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Ways & Means hears capital budget briefing; housing, behavioral health and schools draw broad support
Summary
Senate Ways & Means Committee received a staff briefing on the proposed substitute capital budget (Senate Bill 5195) and heard more than two dozen public testimonies urging sustained or increased investments in affordable housing, behavioral health facilities, early learning and school seismic and modernization grants.
Michael Buzanson, staff to the Ways & Means Committee, briefed senators on the proposed substitute capital and bond bills and summarized the spending in broad categories. "Starting with 5 one 94, the bond bill, that bill would authorize $4,900,000,000 in debt," Buzanson said, and he outlined major capital investments, including an estimated $747,000,000 in new housing spending, $282,000,000 for behavioral health projects including Western State Hospital, and over $563,000,000 for the School Construction Assistance Program.
The committee heard sustained public testimony supporting housing trust fund dollars, preservation of manufactured-home communities, and project-level requests. Ryan Donahue, chief advocacy officer at Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King-Kittitas, thanked the committee for…
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