Budget

Washington’s public K–12 schools will receive $1.853 billion from ARP Act (on top of $1.042 billion previously appropriated by Congress)

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act includes $122.7 billion for a third round of the elementary and secondary school emergency relief (ESSER) fund. These funds are very flexible, but 20% of the ESSER III funds must be used to address learning loss. From this third round, Washington will receive $1.853 billion. Of that, $1.667 billion […]

How much the state, cities, and counties are expected to receive from the new state and local fiscal recovery funds (by jurisdiction)

The state treasurer notes that Washington’s state and local governments will receive about $7 billion from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. He is referring to the amounts from the state and local fiscal recovery funds, which are direct funding for governments that are meant to be used to respond to the emergency or cover […]

As passed by Congress, there are new restrictions on use of the American Rescue Plan’s state fiscal recovery fund (including a restriction on any net tax reductions)

On Saturday, the U.S. Senate passed the American Rescue Plan Act, and today the U.S. House of Representatives concurred with the changes the Senate made to the bill. We are still reviewing the bill and its potential impacts on Washington’s budget. (Previous posts on the legislation are here and here.) To begin, we are particularly […]

Public health funding would push Washington’s share of the federal relief bill over $10 billion

As I wrote earlier this week, the American Rescue Plan Act that was passed by the U.S. House on Saturday would send billions of dollars to Washington (if enacted). Two major pieces of the legislation are the coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds (sec. 5001). The Tax Foundation estimates that, if the bill is […]

Federal COVID aid bill would send billions to Washington (including some that could replace lost revenue)

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the aid package proposed by President Biden. The $1.9 trillion price tag includes many different pots of money. Jerry Cornfield of the Everett Herald reports that federal grants to Washington would increase by at least $7.6 billion under the bill. I don’t think that figure includes the bill’s […]