With the State Legislature now in the second week of its 105-day session, budget concerns are front and center. Lawmakers have to put together not one, but three state budgets for the upcoming biennium that starts in July. 12th District State Representative Mike Steele says he has concerns about Governor Jay Inslee's proposed 70 billion dollar budget, which includes a referendum on housing:
Steele's concerns center around how the money will be spent:
The Governor's housing referendum would allow the state to issue bonds outside the state’s debt limit to frontload $4 billion of housing construction over the next six years. The state’s underlying capital budget will fund approximately 22-hundred units between 2023 and 2025, according to the governor’s office. Inslee’s referendum would add approximately 53-hundred additional units between 2023 and 2025 and 19-thousand in the remainder of the six years.