The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has requested $26 million from the Legislature in the supplemental budget cycle.
If granted, the request would fully fund the agency and backfill a structural deficit that’s been plaguing the department since the 2008 recession. If Fish and Wildlife does not receive funding, it will have to reduce staffing and services starting as early as February.
Earlier this year, a bill that would have increased hunting and angling fees for the first time since 2011 failed. At the same time, a request for more general fund money to backfill the structural deficit was not fully funded. Compounding the budget crunch, the permanent reauthorization of the Columbia River salmon and steelhead endorsement, which brought in $3.3 million every two years, failed as well. Fish and Wildlife received some additional funding from the 2019 session, but much of it came in one-time allocations.
The deficit is a result of funding via general-fund taxes and recreational license sales not keeping pace with costs; a one-time funding fix approved by the Legislature in 2017 expiring in June; and the department still recovering from budget cuts from the Great Recession. The supplemental budget request of $26 million would permanently fix those shortfalls using general fund money, not an angler or hunter fee increase.
Governor Jay Inslee is expected to announce his budget around December 13th. From there, the Legislature will review and vote on how to allocate funds by early March. (Spokesman-Review)
