Late today the Washington Senate and House reached a tentative agreement on reductions to the current fiscal budget.

The  budget agreement reduces funds to the State Need Grant by $25.4 million and requires the public two-year and four-year institutions to use locally held funds to provide a commensurate amount of aid to eligible students who would have received state need grant payments. The reduction to Evergreen is $368,000.

In addition,  funding reductions were made to Workforce Employment and Training (ESD) ($318,000) and the following HECB programs and services ($632,000): (1) College Readiness Program, (2) Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA), (3) student financial aid administration, and (4) the Technology Transformation Task Force.

The agreement also:

• Makes $242 million in reductions and $125 million in transfers
• Maintains the Disability Lifeline cash grant at 50 percent of the current amount
• Limits the Children’s Health Program eligibility to families at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and allows families between 201 and 300 percent of FPL to buy in at full cost; does not freeze admittance
• Limits Basic Health Plan eligibility to individuals eligible for a Medicaid waiver
• Makes no transfer of local liquor profits

The supplemental budget  – HB 1086 – was referred to a Senate-House conference committee after the House chose not to go along with changes made by the Senate earlier this month. As a conference bill, it cannot be amended by either chamber prior to a vote, which could be as soon as Friday in the Senate