The Washington state Senate on Saturday, April 5, approved a capital budget proposal with $7.3 billion in planned spending
The bill was passed unanimously by the Senate, showing a level of bipartisan cooperation that has been absent from other budget negotiations this legislative session.
“The capital budget has a reputation for being the most bipartisan of the three state budgets, and now I know why,” said Perry Dozier, R-Waitsburg, assistant Republican lead for the Senate capital budget. “We placed a lot of trust in one another in the course of developing this — each of us tried to be responsive to what the others brought to the table. That shows through in the budget itself and today’s unanimous vote.”
The budget's biggest price tags include $1.2 billion for projects at the state’s public universities, $1 billion for K-12 education and $770 million for housing.
It also shows some love to Southwest Washington by fully funding the Chehalis Basin Board’s funding request of $80 million dedicated to the Chehalis Basin Strategy, a series of projects designed to address catastrophic flooding and shrinking salmon habitat in the basin.
The budget proposal from the House provides $70 million for the Chehalis Basin Strategy.
“We looked at this budget and saw fewer resources, so we made tougher decisions every step of the way, working on priorities that made both our side and our Democrat counterparts happy,” said Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, lead Republican for the Senate capital budget. “What we have is a capital budget for the entire state.”
The Senate now waits for the House to pass its own budget proposal. After that, writers from both houses will meet as a “conference committee” in order to reconcile their budgets and propose a final budget plan to be passed by the entire Legislature and signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson.
