Inslee Unveils WA Budget Goals With A Focus On Equity

OLYMPIA, WA — Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday unveiled a slate of budget goals for the upcoming legislative session, including hundreds of millions to support new equity measures in Washington.

Following a summer of racial justice demonstrations in Washington and across the nation, the governor's office said the next budget cycle marks the first time Inslee directed agencies to make equity a cornerstone of budgetary decisions.

"I firmly believe Washington will be an anti-racist state, and I will be taking actions to hold our state to that commitment," Inslee said. "We need our policies and budget to reflect our dedication toward disrupting the harmful systemic cycle of racism and inequity."

The proposed packages include $365 million in the 2021-23 budget for standing up new statewide efforts, including the creation of a new Office of Independent Investigations with a stated goal of ensuring fair and transparent probes into police use of force. The governor's office said the newly proposed office was the result of task force recommendations following the deaths of Manuel Ellis in Tacoma and George Floyd in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Another proposal supported by Inslee, and sponsored by state Rep. Melanie Morgan, would recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.

"Juneteenth is an important part of American history and deserves its place as a paid state holiday, so that all Washington residents can appropriately reflect and celebrate the day in which chattel enslaved Africans were finally informed of their freedom," Morgan said. "This is a critical and necessary step forward in racial reconciliation."

The governor's proposals include several capital investments for community-based organizations, including nearly $14 million for the Africatown Land Trust in Seattle's Central District, $1 million for the Rainier Valley Food Bank and $800,000 for Tacoma's Asberry House.

"The consciousness of the nation has been raised in the last several months, against inequity in many forms, from criminal justice to the economy, from the environment to education, and to the provision of health care," Inslee said Monday. "We have a moral mandate here in Washington state to acknowledge these hard truths and lay the solid foundation needed to correct these long-term injustices."

Another bill, proposed jointly by Inslee and state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, would prohibit considering credit scores when calculating insurance rates for cars, homes, renters and boats.

"For too long, insurers have been relying on a secret black box of data to set your insurance premium," Kriedler said. "The people hit hardest during this pandemic are those with lower incomes and minority communities and they're seeing their credit scores suffer, too. Asking them to pay more for their insurance on top of everything else is wrong."

The 2021 legislative session begins on Jan. 11, and both chambers will bring budget proposals of their own.

Review Inslee's full equity budget proposal on the governor's website.