Tag Archives: Pullman

Schoesler supports supplemental capital budget passed by Legislature

State Sen. Mark Schoesler applauded the final version of the state supplemental capital budget unanimously approved by the Legislature March 6, just before lawmakers adjourned for the year.

“While this compromise version of the supplemental capital budget is not as strong in some areas as the version developed and approved by the Senate earlier in the session, it is still a good capital budget that will help communities across Washington, and address many important needs,” said Schoesler, who is the lead Republican capital budget writer in the Senate.

As was the case with the Senate version, the final capital budget funds many projects located in the 9^th District, noted Schoesler, R-Ritzville.

Several 9^th District school districts receive funding through the small district and tribal compact schools modernization program, including $5.245 million for a school repair project in the Asotin-Anatone School District. Other school districts receiving funding include Creston, Freeman, LaCrosse, Palouse, Pomeroy, Steptoe and Wilbur.

Washington State University’s main campus in Pullman receives $10 million for a new digester at the Knott Dairy Center, maker of Cougar Gold cheese, and $3 million for its campus energy program.

Eastern Washington University in Cheney receives nearly $10 million for energy improvements to its sports and recreation center.

Other local projects in the 9^th District that are funded by the supplemental capital budget include:

Tristate Health Hospital in Clarkston ($1 million).
Tekoa Parks and Recreation ($200,000)
Davenport Senior Center capital improvements ($120,000)
Latah water system rehabilitation project ($187,000)
Regional Theatre of the Palouse (Pullman) preservation and maintenance ($77,000)

There also is $250,000 for a portion of the Odessa Pipeline project located in the 9^th District.

The final capital budget funds several projects that are located near the 9^th District:

$46 million for the Tri-Tech Skills Center in Kennewick.
$5.5 million for the Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program.
$3.5 million in toxic cleanup funding for homes affected by the Grays Road and Oregon wildfires in Spokane County last August, plus another $975,000 for the Spokane Conservation District to implement wildfire recovery efforts.

“The Odessa ground water project and the wildfire recovery projects were initiated in the Senate this year and the Senate insisted that these projects stay in the final capital budget. I’m pleased that we succeeded in keeping these projects in the budget,” said Schoesler.

The 2024 legislative session ended March 7.

9th District legislators secure support in new capital budget for local projects

The 9th Legislative District team of Sen. Mark Schoesler and Reps. Mary Dye and Joe Schmick applauded today’s passage of a new two-year state capital (construction) budget that includes funding for dozens of projects in the district.

The $4.9 billion capital budget funds the construction and maintenance of state buildings, public schools, higher education facilities, public lands, parks and other assets throughout Washington.

The Senate voted 48-0 to pass the final version of the capital budget (Substitute House Bill 1102) Saturday night. The House approved it 97-1 today.

“There were many local and community projects that Representatives Dye and Schmick and I asked to be put in either the House or Senate version of the capital budget early this session, and I’m pleased to see they are included in the final version negotiated during the past several days,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “It’s good to see that this budget will help fund our local projects.”

“Citizens across the 9th District send a lot of their hard-earned money to Olympia in the form of taxes. The capital budget is a way to get some of that back to provide needed improvements and projects that create jobs and benefit the folks back home,” said Dye, R-Pomeroy, and a member of the House Capital Budget Committee. “I’m honored to be able to work with my seatmates and colleagues on the Capital Budget Committee to help fund these projects in the 9th District.”

“Local projects such as these help strengthen our rural communities and provide much-needed infrastructure improvements that might otherwise be financially unattainable,” said Schmick, R-Colfax. “Legislators from the 9^th District work as a team to get these needed projects into the budget. I’m pleased with the results and know our citizens will benefit from our efforts.”

Nearly $85.7 million is appropriated for 9th District projects funded in the final capital budget, including these local projects:

Pullman Airport Utility Extension – $1.626 million
Asotin Masonic Lodge – $62,000
Colfax Pantry Building – $247,000
Garfield County Hospital HVAC system, Pomeroy – $250,000
Washtucna Historical Museum and Community Center roof replacement – $24,000
Othello regional water project – $425,000
Pomeroy booster pumping station – $96,000
Prairie View Schoolhouse Community Center, Waverly – $112,000
Ritzville Business and Entrepreneurship Center – $350,000
Rosalia sewer improvements – $500,000
Lions Park infields and restroom renovation in Othello – $347,000

The capital budget’s Library Capital Improvement Program provides $923,000 for the Asotin County Library Building Phase II project.

The capital budget also funds several projects at Washington State University, including $36.4 million for its Global Animal Health Building, $700,000 for improvements to facilities related to animal care, $800,000 to replace the Dairy Heifer Barn, and around $20 million for more than a dozen infrastructure or minor works projects on the Pullman campus.

The budget provides $1.75 million for the Student Activity Center project at Walla Walla Community College’s Clarkston campus.

A request by Schoesler and 13^th District Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, for funding for the North I-90 Odessa Aquifer Groundwater Replacement Project was successful, as the final capital budget provides $15 million for it.

The Othello Aquifer Storage and Recharge project receives $500,000 through the Columbia River Water Supply Development Program.

Schoesler says Senate budget proposal’s no-new-taxes approach is best

Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler offered this statement about the supplemental operating budget proposed today by the Senate. The update would increase state spending in the 2015-17 operating budget by a modest $49 million.

“Governor Inslee wants to raise taxes and raid the state’s rainy-day fund. The Democrats who control the House of Representatives want to raise taxes and raid the state’s rainy-day fund. Only the Senate’s budget avoids tax increases and protects the rainy-day fund. That is a top priority for our Majority Coalition Caucus, and the plan we put on the table today continues to build on the remarkable record of results we have achieved in four years of leading the Senate.

“The MCC has again shown it is possible to provide for education and state government’s other priorities without outspending the available revenue. By continuing to keep tax rates stable for families and employers, we encourage job growth in all corners of the state, not just the Puget Sound area, which puts Washington in the best position to continue recovering from the Great Recession.

“A supplemental budget is supposed to make adjustments in response to emerging needs and caseload shifts and one-time opportunities that could not have been foreseen when the two-year budget was approved. The governor and House leaders are wrong to use their budget proposals as a way to go after families and employers for more tax dollars and raid the rainy-day fund to support new spending.

“It is disappointing that the House’s budget proposal also takes aim at the Washington-only law requiring the two-year budget to balance across four years, not just two. This unique policy has brought stability by forcing budget writers to account for the long-term effects of their decisions – meaning beyond the next election. The House’s chief budget writer supported the creation of that law in 2012, before he started wearing that hat. Now he refers to the law as ‘voodoo economics’ and wants to kneecap it while using a half-dozen tax increases to balance the House budget proposal. They include a bottled-water tax that was already rejected by voters and a sales-tax increase that would devastate retailers in our border counties, in legislative districts served primarily by Republicans.

“This legislative session is scheduled to end two weeks from tomorrow; let’s work toward a budget agreement that is an update, not a rewrite, without the empty posturing about new taxes that dragged the Legislature through three overtimes this past year.”

Schoesler is a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which is holding a public hearing on the Senate’s supplemental operating-budget and capital-budget proposals today; it may be viewed online at www.TVW.org.