# WA operating-budget fund transfers into the general fund: how the count was done Independent count, done 2026-10-21. It tests the I-645 Voters' Pamphlet claim: "80 times in the last five years Olympia has moved money from dedicated accounts to the general fund." Data file: `wa_fund_transfers_to_gf.csv` (same folder). Amounts are in $ thousands. ## Sources (session-law HTML, lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov) | Bill | Session law | Transfer section(s) | URL | |---|---|---|---| | ESSB 5092 (2021-23 budget) | 2021 c 334 | sec. 805 (2021-23, original); **sec. 1802 (final 2019-21; amends 2020 c 357 s 804)** | https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Htm/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5092-S.SL.htm | | ESSB 5693 (2022 supp) | 2022 c 297 | sec. 804 (2021-23, interim) | https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Htm/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5693-S.SL.htm | | ESSB 5187 (2023-25 budget) | 2023 c 475 | sec. 805 (2023-25, original); **sec. 1804 (final 2021-23; amends 2022 c 297 s 804)** | https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Htm/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5187-S.SL.htm | | ESSB 5950 (2024 supp) | 2024 c 376 | sec. 804 (2023-25, interim) | https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Htm/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5950-S.SL.htm | | ESSB 5167 (2025-27 budget) | 2025 c 424 | sec. 805 (2025-27, original); **sec. 1804 (final 2023-25; amends 2024 c 376 s 804)** | https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5167-S.SL.htm | | ESSB 5998 (2026 supp) | 2026 c 268 | **sec. 802 (final 2025-27; amends 2025 c 424 s 805)**, partially vetoed | https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5998-S.SL.htm | The section headings are all "FOR THE STATE TREASURER—TRANSFERS". Final lists are in **bold**. Correction to the brief: 2024 ESHB 2134 is the transportation supplemental (2024 c 310). Its sec. 404 amends the *transportation* budget's transfer section (2023 c 472 s 404). The 2024 operating supplemental is ESSB 5950 (2024 c 376). ESSB 5167 sec. 1804 amends 2024 c 376 s 804, which confirms this. I downloaded 2134 but did not use it. Cross-checks: - 2026 Legislative Budget Notes: https://fiscal.wa.gov/lbns/2026LBN.pdf, pp. O-4/O-5. - Washington Research Council, 2026-03-18: https://researchcouncil.org/operating-budgets-in-2023-25-and-2025-27-rely-on-fund-transfers-to-an-extent-not-seen-since-the-great-recession/ ## How amendatory markup was handled In the session-law HTML, struck text is `` and inserted text is an underline span. I parsed the HTML with a span-stack tokenizer that tracks nesting. It **drops every character inside a line-through span**, keeps underlined and plain text, and leaves only the empty `(( ))` brackets behind. Each entry runs from the account name to its ". . . . $total" leader line. Wholly struck entries vanish. Where an amount was struck and replaced, only the new amount survives. For example, in 5998 the Dedicated Cannabis FY26 amount reads "(())$135,000,000". For each biennium, only the **last enacted** restatement is used, as listed above. Interim versions were parsed for comparison only: - 2021-23: the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Account repayment appeared in an interim 2021-23 list. It was moved, and it appears in the final 2023-25 list. - 2025-27: the original 2025 list had 39 to-GF items. The 2026 supplemental added 15 new sources, including BSA and the vetoed Air Operating Permit item, and changed 12 amounts. Final: 54 printed, 53 in law. Vetoes: the only veto inside a transfer section is in 5998 sec. 802. The Air Operating Permit Account to GF transfer ($2,000K, FY27) was vetoed as inconsistent with 40 CFR Part 70. It stays in the CSV with a "VETOED" note and is **excluded from all counts**. The LBN lists the same veto (-$2.0M). ## Definitions - **toGF**: entries reading "For transfer to the state general fund" or "...to the general fund". Transfers into other NGF-O accounts, such as the Education Legacy Trust Account, are *not* counted, although LBN/WRC treat them as NGF-O. There are two: 2019-21 Public Works Assistance Account to ELTA, $160,000K; and 2025-27 Shared Game Lottery Account to ELTA, $8,000K. - **fromGF**: entries whose source is "General Fund". - **Categories**: - routine = Dedicated Cannabis (Marijuana) Account (RCW 69.50.540 distribution) and Tobacco Settlement Account. - bsa = Budget Stabilization Account. - dedicated = everything else. The `note` column flags these sub-types: - loan repayment to GF: School Employees' Insurance Account in 2019-21 and 2021-23, Gambling Revolving 2021-23, LTSS 2023-25. - GF-funded reserve: the Washington Rescue Plan Transition Account, $2.1B back to GF in 2023-25. - balance sweep / recurring sweep. - Liquor revenue does not appear in these sections, because it flows by statute. - **Line item** = one entry as printed. Tobacco Settlement is printed once per fiscal year, so it counts as 2 items. ## Counts (vetoed item excluded; $ millions) | Biennium (final law) | toGF items | toGF $ | Distinct source accts | Excl. routine & BSA: items / $ | ...also excl. loan repayments & WRPTA | fromGF items / $ | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 2019-21 (2021 c 334 s 1802) | 9 | 2,413.9 | 8 | 5 / 49.6 | 4 / 25.5 | 11 / 1,120.5 | | 2021-23 (2023 c 475 s 1804) | 8 | 624.3 | 7 | 5 / 42.3 | 3 / 20.2 | 11 / 1,335.0 | | 2023-25 (2025 c 424 s 1804) | 20 | 3,178.6 | 19 | 17 / 2,401.6 | 15 / 235.6 | 12 / 280.2 | | 2025-27 (2026 c 268 s 802) | 53 | 2,621.9 | 52 | 49 / 1,209.5 | 49 / 1,209.5 | 7 / 217.5 | | **2021-23 + 2023-25 + 2025-27** | **81** | **6,424.8** | **62** | **71 / 3,653.4** (59 accts) | 67 / 1,465.3 | 30 / 1,832.8 | | All four (incl. 2019-21) | 90 | 8,838.7 | 64 | 76 / 3,702.9 (61 accts) | 71 / 1,490.8 | 41 / 2,953.2 | **"Last five years" = transfers enacted in budgets passed 2021-2026.** All 81 items for 2021-27 were enacted in 2021-2026. Of the 9 items in the 2019-21 list, only 2 were *newly inserted* (underlined) in 2021: the BSA $1,820.4M and the School Employees' Insurance Account loan repayment $24.06M. The other 7 date from 2019/2020 laws. So: - All toGF items enacted in 2021-26: **83**. - Excluding routine and BSA: **72**. - Distinct source accounts: **62**. Verdict on "80 times": the figure is plausible as a count of printed transfer lines into the general fund (81-83). It only reaches ~80 if it includes the routine cannabis/tobacco flows and the BSA. If you count only transfers out of dedicated accounts (excluding cannabis, tobacco and BSA), the total is 72. Excluding GF's own loan repayments and the WRPTA leaves 67-68. The number of distinct accounts tapped is 62. Most of the count comes from the 2026 supplemental: 2025-27 alone is 53 items. ## Pamphlet examples - **State health care accounts:** yes, 2025-27. - "Public Employees' and Retirees' Insurance Account: For transfer to the state general fund, $18,187,000 for fiscal year 2026". This is the PEBB account. - Also Apple Health and Homes Account, $15,000K. - Also Traumatic Brain Injury Account, $1,111K. - Also Developmental Disabilities Community Services Account, $2,000K. - **School employees' insurance:** yes. - 2025-27: "School Employees' Insurance Account: For transfer to the state general fund, $2,551,000 for fiscal year 2026". - Earlier transfers were *repayments of GF loans* for SEBB start-up: 2019-21 $24,060K and 2021-23 $15,615K. Those return GF money rather than divert dedicated money. - **Pipeline safety:** yes. "Pipeline Safety Account: For transfer to the state general fund, $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2026" (2025-27; in the 2025 original and retained in 2026). - **Flood control:** **no transfer from a flood account to GF** in any of the nine transfer sections. The only flood line runs the other way: "General Fund: For transfer to the flood control assistance account under RCW 86.26.007, $1,850,000 for fiscal year 2026 and $1,850,000 for fiscal year 2027". The pamphlet may mean a fund swap, where a program moves from GF onto a dedicated account. That is a different mechanism (WRC explicitly excludes those), or it may be in a non-operating bill. I did not check either. ## Cross-checks - **WRC (2026-03-18):** for 2025-27 (enacted 2025 + 2026 supp), WRC names BSA $880.0M, PWAA $663.0M, STSA $120.0M, WA Student Loan $90.6M and MTCA accounts $70.0M, plus "$279.6 million from 44 other accounts". My final 2025-27 list, minus those five named sources and minus routine flows, also leaves **exactly 44 accounts**, totalling $265.8M. - The $13.8M gap is probably the Shared Game Lottery→ELTA $8.0M, which WRC counts as NGF-O, plus items from other bills or the vetoed $2.0M. - WRC's $395.0M capital-gains redirection is not in the transfer section. - WRC says "$206.6 million transferred from the NGFO to four other accounts". I find 7 fromGF lines totalling $217.5M. WRC probably nets items or excludes some. - **LBN 2026, p. O-5, "Fund Transfers In Budget Bill":** this shows *incremental* 2026-supp changes only. It has 25 lines with a subtotal of $1,267.662M and includes the Air Operating Permit $2.0M, which is later reversed under "Governor's Vetoes". Its source lines match my 2026 new/changed items, for example BSA $880.0M, PWAA +$375.0M, Capital Community Assistance $8.3M and Water Quality Permit $5.0M. - The LBN also includes "Disaster Response Account (GF-S) -82.378", a GF outflow. - The pdftotext column alignment is shifted by one row on that page, so read the values against the PDF. ## Ambiguities and limits - Only the operating-budget transfer sections are covered. Transfers in the transportation or capital budgets, in stand-alone bills, and appropriation fund-swaps are excluded. - Several FY amounts are caps ("not to exceed the actual amount", "lesser of"). I used the printed total. - The Military Department "Rent and Lease" (2023-25) and "Rental and Lease" (2025-27) accounts are treated as one account. - Category labels are judgment calls. State Treasurer's Service Account and Financial Services Regulation Account are recurring sweeps ("intent... to continue this policy"), but I classed them as dedicated. - Scripts: scratchpad `transfers2-scripts/` (totext.js, parse.js, csv.js). Downloads are in scratchpad `transfers2/`.