On the first day back to work after the holiday break, we thought we’d start by taking a fresh look at the state budget. Just before we left, Gov. Inslee had released his supplemental budget proposal, lifting biennial spending to some $62 billion. With steady revenue growth and unspent federal dollars available, the growth in spending is accommodated in the supplemental without tax increases. (We’ll leave aside for the moment whether the increased spending would be sustainable long-term without new taxes.)
The Washington Research Council has published several blog posts taking a look at the governor’s budget.
- Governor’s budget includes funding for future homeless shelter capacity grants (plus, how document recording surcharges fund various housing programs)
- As tort liability has risen for Washington, the state liability account is in deficit
- Gov. Inslee would use a portion of marijuana excise tax revenue for community reinvestment grants
- Appropriations for the Department of Commerce and Department of Health have ballooned during the pandemic
- NGFO and federal relief appropriations in Gov. Inslee’s supplemental operating budget would be 16.1% above 2019–21; other federal relief would be appropriated in capital and transportation budgets
- Policy changes in the governor’s proposed operating budget would increase appropriations by $4.185 billion
- Gov. Inslee proposes increasing NGFO appropriations for 2021–23 by 5.1% over the enacted biennial budget
We recommend these as a starting point for the understanding the budget discussions we’ll see in the legislative session beginning next week.
Also related to the budget, legislators last month finally filed the anticipated lawsuit challenging the governor’s vetoes of transportation and climate-change legislation.
And while our headline refers to plenty of money in the budget, the abundance does not extend to the transportation budget, which is still below pre-pandemic projections. Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, last month proposed ideas for boosting transportation funding without increasing the gas tax. Gov. Inslee has also proposed boosting transportation spending using available revenues. The transportation debate will be interesting, though there are questions of how much can be accomplished in a 60-day legislative session.
More on all of this later. Happy New Year.
