OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun says big local school-tax hikes will be inevitable if the Democrat-controlled Legislature lifts the limit of $1.50 per $1,000 assessed valuation on school district “enrichment” levies – and the first step was taken Friday night. Braun, R-Centralia and an architect of the landmark education-funding updates enacted in...

OLYMPIA…The state Senate today doubled down on its support for the special-education policy improvements in Sen. John Braun’s Senate Bill 5532, with a vote that would have the effect of keeping the bill alive through the end of the Legislature’s regular session Sunday. “The Democrat leadership in the House has...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia and budget leader for the Senate Republican Caucus, offered the following comments about his vote to oppose Senate Bill 5993, which would make controversial changes to the state’s Model Toxics Control Act, including a tax increase of nearly 60 percent on certain petroleum products. “The fund...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun today proposed a way for lawmakers to answer school-funding concerns while protecting taxpayers against big increases in local school levies. Senate Bill 6021, introduced with less than six full days left in this year’s 105-day session, is being offered as an alternative to two measures still in...

OLYMPIA…Less than two years after legislators brought Washington’s school-funding approach into the 21st century by rebalancing state and local school-levy rates, Democrat members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee are supporting a return to higher local school taxes. Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia and an architect of the landmark education-funding...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia and budget leader for the Senate Republican Caucus, said this about the 2019-21 state operating budget proposed today by the Senate majority: “The Legislature is well-positioned this year to pass a budget that would support major new investments in bipartisan priorities, like special education and mental-health...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun’s proposed $500 million investment in mental-health treatment capacity is now embedded in the 2019-21 capital budget proposed Wednesday in the Senate. Braun said the capital budget’s authors are looking to put the unprecedented infusion of funding toward a new teaching hospital at the University of Washington, to...

OLYMPIA…The first state revenue forecast for 2019, adopted today, continues a streak of good financial news for lawmakers, with an additional $860 million anticipated to come in over the next two budget cycles: $307 million more for the remainder of the 2017-19 fiscal biennium, which ends June 30, and another...

  OLYMPIA…The state Senate today gave overwhelming support to a pair of bills intended to improve the delivery of special-education services in Washington’s public schools. Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, is the prime sponsor of one of those measures: Senate Bill 5532, which focuses on policy changes to support families and...