{"id":3025,"date":"2024-02-15T09:19:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T16:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/mulletarchive\/?p=3025"},"modified":"2024-02-16T15:22:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T22:22:17","slug":"senate-leaders-introduce-capital-budget-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/mulletarchive\/2024\/02\/15\/senate-leaders-introduce-capital-budget-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Leaders Introduce Capital Budget Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senate leaders from the Democratic and Republican caucuses today announced their 2024 capital budget proposal. The state\u2019s capital budget funds construction and maintenance of infrastructure and physical projects. This year\u2019s budget proposal includes major funding increases in K-12 school construction, behavioral health facilities, affordable housing, and more.<\/p>\n

Details and specific project lists for the $1.3 billion budget proposal are online here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis might only be a supplemental budget year, but this proposal steps up to the scale of the challenges facing Washington. On all the key issues before us, I think this budget will do a lot of good,\u201d said Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah), vice chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee for the capital budget. \u201cI\u2019m particularly passionate about the work we\u2019re doing on school construction. The state won the lawsuit with the Wahkiakum School District, but that doesn\u2019t diminish our responsibility to do more to help every kid in every school district have a safe, modern building where they can learn and succeed. This is a critical issue to me and I\u2019m proud of what our budget does for students, teachers, and schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis capital budget is focused on significant funding increases in K-12 school construction, behavioral health facilities, and affordable housing,\u201d said Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma), one of the Senate\u2019s capital budget negotiators. \u201cIt also includes important programs that would not be possible without the guidance and resources from the Climate Commitment Act. These are significant investments in addressing immediate needs of Washingtonians across the state. With this budget, we’re not just improving physical structures; we’re aiming to make real changes in people’s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senate\u2019s supplemental capital budget does a good job of addressing a variety of needs throughout Washington, and it provides funding for projects in several key areas, including K-12 and higher education, public safety, housing, water infrastructure, and more,\u201d said 9th<\/sup> District Sen. Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville), the Republican leader on the Senate capital budget. \u201cI applaud the Senate\u2019s capital budget for taking a statewide approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

K-12 School Construction<\/strong><\/p>\n

With major school construction challenges facing many communities in rural areas and with low property values, this budget proposal takes strong steps forward to support school construction across Washington. The budget includes $121.5 million in total K-12 school construction, maintenance, and improvement funding for districts across Washington, especially in small and tribal school districts. It also creates a new funding bucket to support skills center facilities for career and technical education, with $60 million for this year and the opportunity to create continued and sustainable funding for them going forward.<\/p>\n

The proposal also includes policy changes to help promote the passage of local bond measures, so local districts have a better opportunity to fund their own school construction. It has the state capital budget cover the cost of sales tax on school construction and materials, so that local districts can fund more construction with the money they do have, and it updates the School Construction Assistance Program\u2019s square footage formulas to help ensure districts with lower property values get the most bang for their buck in state assistance.<\/p>\n

Behavioral Health <\/strong><\/p>\n

The budget includes $44.5 million for the purchase and modernization of the Olympic Heritage Behavioral Health Hospital in Tukwila, which was purchased by the state in the summer of 2023 after its private operator suddenly shut it down.<\/p>\n

It also includes $44.8 million for behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment facilities run by the state\u2019s partners in tribal government, funding facilities for the Colville, Jamestown S\u2019Klallam, Kalispel, Lummi, Quinault, and Suquamish tribes.<\/p>\n

It has $12.49 million for other behavioral health community capacity grants, including $8.5 million for opioid addiction treatment facilities.<\/p>\n

Affordable Housing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s affordable housing challenge is still large, and this proposal continues the historic progress the Legislature made last year. It has $119 million in total housing funding, including $111 million for the Housing Trust Fund.<\/p>\n

Within the Housing Trust Fund, the budget includes $20 million for housing for people with developmental disabilities, $15 million for mobile homes, $10 million for tiny home villages, and other grant programs.<\/p>\n

Other Projects<\/strong><\/p>\n

The budget includes funding for hundreds of other projects all across Washington. A few of them include:<\/p>\n