Washington state lawmakers passed a
The $77.9 billion two-year spending plan approved by state lawmakers Sunday night would bring $8.7 billion in tax increases over the four-year budget outlook and $5.9 billion in program cuts but involves no furloughs and preserves the rainy-day fund.
Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, now has 20 days to sign the budget.
Lawmakers had to close a projected deficit of$16 billion over the next four years that had soared as a result of state economists'
Transportation projects would benefit from a six-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase and a tax on Tesla electric vehicles.
The 2025-27 biennial budget appropriates $4.5 billion in new debt limit bond spending and $7.5 billion in total funds, including cash and other revenue sources. Additionally, the budget reappropriates $4.9 billion in debt limit bonds and $11.6 billion in total funds to continue projects from previous budgets.
Lawmakers approved $975 million in spending for education, $827 million for natural resources, and $772 million for housing and homelessness. The budget also includes $375 million from the climate commitment account to support projects aligned with environmental and energy goals.
Democratic lawmakers downplayed tension between the governor and party leaders during a press conference on Sunday. Democrats hold majorities in both the House and Senate.
"Our conversations with the governor have been very positive in the last week," said State Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. "I think if you watched his statements over time, you can see he had significant influence on the budget."
Earlier in the month, Ferguson sent both the House and Senate back to the
Though the wealth tax didn't make the final version of the budget, Democrats said the concept is not dead.
"Many good ideas take a long time to get to fruition," Pedersen said. "There is a significant amount of work to get ideas just right. It took nine years for us to pass a capital gains tax."
Lawmakers also ticked off a laundry list of pain points to state residents coming from the budget. Those include cuts to drug rehabilitation, child support programs and other social programs.
Lawmakers, including Pedersen and Sen. Manka Chingra, D-Redmond, said the Senate's push to prioritize education spending was successful, though Chingra would have liked to see more spending on special education.
Ferguson, who took office in January, in a lengthy press release, applauded moves from state lawmakers to boost education spending, fund his request for $100 million to hire more police, preserve the state's rainy-day fund, narrow their tax proposals, and adopt many of his proposed budget savings.
"The Legislature adopted most of the $4 billion in savings my team identified 43 days into my administration," Ferguson said.
"I insisted on a spending plan based on the actual projections provided by our Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, rather than spending based on the 4.5% revenue growth allowed in state law, and the legislature adopted this approach," Ferguson said.
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, who voted against the budget, lauded the shift away from assuming 4.5% annual growth in revenues and preservation of the rainy-day fund. In his comments on the House floor, he said the budget, however, includes the "largest tax increases in history."
Despite ticking off the many things he liked in the budget, the governor avoided fully endorsing it, saying he looks forward to carefully reviewing the budget package "line by line" over the next few weeks. "When that review is complete, I will share my thoughts with the public in greater detail," he said.
"Throughout this budget process, I have insisted that the Legislature take a balanced approach to solving the $16 billion shortfall," Ferguson said, adding that is why he rejected an initial proposal to raise $21 billion in taxes, and then a subsequent $12 billion tax proposal as unsustainable.
"I appreciate that the Legislature heard my concerns and dramatically reduced the revenue assumed in the final budget," he said.
The state holds a Aaa rating from Moody's Ratings and AA-plus ratings from Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings. Moody's and Fitch assigned stable outlooks, while S&P affirmed a
