Legislative Update: Our State’s Budgets & How the Dollars Will Be Spent at Home

Dear friends and neighbors,

It has been an honor serving you during my first Legislative Session in Olympia! Today I’d like to provide an update on major investments in all three state budgets passed this year.

These budgets will have tangible impacts across Washington and Whatcom County. In the categories below, you’ll find information on the state’s operating, capital, and transportation budgets, including investments being made right here at home!

Operating Budget

The state’s 2023-25 operating budget, otherwise known as the “Resilient Washington Budget,” devotes $69.3 billion in critical state services, including behavioral health, public education, affordable housing, and historic investments to address the climate crisis. We are investing in Washington’s people, lands, waters, working families, and communities, while also directing targeted equity investments to overburdened populations that face the greatest barriers to economic stability.

Operating Budget Investments in the 42nd Legislative District Include:

$4 million for reducing flood-related damage in the Nooksack River basin, including local and state project planning and implementation through the Nooksack Transboundary Task Force and coordination with British Columbia
$3.7 million for funding water rights adjudication in the Nooksack watershed – click here to learn more about my bill to increase transparency and clarity for filing water rights claims during the adjudication process
$2.9 million to convert the Bellingham Reentry Center from a contractor-run facility to a state-run facility. The previous contract was terminated May 7, 2022.
$2.1 million towards Sustainable Farms and Fields (a program for farmers and ranchers to implement climate-smart practices and projects that increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions)
$1.5 million for Whatcom Disaster Relief and Recovery is provided as a grant to Whatcom County for disaster recovery and relief in response to the November 2021 Flooding and Mudslides Presidentially-Declared Disaster
$1.2 million for the Whatcom Alternative Response Program
$400,000 to fund the Whatcom County Safe Parking Project to support temporary off-street options for individuals and families experiencing homelessness
$250K towards the Northwest Innovation Resource Center to support local entrepreneurs
$200,000 towards the Food and Farm Finder Program
$200,000 to establish and run the Northwest Maritime Apprenticeship Program through Bellingham Technical College
$100,000 for the Ferndale Wayfinding Project

Statewide Operating Budget Highlights:

K-12 Education and Higher Education:

$521 million for salary adjustment and healthcare cost increase for K-12 educators
$417 million for special education students
$85 million to expand access to free meals for students
$91 million to expand Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program slots and increase rates
$90 million for low-interest graduate student loans – This is from HB 1823, my bill to create a low-interest graduate student program to increase access to higher education and address workforce shortages
$13 million to expand access to the Washington College Grant and dual credit programs

Targeted Equity Investments:

$200 million for the Community Reinvestment Account
$81 million for refugee support and education
$49 million for community outreach and overburdened community-led environmental justice CCA projects
$53 million to provide health care for undocumented adults (children are already covered)
$88 million for equity initiatives across state agencies
$25 million to fund Cascade Care for low-income people ineligible for Medicaid

Housing, Human Services, and Poverty Reduction:

$95 million in food assistance programs
$44 million to fund an 8% increase to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Aged, Blind, or Disabled (ABD); and other cash assistance programs
$35 million to increase support for foster care
$140 million for emergency housing and rental assistance
$150 million for the covenant homeownership program
$60 million for encampment response and outreach
$26 million for increased funding to the Housing and Essential Needs program
$40 million to fund the Working Families Tax Credit

Public Health, Behavioral Health, Long-Term Care, and Developmental Disabilities:

$76 million in foundational public health services
$80 million to increase rates for health care workers, targeting primary care and pediatricians
$24 million for reproductive health services and security measures
$270 million for a rate increase for behavioral health providers
$122 million for additional behavioral health bed capacity
$142 million to expand substance use disorder prevention and treatment
$21 million for behavioral health crisis, outreach, and diversion programs
$28 million for youth behavioral health
$80 million to increase homecare worker rates for individual providers
$152 million for adult family home collective bargaining agreements
Increased rates for providers and workers, including:
- Nursing home rates — $107 million
- Assisted living rates — $56 million
- Supported living rates — $17 million
- Employment and community inclusion — $24 million
$59 million for patient transitions out of acute care hospitals
$108 million to meet Trueblood obligations to improve the state’s competency evaluation and restoration services
$895,000 for the Washington’s new emergency medical reserve corps, which one of my bills created – click here to read my op-ed in the Cascadia Daily News about the program

Climate Commitment Act, Natural Resources, and Salmon Recovery:

$406 million in Climate Commitment Act investments
$45 million for forest health and wildfire protection
$39 million for biodiversity protection
$36 million for salmon habitat and recovery

Capital Budget

Washington’s 2023-25 capital budget devotes $8.9 billion to fund construction projects and infrastructure across Washington and will set records for the largest-ever investment in affordable housing in state history, along with major investments in behavioral health, school construction, and other areas. This budget makes historic and record-setting progress progress on many big issues facing our state: housing affordability, educating our future workforce, addressing our climate crisis, and more.

