In 2017, the Legislature failed to adopt a capital budget for the 2017–19 biennium. (The hold-up was due to legislative divisions over how to address the Supreme Court’s Hirst decision on water rights.) A reappropriations bill was passed by the Legislature on June 30, 2017 (these are reappropriations for projects that were previously authorized but not yet completed). An omnibus capital budget for 2017–19 was eventually enacted in January 2018.

As The News Tribune reported in 2017, “Hundreds of state workers are paid for by Washington’s construction budget. So when that budget never materialized in the Legislature this year, lawmakers feared significant layoffs were on the way.” Some agencies used other fund sources to pay salaries, but some employees were laid off.

Sec. 1002 of SSB 6090, the 2018 capital budget bill, required the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC) to study the staff that is funded by capital budget appropriations.

JLARC has now released the preliminary report, which is based on the 2015–17 biennium. Among the findings:

• $149 million of capital budget funds were spent on salaries and benefits for 840 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. (That’s about 2 percent of total capital budget authorizations, and less than 1 percent of total state spending on staff.)
• Half of the capital-funded salaries and benefits came from bond-funded accounts, 40 percent came from university building accounts, and 10 percent came from other capital budget accounts.
• Of the capital-funded FTEs, 51 percent were trades staff, 28 percent were project management staff, 12 percent were administrative staff, and 9 percent were other staff (e.g., information technology).
• 77 percent of the capital-funded FTEs worked on land or facility-related capital projects and 11 percent worked on grants or loans administered by the entity.

JLARC notes,

State policies from the Office of Financial Management, budget development tools, and statutes authorize entities to spend portions of their capital funds on state employees. State entities have flexibility in how they account and pay for staff working on capital projects and programs. OFM and the Legislature oversee budget development and spending on capital-funded FTEs.

The report shows how much capital funding is spent on salaries by state agency and higher education institution. For example, the University of Washington uses capital funds to pay $24 million in salaries and benefits to 130 FTEs. There’s also more detail in an interactive dashboard.

JLARC previously looked at capital budget staffing costs in 2002. In 2001–03, the capital budget funded $73 million in salaries and benefits for 633 FTEs. (That’s 1.8 percent of total capital budget authorizations.) $45 million (62 percent of the $73 million) for 401 FTEs was funded by bonds.

Finally, the 2002 report indicated why questions about capital-funded staff come up after the fact: “While Operating Budget decisions often focus on staffing levels needed to deliver services, Capital Budget decisions tend to be based on long-term asset and investment interests.”