OLYMPIA – The members of the Washington State Caseload Forecast Council have re-elected Sen. Derek Stanford (D-Bothell) as chair.
“Planning for every new biennial budget begins with the work of the Caseload Forecast Council,” said Stanford, who has served as chair since 2015. “It’s crucial we do that work with the utmost thoroughness and attention to detail.”
The Caseload Forecast Council is charged with calculating the expected number of people receiving services or benefits from the State of Washington in the upcoming year. The Council meets several times a year to adopt official forecasts that are the basis of biennial budgets developed by the governor’s office and the Legislature.
“The people of Washington — whether they are students in classrooms, recipients of the Working Families’ Tax Credit, foster children, or college students on financial aid — depend on the smooth delivery of state services that accurate forecasts enable,” Stanford said.
Types of state entitlements analyzed by the Caseload Forecast Council include public school enrollments, state financial aid for college students, Working Connections Child Care, the Working Families’ Tax Credit, among others.
The membership of the council consists of one legislator of each party in each chamber of the Legislature, the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services, and the director of the Office of Financial Management. The council employs eleven professional forecasters with extensive experience in statistical modeling and mathematical forecasting.
