Reductions

In total, the proposed human services budget includes $676.7 million in General Fund savings over the two-year outlook period. This includes the following:

• Department of Corrections (DOC) – Reduction to reflect organizational consolidation of Women’s and Prisons Divisions
  $853,000 GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Corrections – Contract for tug services for the McNeil Island barge reduced from four days per week to three days per week without changing ferry schedule to and from the island
  $590,000 GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), ALTSA & DDA – Delay assisted living facility and nursing home rate increase set to take effect in July 2026 to fiscal year 2028
  $69.9 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Social and Health Services, ALTSA – Reduction of Transitional Care Center of Seattle capacity from 80 beds to 60 beds to reflect incremental staffing levels
  $2.8 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Social and Health Services, Mental Health – Accounting for expected delay of federal compensation reductions for Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH), which allows the state to reduce its general fund investment
  $70.1 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Social and Health Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation – 31% reduction of funding for School-to-Work Program to align with current spending projections
  $1.3 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Social and Health Services, Economic Services Administration – 10% reduction of certain WorkFirst Contracted Services
  $1 million GF-S and $4.7 million GF-F reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Children, Youth, and Families (Children and Families) – Eliminates contracts for 36 network administrator providers in Eastern Washington, with work to be assumed and managed by DCYF with fewer estimated resources
  $2.4 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Children, Youth, and Families (Early Learning) – 50% funding reduction for professional development activities for child care providers
  $2.1 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Children, Youth, and Families (Early learning) – Soft cap on Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) caseload of 33,000 households with exceptions for immediate placement of child-welfare-involved children and prioritization of specific target populations
  $217 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Children, Youth, and Families (Early Learning) – Rebase child care centers subsidy rate to 75th percentile of market rates (as is used in most states) instead of the 85th percentile, which is not currently sustainable (Licensed family home rates will be maintained at 85th percentile of 2024 market rates per the enacted 2025–27 collective bargaining agreement)
  $41 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Health Care Authority (Community Behavioral Health) – 10% reduction for the Recovery Navigator Program
  $1.9 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Health Care Authority (Community Behavioral Health) – Adjust funding allocation for opioid-related programs:
  • Shift portion of funding of programs determined to be Medicaid-eligible from the Opioid Abatement Settlement Account and General Fund-State to Medicaid funding
    $2.7 million GF-S reduction, $8.8 million Opioid Abatement Settlement Account reduction
  • Shift funding of programs eligible for Opioid Abatement Settlement Account, currently funded with General Fund-State, to the Opioid Abatement Settlement Account
    $11.4 million GF-S reduction
• Health Care Authority (Medical Assistance) – Apple Health Expansion caseload reduction to align with current enrollment
  $54.8 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Health Care Authority (Medical Assistance) – Reduction for assumed savings of HCA directive to pay for facility clinic services at or close to non-facility clinics
  $11 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27
• Department of Health – Reducing recent expansions, including Foundational Public Health (to FY 2023 levels), Environmental Justice Council (to FY 2022 levels), Nurse Preceptor Grant Program (50% reduction), Birth Equity Project (to FY 2023 levels), and the Forensic Nurse Examiner Coordination Team (to FY 2024 levels)
  $32.5 million GF-S reduction in 2025–27

In total, the proposed natural resources budget includes $20.4 million in General Fund savings over the two-year outlook period. This includes the following:

• Select agencies and programs – General administrative program reductions at the Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources, and the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, as well as a decrease in legal support services for the Environmental & Land Use Hearing Office
  $2.3 million in reductions
• State Parks and the departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources – Increases and sustains ongoing, partial reductions of funding for recreation-focused lands maintenance, which maintains 74% of the recent investments for our public lands
  $2.8 million in reductions
• Washington State Conservation Commission – 5% General Fund-State reduction in programmatic support to conservation districts
  $676,000 in reductions
• Department of Fish and Wildlife – Increases and sustains ongoing, partial reduction in funding for action plans to restore biodiversity and recover species managed by the agency resulting in a 13% reduction
  $2 million in reductions
• Department of Fish and Wildlife – Elimination of ongoing appropriation to backfill federal grants managed by the agency
  $893,000 in reductions
• Puget Sound Partnership – Partial reduction of 4% in ongoing funding for science support to advance Puget Sound recovery efforts
  $413,000 in reductions
• Department of Agriculture – Reductions in infrastructure support and direct marketing assistance for small farms to include a 10% reduction of technical assistance and a 69% reduction to a grant program providing food system infrastructure
  $2.7 million in reductions
• Select agencies and programs – Shifting identified activities such as stewardship and interpretive services at state parks and the management of fishing and hunting activities to dedicated accounts
  $7.1 million
• Department of Natural Resources – A partial reduction of 15% in General Fund-State funding for forest health technical assistance, monitoring, and statewide planning activities
  $980,000 in reductions
• Department of Ecology – Reductions of unneeded facility-related funding for repair projects completed early and from payments received from State Parks collocating in the agency headquarters
  $608,000 in reductions

In total, the proposed education budget includes $146.7 million in General Fund savings in fiscal year 2027. This includes the following:

• 6% reduction to funding for statewide programs administered by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
  $695,000 in reduced program funding
• Removal of the $100 enhancement to Local Effort Assistance (LEA) scheduled for the 2027 calendar year, keeping payments to school districts at $150 per pupil instead of $250 per pupil
  $25.1 million in reduced LEA payments
• Removal of 1,816 slots for the Transition to Kindergarten program starting in the 2026–27 school year, reducing total slots from 7,266 to 5,450 slots (for reference, the program had grown from 510 slots in 2020)
  $19.5 million in savings from reduced slots
• 9% reduction to ongoing funding for the Beginning Educator Support Team grant program
  $1 million in reduced grant funds
• 50% reduction of state support for the Next Level Leaders academy for school principals and administrators
  $405,000 million in reduced support
• Reduction of Running Start enrollment cap from 1.4 full-time equivalent to 1.2 full-time equivalent representing approximately 10 fewer college credits per student in a school year
  $14 million reduced Running Start funding
• Reduction in annual school bus replacement payments to districts by standardizing the assumed operating life of buses at 15 years, based on usage data
  $21.1 million reduced bus depreciation payments
• Across the board cuts for higher education institutions: 3% for the University of Washington and Washington State University; 1.5% for regional four-institutions and community and technical colleges
  $50 million in across-the-board reductions
• 5% reduction for the Washington Student Achievement Council and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
  $1.8 million in targeted reductions

In total, the proposed transportation operating budget includes $5.3 million in general fund savings over the four-year outlook period. This includes the following reductions:

• Department of Licensing – Reduction of one position in the Firearms Program
  $436,000 in reductions
• Washington State Patrol – Updated budget accounts to better reflect actual spending levels
  $296,000 in reductions
• Washington State Patrol – Staffing reductions in administration, support, and laboratory services
  $2.8 million in reductions
• Washington State Patrol – Reduction of vacant position in laboratory services
  $510,000 in reductions
• Washington State Patrol – Joint apprenticeship and training committee contract funding reduced to historic levels of $700,000 per biennium
  $450,000 in reductions
• Washington State Patrol – Reduction within the fleet vehicle replacement budget
  $780,000 in reductions

• 2% Reduction to executive and management services positions
  $11.7 million in general management
• 5% Administrative reduction to goods and services and travel
  $21.7 million in general administrative reductions