Budget bills in WA Legislature would tap rainy day fund, spend heavily on legal payouts

Democrats in the Washington Legislature on Sunday proposed tapping the state’s rainy day savings account and slashing hundreds of millions of dollars for a child care program for low-income families to balance the state’s budget into next year.

But under their plans, the state’s main operating account would have a more than $900 million deficit in the first year of the upcoming budget cycle, which begins July 1, 2027, before rising back into the black the following year.

“This has been a particularly challenging supplemental budget to put together,” said Senate Ways and Means Chair June Robinson, D-Everett.

Majority Democrats in the House and Senate pitched a pair of supplemental budget blueprints that lawmakers will consider before the legislative session ends March 12, a deadline now less than three weeks away.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/02/22/budget-bills-in-wa-legislature-would-tap-rainy-day-fund-spend-heavily-on-legal-payouts/