Washington State Legislature Sets Aside $200 million for Covid-19 Response

The Washington State Legislature ended their 2020 short session a little after 8:00 p.m. Thursday night.

In addition to passing the state's supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets, legislators set aside $200 million to deal with Covid-19. House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan.

“If our economy continues to be hit by this really horrible virus then we will have funds available to mitigate those impacts.”

The state legislature had originally agreed on transferring $100 million from the state's budget stabilization account, or rainy day fund, to their emergency account.

Sullivan, from Covington, said lawmakers left reserves of about three billion dollars to guard against increased coronavirus expenses and further impacts of the virus on the state’s economy.