It has been a very big week in Olympia as the House and Senate released proposed operating, capital and transportation budgets last Monday - all on the same day and within an hour of one another.
To confuse matters more, multiple budgets were released: 2025-2027 Biennial Budgets, Supplemental Budgets, and “New Revenue” Budgets. They also held public hearings on ALL of these budgets Tuesday.
Obviously, the transportation budgets are what we are most interested in as our agency is fully funded through the transportation budget. We are hearing that some additional revenue will likely be a part of final budgets, so the following summaries will be based on the new revenue budget bills, unless noted otherwise.
The House and Senate new revenue budgets differ significantly for the County Road Administration Board:
The House budget would fund...
- Bridge Load Rating Grant - $5 million was included for our decision package to provide grants to cities and counties to conduct load ratings on bridges as Washington works to meet a federal deadline. Unfortunately, the $5 million is not new money and it is taken out of CRAB’s Rural Arterial Program (RAP) and County Arterial Preservation Program (CAPP).
- A New IT Division Position - $308,000 was budgeted for a new FTE Data Development Specialist on our staff.
- Federal Fund Facilitation Program - $94,000 in additional funds was budgeted for the pilot program.
The Senate budget would fund...
- Bridge Load Rating Grant - $2.5 million was included for our decision package to provide grants to cities and counties to conduct load ratings on bridges as Washington works to meet a federal deadline. Unfortunately, the $2.5 million is not new money and it is taken out of CRAB’s Rural Arterial Program (RAP) and County Arterial Preservation Program (CAPP). If the Senate revenue package is adopted, then an additional $2.5 million will be provided from Move Ahead Washington funds.
- Local Roads Program - The Senate included funding for our decision package to develop a new grant program, with $20 million budgeted in 2026-2027, $40 million in 2027-2029, and $40 million in 2029-2031.
- Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Allocation Study - $300,000 was budgeted for this study, but it is funded in the 2027-2029 biennial transportation budget, not the new revenue budget. Unfortunately, it is not new money and it is taken out of CRAB’s Rural Arterial Program (RAP) and County Arterial Preservation Program (CAPP).
Of note, both budgets modify the electric vehicle fee to include new registrations and indexing to inflation, which would benefit our Rural Arterial Program by approximately $13.5 million.
The Senate fully funding the local road grant program is a significant development for CRAB but, with it left out of the House budget, there is still much work to be done. There is no guarantee CRAB will see funding for this program in the final budget.
To make matters more complicated and uncertain, the House and Senate are very far apart in their approaches to their new revenue budgets. The Senate budget raises significantly more revenue than the House through a large operating budget transfer to the transportation budget, a six cent gas tax increase, bonding, a tire disposal fee, and multiple other fees, surcharges and assessments. The House budget raises the gas tax by nine cents, but does not receive any operating budget revenues, does not bond, and assess fewer fees, surcharges and assessments.
The Senate voted their budget off the floor on Saturday and the House is expected to vote their transportation bills off the floor on Wednesday. From there, budgets will enter the “quiet phase” where budget leaders go behind closed doors to negotiate. The hope is that by April 27 (the last day of session) they will have an agreed upon “conference” budget. Rumors are circulating through the halls of the Capitol that all budgets (operating, capital and transportation) are so far apart at this point that a special session may be needed to allow more time for negotiation. Please, no!!!
As we wait, we can still make our voices heard. CRAB will be working to get as much as we can for our agency in the final budget.
