City briefed on House and Senate budget plans as April deadlines loom

Seattle council members received an update March 31 from the city epartment of Intergovernmental Relations on competing House and Senate operating and transportation budgets as the Legislature moves into final negotiations.

The briefing, led by Nina Hashemi, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations (OIR), and Anna Johnson, the city's state legislative affairs director, outlined differences in revenue proposals and spending priorities and reminded council members that "with less than 1 month left of the 2025 regular legislative session, the deadline for bills to be voted out of policy committees is Wednesday, April 2," Hashemi said.

The report matters to Seattle because several budget items in play affect city operations and local programs: both chambers fund a municipal criminal justice account at about $60 million and provide support for new law enforcement academy classes, but the chambers diverge on taxes and other program investments.

Johnson summarized key revenue contrasts: "The house is proposing a financial intangibles tax, a property tax lift, and a B and O surcharge," while "the senate is proposing a financial intangibles tax, a payroll expense tax, a property tax lift, repeal of some tax preferences, and a sales tax cut," she said. Those different revenue mixes shape how each chamber balances spending and cuts ahead of conference negotiations.

Both chambers include funding intended for local governments on public safety and behavioral health. The OIR brief said both budgets fund 23 new basic law enforcement classes distributed through regional academies and reinstate a 25% local match for the Basic Law Enforcement Academy. Both chambers also include a grant program to the Association of Washington Cities to support alternative response programs; the House and Senate differ on amounts for law-enforcement recruitment grants, behavioral health housing supports and other line items.

On housing and homelessness, the update said both budgets fund major programs including a covenant homeownership program and multiple homelessness supports with differing amounts. The OIR noted differing treatment of the document recording fees that currently support homelessness programs: the Senate proposal would transfer roughly $77 million while the House would transfer about $117 million to offset those losses.

Transportation funding and revenue proposals also diverge. The House proposal includes a 9-cent gas-tax increase indexed to inflation, a highway use fee and a larger vehicle sales tax share for transportation; the Senate proposal mixes a 6-cent gas-tax increase with a slate of other revenue options including fees for EV registrations, luxury vehicles and event attendees. Both chambers include allocations for safe routes to schools and bicycle/pedestrian safety, but line items and amounts vary.

Hashemi and Johnson emphasized deadlines: policy-committee cutoffs on April 2, a short six-day fiscal-committee window for bills with budget impact, and a target of April 27 for final conference report approval before Sine Die. "The final budget must be approved by Sine Die on April 27," Johnson said.

Council members asked clarifying questions about specific proposals, including how B&O surcharges would be applied and the size and baseline of transfers from the Public Works Assistance Account; the OIR staff said they would follow up by email with statutory language and current-account balances.

Why it matters: Seattle could see direct impacts depending on which proposals survive and which revenue or cuts are chosen, from transportation projects and public-safety grants to homelessness and behavioral-health programming.

Looking ahead: OIR said capital budgets would be released this week and the office will continue to update council members as the chambers move into conference negotiations in April.