Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

Last week, the policy bills that made it past the first floor cutoff deadline started to get committee hearings in the other chamber. This was true of SSB 5568, the Fair Tenant Screening Act, which was already passed by the Senate with significant bipartisan support. The House Judiciary Committee heard SSB 5568 on Wednesday morning. Many organizations signed in pro, including two landlord associations. The next hurdle for our bill and all others to pass is the upcoming committee cutoff on Wednesday, April 3. The big news last week was the budget and revenue forecast. The Senate budget writers were waiting for this forecast before finalizing their budget recommendation. The Senate now says they expect to release their proposal within ten days of this past Wednesday. They have been very discreet about the specifics, but if they refuse to include significant revenue in that proposal, we will again see a budget that makes more deep cuts to our safety net. The forecast actually revealed that things are just about as expected. But the federal sequestration and an increase in caseload for some entitlement programs are complicating factors, as they both cause a slightly larger deficit than originally planned.

TAKE ACTION The legislature is set to release the state budget any day. Now is the time to tell your legislators to protect programs that keep families, children, and disabled people off of the streets and safely in homes. Click here to protect vulnerable communities. Image

Now that this official forecast is out there, Olympia is preparing the budget battles to finally begin. Therefore, it's extremely important for affordable housing and homelessness advocates to begin ramping up our advocacy. We need to make sure that the Housing Trust Fund (HTF); Housing and Essential Needs/Disability Lifeline (HEN/DL); Aged, Blind & Disabled (ABD); Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); and the Washington Families Fund (WFF) are all adequately funded. The only way to make this happen is by you telling your lawmakers to not come home until they’ve passed a budget that preserves these programs. And you can start today by sending an email to your lawmakers and by asking your friends, family, and coworkers to do the same. Take action now by clicking here.

Here are more details from the budget and revenue forecast from last Wednesday:

We started the session with a $900 million hole in the upcoming 2013-15 biennium. But, increased caseload costs in state programs (primarily Medicaid) deepened this deficit by $301 million. Then add an additional $6 million per month due to federal sequestration. Despite this, revenue collections are looking up because of a change in anticipated collections for the upcoming biennium. They now anticipate just a $19 million deficit and an increase in collections from the current biennium of $59 million. The good news is this results in a net $40 million increase in revenues for both the current (2011-13) and next (2013-15) biennia. 

The bad news is this also still leaves the deficit for 2013-15 still at about $1.2 billion. However, once the $160 million impact of what is known as the “Bracken lawsuit” is taken into account, the current deficit increases to about $1.3 billion. Legislation might close the Bracken problem, but it's uncertain if it will pass. In addition, the State is assuming that sequestration will end by June 30 of this year. If sequestration cuts go beyond that, forecasters assume the cost to the budget will continue to be a flat $6 million per month (though with a much greater economic impact on areas near military bases, such as Tacoma, Bremerton, Everett, and Oak Harbor).

Here are the materials recently released and presented by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

Here is the Washington Budget and Policy Center's analysis.

While this budget seems like gloom and doom. We have a silver lining. You! The homeless and housing community has an effective and vocal advocacy community that we're counting on to mobilize. Please join us in advocating for a budget that helps move Washington closer to the day when no one struggles with the brutality of homelessness. Everyone should have the opportunity live in a safe, healthy, affordable home, and your advocacy keeps us moving closer to making that a reality. Click here to take action!

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