Inslee signs $38 billion budget bill that will increase K-12 spending, cut college tuition

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday night signed a new $38 billion state budget. That averted Washington’s first-ever government shutdown that would have started at midnight without a deal.

He waited until 11:39 p.m. to sign the bill.

This 11th-hour budget comes after months of battle between Democrats and Republicans over whether new taxes were needed to fully fund public schools and other state obligations.

“It makes the investments we need to move the state forward,” Inslee said of the plan.  “ follows spending priorities I set out when the Legislature convened in January.”

Inslee had been pushing for more than $ 1 billion in new taxes, including on capital gains and on carbon emissions.  But, in the end, new revenue came from closing a handful of tax exemptions worth nearly $200 million.

The GOP, which controls the state Senate, held firm that the state’s improving economy could fund a budget without major new revenue.

“It’s not whether you want taxes or not,” said Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond, the Senate’s chief budget writer, “it’s whether you needed them, and we didn’t think we needed them, and we think the budget reflects that.”

State Budget Highlights

Not everyone likes this deal.  State Schools Superintendent Randy Dorn came out swinging against the plan.

“The governor and Legislature have failed to satisfy the (state) Constitution’s paramount duty,” Dorn said in a statement.

The state Supreme Court is expected to rule in the next few weeks whether the budget plan meets its McClearly v. State of Washington decision that mandates fully funding public schools.