The Washington State Senate Democrats released their 2012 supplemental operating budget this morning, Tuesday, February 25th. The Senate proposes NO cuts to higher education.

“The budget honors the highest priority of families and communities across the state by making no cuts to current K-12 or higher education funding, recognizing their importance to the future of our residents and our state,” said Sen. Ed Murray, chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

The budget taps revenue from legislation to end the tax exemption on interest on mortgages for national banks and end an exemption on sales tax on wind power generation equipment ahead of schedule. Savings were also achieved from the better-than-expected case load and revenue forecast of $340 million.

Opportunity to comment on the budget will be tonight at 5:30 in Senate Ways & Means. Upon passage in Ways & Means the budget will move to the Senate floor.

Over the next weekand a half House and Senate budget leaders will come together to reconcile their budgets. If all goes accordingly, we will expect to see a final budget proposal early to mid-next week with final passage in time for the end of the supplemental session, sine die, on Thursday, March 8th.