Transfer lines into the general fund by biennium and kind

What this dataset measures

The pamphlet statement gives no source or method. The operating budget's 'State Treasurer: Transfers' section is where the Legislature directs money from other accounts into the general fund, so counting its lines is the most direct test. Two independent counts were made; this dataset holds the second, which agreed with the first within one or two lines per biennium.

Geography

Washington, United States

Unit of observation

One transfer line in a final enacted operating-budget transfer section

Update cadence

One-time compilation; may be updated after the 2027 session

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• wa_fund_transfers_method.md Documentation · text/markdown · 10.1 KB (10,328 bytes)

  How the count was done: sources, markup handling, definitions, cross-checks and the pamphlet examples.

• build_transfer_counts.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 3.7 KB (3,791 bytes)

  Computes the counts table and saved-analysis results from the transfers CSV.

• totext.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 1.1 KB (1,112 bytes)

  Converts session-law HTML to text, dropping struck (line-through) text.

• parse.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 1.8 KB (1,883 bytes)

  Extracts the transfer entries from each final transfer section.

• csv.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 4.1 KB (4,160 bytes)

  Classifies entries and writes the transfers CSV.

Saved analyses

Sources

1. Washington State Legislature 2021-23 operating budget (2021 c 334): sec. 1802 is the final 2019-21 transfer list.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature; amendatory sections show struck and inserted text.

2. Washington State Legislature 2023-25 operating budget (2023 c 475): sec. 1804 is the final 2021-23 transfer list.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature; amendatory sections show struck and inserted text.

3. Washington State Legislature 2025-27 operating budget (2025 c 424): sec. 1804 is the final 2023-25 transfer list.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature; amendatory sections show struck and inserted text.

4. Washington State Legislature 2026 supplemental operating budget (2026 c 268, partially vetoed): sec. 802 is the final 2025-27 transfer list.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature; amendatory sections show struck and inserted text.

5. Washington State Legislature 2022 supplemental (2022 c 297): interim 2021-23 transfer list, used for comparison only.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature; amendatory sections show struck and inserted text.

6. Washington State Legislature 2024 supplemental (2024 c 376): interim 2023-25 transfer list, used for comparison only.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature; amendatory sections show struck and inserted text.

7. Washington State Legislature fiscal committees and LEAP 2026 Legislative Budget Notes, pp. O-4/O-5 'Fund Transfers In Budget Bill': cross-check of the 2026 changes ($1,267.7M subtotal), and p. O-2 on the $394.6M capital gains distribution change.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. Prepared by nonpartisan legislative fiscal staff from the enacted budget.

8. Washington Research Council Cross-check of 2025-27 transfer totals: net transfers into the general fund of $2.292 billion, including $279.6 million from 44 accounts.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Copyrighted web page. Linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Advocacy group. Business-funded nonpartisan research group that has criticized reliance on fund transfers; it counts transfers into all NGF-O accounts, not only the general fund.

9. Washington Secretary of State (Voters' Pamphlet) I-645 Voters' Pamphlet pages: the Argument For, written by Sen. Chris Gildon and others, with the '80 times' and capital gains statements.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Party to the dispute. Has a stake in this finding. Campaign arguments are written by each side's committee and printed unedited by the Secretary of State.

10. Washington State Senate Final bill report on ESSB 5752 (2025): delays of the ECEAP entitlement and Working Connections Child Care eligibility expansions, and repeal of two eligibility expansions.

    Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

    Reliability: Government. Nonpartisan Senate committee staff summary of the enacted bill.

11. Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families DCYF summary of 2025-27 budget impacts on early learning: delays, eliminated Early ECEAP, fewer ECEAP slots.

    Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

    Reliability: Government. The agency that runs the programs, describing the enacted budget's effect on them.

12. Washington State Legislature Capital gains tax law (2021 c 196), sec. 1 intent: invest in K-12 education and early learning and child care by dedicating revenue to the Education Legacy Trust Account and the Common School Construction Account.

    Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

    Reliability: Government. Official session law text published by the Washington State Legislature.

13. Washington State Legislature RCW 83.100.230: permitted uses of the Education Legacy Trust Account, including the common schools, higher education, and early learning and child care programs.

    Retrieved October 21, 2026. Washington State government publication. Public document; linked, not redistributed.

    Reliability: Government. Current statute text from the Revised Code of Washington.

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible from public sources: The session-law HTML files are public. The included Node.js scripts convert them to text while dropping struck (line-through) text, parse each transfer entry, and write the CSV; build_transfer_counts.js computes every count in the saved analyses from the CSV.

• Only the operating-budget transfer sections are covered. Transfers in transportation and capital budgets, stand-alone bills, and fund swaps that move a program's cost from the general fund onto a dedicated account are not included.
• A 'line' is one entry as printed; the Tobacco Settlement Account is printed once per fiscal year, so it counts twice in a biennium.
• Several amounts are caps ('not to exceed', 'the lesser of'); the printed amount is used.
• Category labels are judgment calls: 'routine' covers the Dedicated Cannabis Account and Tobacco Settlement Account flows; some 'dedicated' lines are repayments of general-fund loans or the return of a reserve the general fund had funded, flagged in the note column.
• Transfers into other NGF-O accounts (such as the Education Legacy Trust Account) are not counted as transfers into the general fund.
• The vetoed 2026 Air Operating Permit Account transfer ($2.0M) is listed with a note and excluded from every count.