News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 18, 2003
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Gov. Gary Locke Releases Supplemental Budget; Invests in Higher Education

Gov. Gary Locke today proposed a supplemental state budget that boosts Washington’s economy by investing in state colleges and universities.

The $192.7 million supplemental General Fund budget he proposed opens classroom doors to thousands more college students while targeting other top priorities from rural health care to the cost of recent natural disasters.

The governor also proposed a $168 million capital construction budget to build more higher education facilities, a badly needed state prison and other vital projects. This budget would create new private-sector construction jobs as the projects get under way.

The proposal also continues $74 million worth of tax incentives designed to stimulate business investment in research and development and growth of manufacturing in rural areas.

The 2004 supplemental budget makes mid-course adjustments to the two-year, $23 billion General Fund budget adopted by the Legislature six months ago. The governor’s proposal follows the same disciplined “Priorities of Government” approach used to forge the 2003-2005 spending plan that resulted in budget cuts totaling $2.6 billion.

“The tough decisions we made in the 2003 legislative session are paying off,” Locke said. “You will have to go to California or some other state for a story about a budget crisis. We don’t have one here.”

The governor’s proposal reflects a net spending increase of less than 1 percent of the General Fund budget. It requires no tax increases and leaves a responsible reserve of $171.9 million as Washington’s economy grows stronger in the wake of a difficult recession.

The majority of the governor’s operating-budget proposal covers caseload-driven costs – higher public school enrollments, more social services clients, an increasing state prison population and the cost of recent wildfires and flooding.

Dollars available for discretionary spending are focused on higher education, which the governor recognized as the key to our economic future. His proposal spends $30 million to expand state-funded enrollment at state colleges and universities by as many as 5,200 fulltime students – more than half of them in high-demand fields such as nursing, computer science and math.

“Parents and high school students are knocking at the doors of our colleges, and businesses are seeking highly skilled workers. We need to do more. There is no greater priority,” Locke said. “Higher education is the economic engine of the state – and our future.”

The governor’s supplemental capital budget includes $92.6 million in new funding to build or renovate facilities at state universities, regional colleges, community colleges and technical schools.

His budget proposal also provides funding to double grant award levels for Promise Scholarships given to high-performing high school students from low- and middle-income families.

It strengthens the Learning Assistance Program to help struggling K-12 students in public schools meet state academic standards. In addition, steps are taken to make sure Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests in public schools are fair and equitable.

Shoring up health care in the state is another key element of the governor’s supplemental budget. Locke proposed using a portion of state savings to improve health care in under-served rural areas of the state, and to ensure that health care is available for children in low-income families.

“Health care is an issue that working families struggle with everyday. We can’t solve all of the challenges, but this budget takes important steps to address them,” Locke said.

Locke’s budget plan triples to 210 the number of retired physicians who volunteer their professional services in rural areas. It triples to 50 the number of health care professionals who choose to practice in rural areas in exchange for state help paying off education loans. And it increases the Nurse Corps program in public schools by 25 part-time nurses who care for under-served children in rural areas.

The governor’s plan reduces the impact of pending health care premiums to be charged parents of children receiving optional, state-sponsored Medicaid coverage. It increases the state reimbursement rate for family physicians providing childbirth services to Medicaid patients and it shares more federal funding with public hospital districts.

The governor’s budget also funds the home-care workers contract, if approved by the Legislature. Under terms of a collective bargaining process mandated by a voter-approved initiative, the home-care workers receive a wage increase of 50 cents an hour plus workers’ compensation benefits and limited health care benefits.

The supplemental capital budget the governor proposed includes $15.3 million to address the state’s water needs. The funding will be used to lay the groundwork for water storage facilities, irrigation and conveyance projects, as well as wastewater reclamation.

Also included in the capital budget is $46 million to finance start-up costs of building a new, 768-bed prison in Franklin County. The facility is needed to house a growing state prison population.

Among other highlights of the governor’s budget proposal are:

·$60.8 million in federal funds to improve homeland security;
·$6.6 million in new shared federal assistance to improve community-based health services in public hospital districts;
·$3.1 million to provide secure treatment for sex offenders, and to take drunk drivers off the road;
·$495,000 to create on-line and mail-in renewal of drivers’ licenses; and
·$380,000 to continue promotion of state agriculture products.


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