Inslee signs new $52.4 billion spending plan for the state
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee Tuesday signed the state’s capital, operating, and transportation budgets, officially designating funds — and tax increases — to pay for state programs for the next two years.
Along with existing programs, the budgets fund expanded college grants for low and middle-income students, an expansion of the state’s mental health system, and the first phase of hybridizing the state’s ferry system.
“This is a budget that puts people first,” Inslee said as he signed the state’s $52.4 billion operating budget.
But Inslee also called out a looming funding challenge for the state: Fixing culverts — large pipes that allow streams to flow under roadways, but can prevent salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. As a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the state has to fix hundreds of culverts around the state, at a cost some estimates have put as high as $3.5 billion. Many of the culverts must be fixed by 2030.
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