Gov. Inslee lays out his $62 billion supplemental budget proposal for 2022

Governor Inslee has laid out his supplemental budget proposal for 2022, which has a heavy focus on spending to address homelessness, poverty, education, climate change, and more.

The governor’s proposal of nearly $62 billion adds about $3 billion in spending to the $59 billion two-year budget approved by the legislature in the spring. The full budget presentation Thursday came after Inslee had spent the week unveiling investment proposals focused on climate change, salmon recovery, and housing and homelessness.

Today I announced my bold 2022 budget proposal, with highlights in K-12 schools, foster youth, and ferries, in addition to climate, salmon recovery and housing & homelessness announced earlier this week.

Full details: https://t.co/eMeegxoDCj pic.twitter.com/KogatDqlrp

— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) December 16, 2021

The budget includes $900 million for education, the bulk of which Inslee says would be used to address educational gaps. The remaining $184 million would go toward “increasing the number of school counselors, nurses, social workers, and importantly, psychologists to deal with the mental health crises that now have affected so many of our young people,” Inslee said.

Gov. Inslee’s spending proposal also invests nearly a billion federal and state dollars in transportation, with a focus on the future.

“To make sure we don’t lose this opportunity to leverage federal investment in high-speed rail, to diversify our transportation system and get ready for the coming decades,” he said.

More immediate needs are also met, like the $324 million Inslee has proposed to go toward the state’s ferries, “including ferry electrification, which our system needs — both to replace our aging fleet, and to help fight climate change.”

Gov. Inslee’s spending plan adds no new taxes, but Republican lawmakers were critical of the plan for not including any tax relief or reductions, despite a nearly $9 billion four-year surplus.

For that reason, the state Senate’s Republican budget leader called the governor’s proposed budget “disrespectful” to taxpayers. Sen. Lynda Wilson says state spending has doubled during Inslee’s time in office.

“With inflation at nearly a 40-year high, we need to start thinking about what we can do for our constituents,” she said in a clip provided to KIRO Radio by the Senate Republican Caucus.

Wilson also says Inslee has backed nearly two dozen tax increases, including the new income tax, and the long-term care tax that many workers will start seeing deducted from their paychecks in January.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers release their own budget proposals after session starts Jan. 10.

Read more about Gov. Inslee’s 2022 supplemental budget proposal here.

KIRO Newsradio’s Hanna Scott contributed to this report.

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