair and Ranking Member of the Ways & Means Committee, capital budget) have released their capital budget proposal for 2023–25. For the biennium, it would appropriate $7.890 billion from all funds. Adjusted for inflation, that is a decrease of 4.9% from the current capital budget. The Senate chair’s proposal […]

Gov. Inslee proposes a historically large $4 billion bond referendum to reduce homelessness, on top of historically large regular capital bond bill

The biggest-ticket policy item in Gov. Inslee’s budget proposals is $4 billion in bonds for homelessness and housing programs, which would have to be approved by voters. State debt is limited by the state constitution. Under Article VIII, Section 1, the principal and interest payments on the state debt cannot exceed 8.25% of average general […]

Governor would fund Washington student loan program and shift more of its funding from the general fund to the workforce education investment account

In 2022, the Legislature enacted E2SHB 1736, which creates the Washington student loan program. Many program details were left to be determined later, with recommendations due from the Washington Student Achievement Council by Dec. 1, 2022. (The report has not yet been published.) However, E2SHB 1736 did specify that loans will not be issued unless […]

Gov. Inslee’s budget proposal would continue to fund the working families tax credit; two prefiled bills would make changes to the program

On Inside Olympia last month, Gov. Inslee talked about his budget proposals and said, “In fact, we’re actually doing a tax cut in this budget because it funds the working families tax credit. So 400,000 Washingtonians will get a tax cut starting February 1, if they apply for it.” The governor isn’t referring to a […]

What inflationary increase will be funded when school salaries are rebased this year?

Although almost half of the new policy spending in Gov. Inslee’s 2023–25 budget proposal would be used to increase employee compensation and provider rates, a relatively small portion of that would be for school employees. The state increased allocations for school salaries as part of its response to the McCleary decision on school funding (beginning […]