Budget

OFM allocates Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund to higher education institutions

In addition to the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the CARES Act provided relief funds for higher education and K–12 schools. Washington’s allocations are: $216.9 million for elementary and secondary schools. Of, that districts received $195.2 million. The rest went to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Earlier this month, the Office of Financial Management […]

Treasury provides more information on how Coronavirus Relief Fund amounts have been spent

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a report on how much of the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) had been spent by state and local governments as of June 30. According to the report, the state of Washington; King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Spokane counties; and the City of Seattle had collectively spent […]

What happens to pupil transportation funding when no one’s riding the bus?

Typically, pupil transportation is funded based on the previous year’s ridership (RCW 28A.160.190). But with schools closed in Washington earlier this year—and many continuing with remote learning this fall—students haven’t been riding the bus. Yesterday, Gov. Inslee issued a proclamation that allows school districts to use their transportation funding allocations to pay bus drivers to […]

Could the state cut basic education funding?

The state revenue shortfall will force the state Legislature to make many difficult budgetary decisions. Given that, and that remote learning will seemingly be the norm for schools this fall, I’ve been thinking a lot about the protected nature of basic education funding. In 2019–21, state appropriations for public schools total $27.251 billion from funds […]

Gov. Inslee mandates paid leave for food production workers

Yesterday, Gov. Inslee issued a proclamation prohibiting “any food production employer from continuing to operate between August 18, 2020, and November 13, 2020, unless the food production employer . . . provides its workers . . . with emergency supplemental paid sick leave . . . for a qualifying event.” Washington’s regular paid sick leave […]

More COVID-19 relief funds distributed

On Monday, Gov. Inslee announced that the state will create a $40 million Immigrant Relief Fund “to assist Washington residents who are unable to access federal stimulus programs due to their immigration status” and a $3 million Food Production Paid Leave Program for “certain food production workers who remain home when ill.” According to the […]

President issues executive orders related to COVID-19 relief

Congress has still not come to an agreement on a new COVID-19 relief package. (As I wrote last week, Washington is hoping for new federal funds to help address the state budget problem.) In the meantime, on Saturday, President Trump signed four executive orders that are meant to provide some relief (though not for state […]

State and local government relief in Senate package would provide more flexibility, with limits

One of the reasons Gov. Inslee has given for not calling a special session is to wait and see if Congress provides additional relief funds for state governments. Last week, the U.S. Senate released its proposed relief package. Negotiations with the U.S. House of Representatives are ongoing. The Senate proposal would allow the funds to […]

Washington businesses expect to retain 906,622 jobs due to paycheck protection loans

New figures from the U.S. Treasury Department show that businesses in Washington received a total of 101,049 loans through the paycheck protection program (PPP) through June 30. The total amount loaned to Washington businesses was $12.302 billion. According to Treasury, 74 percent of small business payroll in Washington was covered by PPP loans. Treasury also […]

New round of state distributions of federal CARES Act funds goes largely to renters, child care, disaster response, testing

This week, the Office of Financial Management (OFM) distributed $351.0 million of federal CARES Act relief funds to various state agencies. Of that, $163.0 million went to the Department of Commerce: $100.0 million for low-income renters “experiencing hardship related to COVID-19 for up to three months,” $20.0 million for small businesses as they “navigate the […]