5-22-2019
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Inslee has signed the state’s capital, operating, and transportation budgets — with some accompanying tax increases — to pay for state programs for the next two years.
Some increases in spending include expanded college grants for low and middle-income students, an expansion of the state’s mental health system, and the first phase of building hybrid state ferries.
Inslee said the state’s $52.4 billion operating budget “puts people first.”
But Republicans objected to the spending and tax levels in the budgets, saying that economic growth statewide and a thriving U.S. economy have increased tax revenues enough to avoid new taxes.