Today House Democrats released their proposed supplemental budget. Last week’s official revenue forecast set the frame for budget writers. The summary of the proposal by House Appropriations Committee chair Hans Dunshee identifies the key policy changes, which include additional funding for teacher recruitment and retention, mental health programs, long-term care and developmentally disabled programs, and early learning.
The Washington Research Council writes,
The proposal would use the budget stabilization account (BSA, or the rainy day fund) for several spending items…The proposal would transfer $64 million from other funds [to the main budget]
And, the WRC notes that the proposal also anticipates new taxes.
The proposal also assumes that six tax preferences will be repealed, increasing general fund revenues by $119.5 million. Exactly which preferences would be repealed is not specified, but at the press conference announcing the budget proposal, Rep. Kristine Lytton said that these are preferences
that benefit some companies like big international investment firms and out-of-state drug wholesalers. Most of these tax preferences we’ve proposed before.
The Seattle Times has a brief story on the plan.
Tax preferences would be closed to hike minimum salary for teachers to $40,000-a-year and make other wage adjustments to retain and recruit teachers.
Gov. Inslee released his supplemental budget in December.
The Senate is expected to release its budget plan soon. Then, after each chamber adopts its budget, negotiators begin the process of reconciling differences and adopting a final budget before the March 10 statutory last day of the session.
