OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - As lawmakers prepare to unveil their supplemental budget proposals next week, they received good news about state revenues projections that look to increase by about $1.3 billion more than expected through 2021.
The numbers released by the Office of Financial Management Thursday at a meeting of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council showed that overall state revenues increased by nearly $628 million for the current two-year budget that ends mid-2019, putting it at nearly $45 billion.
The projections for the next two-year budget that ends in mid-2021 also increase, by nearly $660 million, pushing the state budget up to $49.1 billion.
The numbers are good news for lawmakers who have been ordered by the state Supreme Court to expedite the timeframe to pay for the teacher and staff salary portion of a plan passed last year to fully fund basic education.
