The proposal comes as state leaders grapple with budget shortfalls.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has proposed withdrawing $1 billion from the state’s Budget Stabilization Account to help address a $2.3 billion deficit in the current two-year budget, sparking debate among lawmakers about the appropriate use of emergency reserves.
The proposal comes as state leaders grapple with budget shortfalls.
House Majority Leader Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, said it’s too early in the legislative session to determine if the fund will be tapped, but noted it’s being considered as a solution.
“I would say it feels like it’s for times like this,” Fitzgibbon said, adding he would support using the account “to avoid really significant impacts to Washingtonians in K-12 education or higher education, or child care, health care.”
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, argued current conditions meet requirements for accessing the fund.
“The Constitutional Amendment by which the voters approved the budget stabilization account specifically outlines what it means to be raining, and says that that’s when employment growth is less than 1%,” Pedersen said, “That’s the situation that we’re in right now because of the economic conditions that the Trump administration has wrought.”
The proposal faces skepticism from Republicans and some Democrats.
House Minority Leader Rep. Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, warned against depleting reserves.
“The state has a AAA bond rating that is in part because of our Rainy Day Fund,” Stokesbary said. “The more we chip away at the rainy day fund and start using it to backfill budget holes, the smaller any fund balances that are left, the more we risk losing that.”
Washington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, a Democrat, also expressed reservations, calling the move “risky.”
The emergency fund was last accessed in 2021 during the pandemic, and previously in 2015 for wildfire coverage.
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