August 4, 2020


Governor Jay Inslee will be breaking state law unless he either makes across the board cuts to the state’s current budget or calls for a special legislative session to reduce state expenditures.  According to state law, “If at any time during the fiscal period the governor projects a cash deficit in a particular fund or account as defined by RCW 43.88.050, the governor shall make across-the-board reductions in allotments for that particular fund or account so as to prevent a cash deficit, unless the legislature has directed the liquidation of the cash deficit over one or more fiscal periods.” The Washington State Office of Fiscal Management released a report showing that the state will be running a cash deficit of $277 million in August and will have a $1.6 billion debt by the time the legislature is scheduled to convene in January. Even as the governor used a sleazy move to give his contributors in the state employee unions a 3% pay raise last month, and took another raise for himself, observers are wondering what self-serving action Inslee will use now to prolong his lone rule over state government.  (Washington Policy Center, the Revised Code of Washington, and Shift)

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