House and Senate Democrats Agree on Supplemental Budget

Here's a crisp account of the negotiated compromise by the Olympian's Adam Wilson.

In the final version of the supplemental state budget House and Senate Democrats traded in some areas, agreed to do almost everything in others, and where they found unspent agency money, they took it.

...The bottom line: $230 million extra spent, $835 million left in the bank, according to the Ds.

Joe Turner describes one of the places they found unspent money.

One interesting thing is that they raided the Washington State Trade and Convention Center budget reserves to the tune of $57 million and spent it on programs.

House Speaker Frank Chopp's budget raided the same account, but Chopp wanted to spend the money on low-income housing.

I've not reviewed the details, but from what I've seen the story budget writers hope for is that they bumped reserves from $755 million to $835 million.  That seems to miss the point ... twice.

The higher reserves have been accomplished by transferring money into the general fund from other "near general fund state" accounts, primarily the convention and trade center account (a capital account) and the education legacy trust account. Spending has not been reduced to boost reserves. And the drawdown from the education trust account adds to the projected deficit in that perennially deficit-ridden designated fund. Shortfalls in the education account impose pressure on the general fund, so there's no joy in the slight reserve boost.

More important, the number folks should be focusing on is the anticipated $2.4+ billion deficit for the coming biennium. There's just no way around it: the reserves are inadequate, the spending too high, and next year's budget outlook is ugly.