Gov. Jay Inslee signed a new two-year state budget a few minutes before midnight Tuesday ensuring no state agency is closed or state worker laid off when the new fiscal year begins Wednesday.
Inslee signed the $38.2 billion budget surrounded by House and Senate members from both parties involved in the intense negotiations that produced the final product.
It will put another $1.3 billion into public elementary and secondary schools to comply with the demands of the Supreme Court in the McCleary case. And it will provide state workers and teachers with pay hikes, cut tuition for college students and increase funding for state parks, mental health programs, early learning and human services.
“Quite frankly, this is a darn good budget for the people of the state of Washington,” he said before affixing his signature to the 500-plus page document at 11:39 p.m. “It’s forward-thinking, it’s responsible and it’s fair.
“It’s taken a long time to get here, but the final result is a budget that does respond to the fundamental needs of the people of our state,” he said. “This budget really is an amalgam of ideas that represents the totality of our state.”
With a new budget in place, state agencies on Wednesday will begin the process of rescinding temporary layoff notices sent to workers and assuring vendors that payments will be made.
Before acting on the operating budget, Inslee signed the $3.9 billion capital construction budget. It too had to be in place before midnight to avoid any work stoppage.
The House passed that budget on a 96-2 vote with Rep. Elizabeth Scott, R-Monroe, casting one of the dissenting votes. The Senate approved it on a 44-1 vote.
It will provide up to $7 million to Marysville School District to replace the cafeteria at Marysville Pilchuck High School where a deadly shooting occurred in October.
Washington State University would receive $54.6 million to construct a future home for the University Center consortium it manages at Everett Community College. The proposed four-story structure would be built in the parking lot of the College Plaza shopping center that is owned by the community college.
Also included is $500,000 to replace turf at Kasch Park in Everett, $300,000 for Stanwood to study possible sites for relocating its city campus, $592,000 to Skate Darrington for development of a skate park, and $250,000 to help repair the roof on the Edmonds Center for the Arts.
Meanwhile, Wednesday morning arrived with lawmakers still trying to wrap up and go home after a year in which they battled to the brink of a shut down then united on the budget which gives raises to teachers and state workers and a tuition cut for college students.
They still had not put the finishing touches on a proposal to boost the gas tax 11.9 cents to finance $16 billion in transportation-related projects in the next 16 years.
It moved swiftly through the Senate Monday then stalled in the House amid concerns of some Democrats. The House began debating the bill shortly after midnight.
Lawmakers also labored on what to do with a bill to suspend Initiative 1351 requiring smaller class sizes and another dealing with high school assessments supporters say is needed to help 2,000 seniors receive diplomas.
Both passed in the House and were stalled in the Senate.
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