Hello Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you had a Happy 4th of July and are enjoying your summer! I am looking forward to sharing my final legislative summary which includes highlights from the budget. Most importantly, I’m sending this email to invite you to a Constituent Coffee on Tuesday, July 30 from 9:00am – 11:00am at Thruline Coffee in Kirkland.
This is an opportunity to join me for coffee and casual conversation. I’d love to hear about what issues are most important to you, as well as share what I’m working on during the interim. There will be no appointments, so please drop in any time between 9:00am and 11:00am to visit. Coffee and pastries will be available for purchase.
I hope to see you on Tuesday, July 30 at my Constituent Coffee! If you can’t make it this month, I will be hosting another Constituent Coffee later this fall. Please don’t hesitate to contact me in the meantime. I can be reached at 425.822.1114 or amy.walen@leg.wa.gov.
Sincerely,
2019 – 2021 Budget Summary
Operating Budget
The 2019-21 operating budget plan and revenue plan makes critical investments in behavioral health, affordable housing, education, and the environment. Highlights of the $52.4 billion two-year operating budget include:
Behavioral Health: The two-year budget will make significant investments in continued efforts to reform and improve the state behavioral health system. Most people have family or friends experiencing mental health issues, including substance use disorder, yet help can be difficult to find. We are funding more local care resources and state programs to help people in need:
- $47 million to expand community behavioral health beds and services.
- $92 million in this biennium to ensure the stability of state hospitals and the safety of patients and staff.
- $74 million in this biennium to comply with the Trueblood court ruling.
Affordable Housing: Washington is facing an affordable housing and homelessness crisis—every district, county, and community is experiencing this crisis. Despite efforts and resources to date, we simply do not have adequate housing options across income levels and across specialized needs in order to keep Washingtonians housed. This crisis also impacts people differently. Renters, seniors, LGBTQ people, and people of color are more likely to be overburdened by housing costs and/or other barriers, and are at greater risk for displacement.
In addition to the state capital budget, the state operating budget makes key investments in housing programs and services.
- $15 million focused on permanent supportive housing and youth homelessness.
- $14.5 million for the Housing and Essential Needs Program, which helps people with disabilities who are struggling to find or maintain housing.
Kindergarten – 12th Grade Education: This budget fulfills the bipartisan promise made by the Legislature to fund health care coverage for school employees through the School Employee Benefits Board (SEBB) program. This investment will cost $328 million in this budget and $837 million over four years.
- $155 million for additional special education funding ($294 million over four years).
- $61 million for additional levy assistance for areas with low property values.
- $12 million for paraeducator training.
- $2.5 million additional funding for student mental health and safety.
Workforce Education Investment: This year Democrats created and fully funded the Washington College Grant to make public college tuition-free in Washington state for families earning less than $50,000 per year, with partial scholarships for families up to state’s median income, and significantly invests in community colleges.
Washington employers will need to fill 740,000 jobs in the next five years, but the state doesn’t have the capacity to meet that demand. The Workforce Education Investment Act makes smart investments to help our students find a path to a good-paying job and helps our businesses meet their workforce needs, by:
- Expanding access to the Washington College Grant (formerly the State Need Grant).
- Making career pathways a priority by expanding programs that guide students through community and technical colleges or apprenticeships and increases counseling.
- Increasing capacity at the public community and technical colleges and four-year institutions for high-demand programs, such as computer science, engineering, nursing, and other high-demand fields.
Other investments:
- $35 million to expand Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) slots and rate increases.
- $62 million for rate increases for community residential services providers (long-term and developmental disabilities care).
- $31 million to improve habitat and protect Orcas.
- $9 million to eliminate the backlog in testing sexual assault kits.
- $24 million in state general funds to increase our wildfire response and address natural disasters.
- $4.5 million to expand rural broadband.
Capital Budget
The final capital budget compromise appropriates $4.9 billion, of which $3.2 billion comes from bond revenue. The biennial capital budget creates thousands of jobs and includes funding for building schools, addressing our behavioral health crisis, local infrastructure, recreation and conservation, as well as affordable housing.
Building Schools
- $1.1b for K-12 Public School Construction
- $973m for Higher Education
- $408m for Community and Technical Colleges
- $34m for Behavioral Health Teaching Hospital at UW
- $43m for Rural and Distressed K-12 Schools
- $28.5m for Early Learning Facilities
Addressing our Behavioral Health Crisis
- $154m for Construction, Renovation, and Upgrades at State Facilities
- Design of new forensic hospital
- Design and construction of new 16- and 48-bed behavioral health facilities
- $120m for Community Behavioral Health Capacity grants
- $35m for Permanent Supportive Housing
Local Infrastructure
- $290m for Clean Drinking Water and Centennial Clean Water Programs
- $95m for Public Works Assistance Program
- $44m for Stormwater Infrastructure
- $25m for Broadband Access
- $13.6m to Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB)
Recreation and Conservation
- $585m for Orca and Salmon Recovery Programs
- $85m for Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP)
- $50m for State Parks (visit them all!)
- $16m for Forest Health/Wildfire Prevention
→State natural resource investments leverage nearly $600m in non-state funds
Housing and Other Important Investments
- $175m for Affordable Housing Development
- $70m for Energy Efficiency, Clean Energy, and Weatherization
- $163m for Local and Community Projects
- $54.6m for Arts, Building Communities, and Youth Recreation programs
Transportation Budget
The Transportation Budget will allocate more than $9 billion to maintain our transportation infrastructure, support jobs, and address issues that affect working families all over the state. You can find a complete list of projects with this interactive map, but some of the highlights include:
- Green transportation investments, including converting to hybrid-electric ferries and incentivizing the adoption of electric vehicles.
- Passenger rail service, encouraging development around transit hubs and other options.
- Corridor improvements for major highways like I-5 through JBLM and I-405 from Renton to Bellevue. Making changes to major thoroughfares will help connect Washington and carry people and goods across our state.
- The pilot Kirkland Transit-Oriented Development Project to demonstrate how appropriate WSDOT properties may be used for multiple public benefits such as affordable and market-rate housing, commercial development and institutional facilities, in addition to transportation.
- Expanding a pilot program to provide ORCA cards to high school students in the summer who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches and have jobs or other responsible during the summer break, in a handful of school districts.