Senate passes capital budget

OLYMPIA — District 13 is slated to receive new funding for buildings at Big Bend Community College and Central Washington University.

The Senate unanimously approved a nearly $4 billion capital budget that includes millions in new education spending and investment into new facilities at local colleges.

Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, said the biggest increase in the capital budget was education spending, the combined $713 million in higher education, and $1.1 billion in other education makes up more than a third of the total spending.

Honeyford said the three biggest priorities of the capital budget was to support education, mental health and relief for areas that experienced environmental disasters. He said the increase in education spending put pressure on the rest of the budget and some projects were not able to receive the amount of investment they would have otherwise.

Overall, District 13 received $129.2 million in capital budget dollars, according to a report by the Office of Financial Management. About $35 million of that will go to a Professional Technical education Center at Big Bend Community College. Central Washington University is also slated to receive $23 million in funding for a new Nutrition Science building.

Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, a member of the Ways and Means Committee and who worked behind the scenes on the bill, said the budget could still change significantly, depending on what the House of Representatives brings forward and compromises the two chambers end up making.

Warnick said in addition to the funding for the new buildings at local colleges, she thinks her constituents will most likely be affected by the continuation of water projects connected to the Yakima Basin Integrative Plan.

“What we do is I ask for some projects, they ask for some projects and then we meld them together, we hope to keep them all there,” Warnick said.

She said there were several projects that were not included in the Senate budget she is hoping to add in during negotiations or with amendments later on in the process. Her biggest priority is securing funding for upgrades at City View, a mental health facility in Grant County.

Several smaller recreation and community projects are also slated to receive state funding under this budget. Those include $176,000 for the Quincy Valley Community Heritage Barn and renovations and new facilities for parks around the District.

Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, a member of the Ways and Means Committee who worked with Warnick and Honeyford to develop the budget, said he thought it was a good bipartisan start to negotiations.

“Overall, it’s a very good budget, but like everything it’s not perfect,” Frockt said. “In the give-and-take of legislating, that’s what we came up with and it’s definitely worthy of support.”

The Senate’s capital budget will head to the House for further consideration.