Washington's Budget

Washington's Budget

Washington’s economy withstood the national and international recession for some time last year. But in November of 2008, our state revenues were pushed off a cliff. The Legislative session earlier this year was the worst in terms of the budget that anyone can remember. We needed to close a $9 billion gap.

We froze the pay of our school teachers and state employees. If a program wasn’t using all its funds, we took the balance. We tapped some of our rainy day fund. We got a big boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provided about $3 billion to shore up our programs. To close the remaining gap, about $3.3 billion, we had to cut in every service area.

Unfortunately, the trends for the state’s finances continue to head in the wrong direction. The last two revenue forecasts were negative, and it looks like the November forecast will also be down. Our caseloads and costs are up. The state is now facing a new shortfall estimated at around $1.7 billion that must be closed in the 2010 supplemental budget the Governor will propose in December.

In order to help Washingtonians understand the problem we are facing, the Governor’s Office and the Office of Financial Management have prepared a presentation explaining how we have reached this point. Click here to view the presentation.