Capital Budget Investments in the 42nd Legislative District Include:

$48 million to build Western Washington University’s (WWU) Student Development and Success Center
$17 million to the Port of Bellingham for toxic cleanup of Whatcom Waterways
$10 million for Floodplains by Design work on the Nooksack River
$10 million for salmon habitat restoration on the Nooksack River
$9 million for 23-hour crisis relief center in Bellingham, a vitally important project that will increase access to behavioral health services in Whatcom County
$8.1 million to finish a Substance Use Disorder Treatment facility at Lummi Nation
$5 million to Lummi Nation School district for modernization projects
$4.5 million for minor works repair, replacement, and preservation projects at Whatcom Community College
$4 million for asbestos remediation in Swift Creek
$3.7 million for minor works repair, replacement, and preservation projects at Bellingham Technical College
$3 million to construct the City of Ferndale’s Civic Campus Project
$1 million for What-Comm Dispatch Center to support 9-1-1 emergency services in Whatcom County
$824,000 for Ejidos Community Farm in Everson
$764,000 for the Whatcom Ag Research Station in Lynden
$700,000 to improve Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham (Go Bells!)
$550,000 for the Pickford Film Center through Washington’s Building for the Arts program
$500,000 in pre-design funding to renovate WWU’s Environmental Studies Building
$500,000 for the Van Zandt Community Center renovation
$470,000 for Nooksack Community Housing in Deming
$309,000 for facility upgrades at the Lynden Community/Senior Center
$150,000 for water pipe replacement along Sumas Avenue in Sumas

Statewide Capital Budget Highlights:

Housing:

$400 million to build affordable housing through the Housing Trust Fund
$170 million for youth shelter and housing projects and land acquisition for affordable housing developments
$124 million towards weatherization, home efficiency energy rebates, and home rehabilitation

Behavioral health:

$660 million for mental health state facilities
$224 million for community behavioral services

Public infrastructure:

$400 million in infrastructure for local governments for projects involving drinking water, waste water, and storm water
$200 million to expand broadband to unserved and underserved communities.
$129.5 million for National Guard facilities around the state.

Education:

$1.5 billion in higher education
$872 million for K-12 public school construction
$70.4 million towards early learning

Environment:

$798 million towards water quality
$423.8 million for clean energy and climate change
$177.8 million towards flood risk reduction and habitat restoration
$81.6 million for Washington State Parks
$4 million towards farmland protection and land access through land trusts

Transportation Budget

Over the next two years, $13.5 billion has been designated to fund the state’s transportation needs. The budget addresses legislative and gubernatorial priorities, as well as the continuation of projects in previous legislative budgets, notably 2022’s Move Ahead Washington package and the 2015 Connecting Washington package. This budget honors our commitment to the people of Washington—a commitment to keeping key projects on schedule, investing in our vital ferry system, improving traffic safety, promises to combat climate change, and focuses on equity and overburdened communities.

Transportation Budget Investments in the 42nd Legislative District Include:

$28.9 million for I-5 and Slater Road interchange improvements
$4.8 million to modernization and preservation of the Lummi Island Ferry
$3 million for pedestrian improvements on Bradley Road in Lynden
$2.2 million for the Bell Road and Peace Portal Road grade separation project in Blaine
$2.1 million in Tribal Transit Mobility grants from the Move Ahead Washington package
$1.5 million for elevation project on Slater Road
$200,000 for the International Mobility and Trade Corridor between Whatcom County and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia

Statewide Transportation Budget Highlights:

$5.4 billion for highway improvements and preservation, including many of our state’s most critical projects
$2.6 billion towards recruitment and retention efforts at the Washington State Patrol
$1.3 billion towards vessels and workforce initiatives at the Washington State Ferries
$1 billion for passage barrier corrections
$970 million to fund decarbonization strategies across the transportation sector (auction proceeds from the Climate Commitment Act or CCA)
$5.4 million to increase the number of individuals prepared to work in the transportation construction and maritime sector
$4.7 million to increase the number of women and minority-owned contractors in the transportation sector statewide.
$3.9 million for automated speed cameras in work zones
$161 million to boost bicycle/pedestrian projects and programs through the CCA
$845,000 to implement a young driver safety program

Thank you for taking the time to read this budgets report. Still want to dive deeper? Click here for complete information on investments made in the state’s 2023-25 budgets.

Best wishes,