{"id":983,"date":"2018-03-16T15:27:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T22:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc.wastateleg.org\/pedersen\/?p=926"},"modified":"2020-09-22T10:18:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T17:18:43","slug":"926","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2018\/03\/16\/926\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Pedersen's legislative update: 2018 budget highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friends and neighbors:
\nBefore the Legislature finished this year\u2019s 60-day session last week, we passed supplemental operating, transportation, and capital budgets to fund everything from public schools to roads. These supplemental budgets are generally minor changes to the two-year budgets that we enact in the odd-numbered years. For my final email legislative update of 2018, I would like to share a few highlights of important community investments for the state and for our district. You can find a wealth of other information about the budgets by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Operating budget<\/h2>\n

\"\"
\nThe $44.7 billion operating budget for 2017-19 primarily funds public schools ($22.7 billion), health and human services ($13.9 billion), and higher education ($3.9 billion).
\nOur biggest investment in the 2018 supplemental operating budget was nearly $1 billion of additional funding for public schools. We hope and expect that this money \u2013 including roughly $48 million in additional funding for Seattle Public Schools \u2013 will finally resolve the McCleary litigation and bring the state into compliance with its constitutional obligation to provide ample funding for public schools. We also passed legislation (E2SSB 6362<\/a>) to begin to correct some of the defects in last year\u2019s education funding bill, ESHB 2242<\/a>. These include changing the formula for allocating special education money to school districts. Although this will increase state spending for special education by $97 million over the next four years, we know that we have a lot more work to do in the next biennial budget.
\nThe supplemental budget also sets us on a path to fund the\u00a0State Need Grant<\/a> fully over the next four years. This is the state\u2019s principal financial aid program for higher education, which helps more than 60,000 students attend college each year. Roughly 22,000 students who qualify have been stuck on a waiting list that will now be phased out. Making this investment will help expand the opportunity for higher education to everyone in our state.
\nA third major investment is nearly $300 million over the next four years for mental and behavioral health care to fulfill the state\u2019s legal and moral obligations at our state hospitals and in our communities. This funding should help to address one of the major drivers of our current homelessness crisis: untreated substance abuse and mental health issues.
\nThe supplemental budget includes hundreds of other smaller investments, from increased funding for public defense and civil legal aid to school breakfasts and temporary aid to needy families.
\nFinally, I want to highlight the great work that Speaker Chopp and Representative Macri have led on affordable housing issues. ESHB 1570<\/a>, introduced by Representative Macri, will stabilize the state\u2019s primary revenue source for responding to homelessness by increasing to $62 and making permanent a surcharge on certain documents filed at the county level. This will raise $26 million a year for services to help people who are homeless.<\/p>\n

Transportation<\/h2>\n

\"\"
\nThe $9.5 billion\u00a0transportation budget<\/a> for 2017-19 funds construction and maintenance of roads and bridges around the state, as well as the Washington State Patrol and the ferry system. Our district is home to two of the largest current projects in the budget: the SR 99 tunnel under downtown and South Lake Union and the replacement of the SR 520 floating bridge.
\nAlthough there was very little money for new investments in the 2018 supplemental transportation budget, I worked to secure three items of note for our district.<\/p>\n