LOS ANGELES — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a state budget into law, avoiding a government shutdown.
Inslee's June 30 signature on the two-year, $38.2 billion dollar state operating budget keeps the government up and running and could help shore up local government bond issuers as well. The legislature had been scrambling to get a budget bill done before a government shutdown that would have begun July 1, but ended up passing the bill 90-8 in the House and 38-10 in the Senate.
The budget provides appropriations for the state's bond debt, including about $2.2 billion over the two years for bond payments subject to the state's debt limit.
Education funding was the toughest hurdle lawmakers had to overcome. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that state officials were not meeting their responsibilities to provide for education and that significant reforms were necessary, but relatively vague language in that decision caused controversy over how the legislature should proceed.
The budget sets more than $1 billion aside for K-12 education, and also scales back tuition for state universities.
Inslee praised the budget in a statement shortly after signing it.
"It makes historic investments in education that will provide 1,600 more children access to quality preschool, gives college students a break in tuition, and ensures one million school children will return to school in the fall with funding for updated textbooks and supplies, smaller class sizes and all-day kindergarten for our youngest learners, and better paid teachers," he said.
But the budget did not fully fund the requirements of 2014's Initiative 1351, leaving a $2 billion gap lawmakers still need to fill. That voter-approved initiative required smaller class sizes in K-12 schools.
"I believe it is important for the Legislature to find a solution that results in a balanced budget sooner rather than later," Inslee said. "We are so close. I encourage legislators to complete their work."
