Budget has local project funding

The Senate has voted unanimously to pass its 2026 supplemental capital budget.

Our supplemental budget complements the two-year capital budget enacted by the Legislature last year by spending money in a responsible manner while addressing important needs throughout the state. Working with our Democrat counterparts, we identified priorities and worked together to create a budget that is both effective and prudent. Our budget does a very good job for several areas, from K-12 and higher education to water infrastructure, housing and flood response.

As the ranking Republican on the Senate capital budget, I’ve worked closely with Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, who is the Democrats’ lead member on this budget, as well as Ways and Means Committee staff members and Republican and Democratic staffers in developing this budget.

The Senate supplemental capital budget, Senate Bill 6003, totals $723 million. It follows up the $7.5 billion 2025-27 state capital budget enacted last year.

The new budget addresses a wide range of needs, with funding for projects related to K-12 and higher education, water infrastructure, flood responses, housing and clean energy.

The Senate capital budget provides more than $71 million for the Small District and State-Tribal Education Compact Schools Modernization Program. Several school districts in the 9th District would receive construction or planning money through this program, including Palouse, Washtucna and Pomeroy.

The budget also includes $3.74 million for projects for distressed schools, $5 million in new spending for school seismic safety grants, $1.5 million for Healthy Kids-Healthy Schools to fund grants to support lead remediation and $430,000 for school seismic safety site class assessments.

The 9th District’s two four-year universities, Eastern Washington University and Washington State University, both benefit from the Senate’s budget, with funding going to Eastern for preserving and improving campus facilities.

WSU would receive funding to:

• Preserve and improve campus facilities.

• Cooling and electrical upgrades to Ensminger Pavilion.

• Spokane Team Health Education Building renovation.

• WSU Creamery lighting and equipment replacement.

The Senate capital budget provides funding for agricultural projects, including:

• $10 million for cost-share agreements with dairy-farm owners for anaerobic digester development and maintenance projects.

• $4.636 million for grants to farmers to buy climate-smart agricultural equipment to reduce on-farm carbon emissions and increase carbon sequestration.

• $2.186 million for the design of a new Washington State Department of Agriculture Plant Services Lab at Washington State University’s Prosser campus.

• $400,000 for WSU’s soil health research infrastructure, specifically its long-term agroecological research and extension sites.

The Senate supplemental capital budget provides funding for water-infrastructure projects on both sides of the Cascades. Those appropriations include $12.177 million for several water-conservation projects.

A total of $7.948 million is allocated for many local water-infrastructure projects in both western and eastern Washington, including a project in Othello.

The Senate supplemental capital budget spends $150 million for housing and homelessness, with $128.3 million allocated from the Housing Trust Fund for housing projects in both Western and Eastern Washington.

— Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, represents the 9th Legislative District, including eastern Adams County. Email him at mark.schoesler@leg.wa.gov.