House Bill 2448 (H-2557.2) creates a new state expenditure limit and adds related fiscal controls and procedures. Beginning with the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2027, the state expenditure limit for any fiscal year is defined as the prior year’s limit increased by a fiscal growth factor based on the average of inflation plus population change over the prior three fiscal years. The bill prohibits the state treasurer, beginning July 1, 2027, from issuing or redeeming checks, warrants, or vouchers that would cause expenditures to exceed that limit and makes such violations subject to the enforcement provisions and penalties referenced in RCW 43.88.290 and RCW 43.88.300. The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council must adjust the prior year’s limit each November and project limits for the next four fiscal years (with the treasurer required to act if the council has not adopted limits by November 30), and the council must adjust limits to reflect transfers or program cost shifts occurring on or after July 1, 2026, subject to specified exceptions. The bill creates a new tax relief account in the state treasury and requires the treasurer on June 30 of each fiscal year to deposit state general fund and related fund revenues that exceed the state expenditure limit into that account, after first subtracting any constitutional transfers to the budget stabilization account. Deposits to the tax relief account must come solely from the state general fund when required, the legislature may appropriate money from the account only for broadly based tax relief mechanisms, and money in the account may not be transferred to any other account. The act also prescribes a series of specified quarterly and annual transfers among the general fund and several transportation-related accounts for particular fiscal years and states that those transportation transfers do not count as a “money transfer” under section 2 of the act. The bill makes procedural changes to budget preparation and presentation. The director of financial management must provide agencies biennial budget request instructions at least three months before agency documents are due, and the governor’s operating and capital budget documents must include expanded revenue, expenditure, workload, personnel, and project detail; beginning in the 2027-2029 biennium the governor’s operating budget must reflect the new state expenditure limit and not propose expenditures above it. The bill also allows exceeding the expenditure limit for up to 24 months only when an emergency law meeting specified requirements (including a two-thirds legislative vote and the governor’s signature) is enacted for a natural disaster requiring immediate humanitarian assistance. The act adds new sections to chapter 43.135 RCW and to chapter 43.79 RCW and amends several existing RCWs. Some statutory text and cross-references are not included in the extracted material: the full content of section 8 creating the tax relief account is referenced but partly missing in one excerpt, the new section added to chapter 43.79 RCW is truncated, the amended language of RCW 43.88.030 is incomplete, and the specific penalty language in RCW 43.88.300 is referred to but not shown. These omissions prevent full reconstruction of all definitions, exceptions, and enforcement details.

If enacted, state spending from the general fund and four named related funds would be capped each fiscal year starting July 1, 2027, using a growth factor based on three years of inflation plus population change. The state treasurer would be required to stop issuing or redeeming payments that would push spending over that cap, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council would set and adjust the cap each November, and the governor’s budget and agency budget requests would have to be prepared to stay within the limit. The bill also forces a set of large, specific transfers between transportation and general fund accounts over multiple years and creates an on‑budget “tax relief account” that receives any general fund excess above the cap on June 30 each year (after constitutionally required transfers to the budget stabilization account); those deposited funds can be spent only on broadly based tax relief. The most affected parties are the state treasurer (new payment‑blocking duty, deposit and transfer tasks), the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (new annual adjusting and projecting work), OFM and agencies (earlier and more constrained budget instructions and required budgeting within the cap), transportation accounts and programs (they will gain or lose large, scheduled amounts), and the legislature (surplus dollars would be limited to tax‑reduction uses). Practical consequences include tighter operating flexibility for agencies and the risk that payments could be halted if limits are breached, predictable multi‑year shifts of transportation and flexible account funding, and potential future tax relief for residents and businesses if excess revenues occur. Some implementation details and definitions referenced elsewhere in the bill (including a cross‑referenced section creating the tax relief account and certain penalty mechanics) are not included in the provided text, so precise operational steps and some calculations remain unclear.