House Bill 1225 (H-0391.2), a 2025 bill introduced in the Washington House and referred to the Appropriations Committee, amends RCW 43.88.030 and RCW 43.88.055, adds new sections to chapter 43.88 RCW, creates a new section, and declares an emergency so the act takes effect immediately. The bill imposes detailed new procedural requirements for the governor’s biennial budget documents (including content, schedules, and assumptions), requires the director of financial management to provide agencies with submission instructions at least three months before agency budget documents are due, and requires the governor’s proposals to be based on official revenue and caseload forecasts or OFM estimates where forecasts are not available. It also specifies how revenues must be estimated, what capital and operating budget information must be included, and requires the governor’s operating budget beginning in the 2021–2023 biennium to leave a positive ending fund balance and to have a projected maintenance level that does not exceed “available fiscal resources” for the next ensuing biennium (with certain statutory exceptions noted). The bill changes legislative budget procedures by amending RCW 43.88.055 to require a balanced omnibus operating appropriations bill (language beginning in the 2013–2015 biennium is referenced), by defining “available fiscal resources,” “projected maintenance level,” and “related funds” (the latter identified to include several specific education-related accounts), and by creating a new zero-based budget review process: the legislature will identify programs for review beginning in 2026 and every even-numbered year, agencies must submit zero-based reviews beginning with the 2027–2029 biennium, specified committees must hold public hearings, and submissions must be filed electronically on a LEAP-managed fiscal website. The bill also requires operating appropriations to be enacted in separate, prioritized bills in a specified order (debt service first, K–12 basic education second, then revenue administration, public safety, public health, public assistance, other state purposes, and finally the legislature/judiciary/statewide elected officials), and requires that all biennial appropriation bills be enacted no later than 30 days before the start of the fiscal biennium. The bill adds extensive capital budget reporting requirements (project site, size, life, phased costs, funding sources, operating impacts, and multi-biennia plans and schedules) and assigns a joint legislative/OFM committee to define “capital project.” Several provisions are incomplete in the extracted text: a verification requirement in the capital subsection is cut off, some amendment text to RCW 43.88.055 and implementation details for assigning agencies to priority categories are missing, and the final definition of “capital project” and other referenced formats or standards are deferred or not provided. No new criminal penalties or substantive criminal law changes are included in the provided extracts; the bill is primarily procedural and fiscal in nature.

If enacted, state budgeting would face stricter fiscal discipline and clearer funding priorities: the governor and OFM must produce more detailed operating and capital budget documents, the governor’s budget must show a positive ending general fund balance and keep projected maintenance spending within available resources, and the legislature must adopt a four-year balanced omnibus operating appropriations bill. Agencies and institutions will likely need to shift priorities and staffing to meet new documentation and review demands—major capital projects over $5 million must break out component costs and operating impacts, institutions of higher education must justify unexpected capital cost increases, and agencies selected for the new zero-based budget reviews (beginning with submissions for 2027-2029) will face recurring program-level scrutiny that could change funding or require program cuts or redesigns. The bill also changes process and timing: operating appropriations must be enacted in a specified priority order (debt service first, then basic K-12, revenue collection, public safety, health, assistance programs, other state purposes, and finally legislature/judiciary/statewide officials), and all biennial appropriation bills must be passed at least 30 days before the biennium starts; the act takes effect immediately. Important details are unclear from the available text—key definitions (including “capital project”), some amendment language to RCW 43.88.055, and the full rules for assigning agencies to priority categories are cut off—so the exact scope and implementation timeline for some requirements remain uncertain.