County staff brief council on closing weeks of state legislative session, highlight budget gaps and behavioral health priorities

At the Snohomish County Council's April 9 meeting, county government affairs staff and their lobbying team gave an update on the state legislative session, saying regular session has just over three weeks remaining and highlighting several large budget and policy differences between the two chambers.

Anna Kavan, senior government affairs analyst in the executive's office, said legislators were returning to the floor for remaining floor votes and to reconcile differences between bills. Lobbyists on the call said the capital budgets between House and Senate were about $300 million apart, operating budgets about $700 million apart, and the transportation budgets were the most divergent — described in the briefing as roughly an $8 billion difference between the chambers' transportation proposals.

Speakers said the Senate budget attempts structural changes, including a proposed transfer of 0.3 percentage points of the state sales tax (about $800 million a year) from the operating budget to the transportation budget, and a decision to handle culvert costs in the capital budget rather than the transportation budget. That structural difference, they said, would require negotiation if the Legislature does not adopt the Senate's approach.

On behavioral health, staff said both the House and Senate budgets included new money for crisis care facilities and funding to help behavioral health organizations pay for services for non-Medicaid clients; the Senate level was described as higher. The briefing also noted small proposed rate reductions to behavioral health managed-care rates; county staff said they had urged lawmakers to minimize cuts and preferred a 1% reduction rather than larger cuts if reductions are required.

The staff said the Legislature's proposals differed on the recovery navigator program that supports law-enforcement-assisted diversion (LEAD); the Senate had removed the program while the House proposed a smaller reduction. County staff said they preferred the House approach to maintain local LEAD funding streams.

Budget and bill items the briefing identified as relevant to Snohomish County included a $20 million increase in trial court indigent defense reimbursement in the Senate operating proposal (compared with $80 million proposed by the governor in an earlier budget), and a note that the Snohomish River Trail project was funded in the Senate transportation budget but not the House version. The Chinook Marsh Floodplains by Design project was reported funded in both chambers' capital budgets.

Lobbyists also flagged Senate funding proposals for sustainable aviation fuel activities tied to regional projects and a Senate allocation of roughly $1.4 million for the county's transmitted infectious disease clinic.

On legislation, staff reported progress and setbacks: House Bill 1261 (agritourism and retention of open-space tax status) moved out of Ways and Means; House Bill 1135 (growth management net compliance) passed and was signed by the governor; Senate Bill 5804 (diverting certain public-works assistance account funds to culvert remediation within a settlement framework) passed a Senate committee on a bipartisan vote and included an amendment allowing diverted resources to be used for local culverts identified in settlement agreements; House Bill 1791 (REIT adjustments) was still moving; and several bills failed to pass committee, including a bill on bargaining over artificial intelligence and Senate Bill 5719 (requiring hearing examiners in certain instances).

County staff said House Bill 1218 (Trueblood/competency restoration phase) unexpectedly died in a fiscal committee, in part because an amendment that would expand mobile teams carried a sizable fiscal note estimated at $32 million. Staff said they expect continued attention to competency-restoration matters in future sessions.

The briefing also noted that Senate Bill 1813, a crisis-services bill the county had worked on, passed with an amendment to delay implementation by six months; the amendment reduced organized opposition. Finally, staff said House Bill 2015, which would create a new local-option sales tax for public safety and related grants and training, passed out of Ways and Means and remained under discussion.

The summary from county staff was presented as background for the council; no formal council action on state legislation was recorded during the session.