A note from the author: I took a tumble down my icy front steps and broke my wrist. It is a little challenging to write and type at the moment, so please be patient with this quick budget summary!

Governor’s Budget Summary

On Dec. 14, Governor Jay Inslee released his proposed $70 billion 2023-25 biennial budget. At the press conference announcing his proposed investments, Governor Inslee highlighted his priorities of housing and behavioral health.

Of course his budget includes a number of other worthy and needed investments, as outlined in his Budget and Policy Highlights. Note that page 30 includes a summary of the Governor’s ECEAP investments. Now that the Governor’s priorities have been released, attention turns to the Legislature as they will begin to build their budget when they gather in Olympia on Jan. 9.

Budget writers are closely following the state’s revenue picture. Also on Dec. 14, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released an update showing General Fund-State revenue collections for Nov. 11 – Dec. 10, 2022. Overall revenues came in $4.5 million lower than forecasted in November. Revenue Act collections (e.g. sales and business and occupations tax) came in $39.1 million higher than the November forecast. Conversely, non-Revenue Act Collections (e.g. property tax) came in $44.7 million lower than forecasted. Given this fluctuation, we will continue to monitor revenue collections closely as they influence state spending.

Governor Inslee’s proposed budget includes the following key early learning items:

Child Care

• Family Child Care Collective Bargaining ($231.165M). This funding would increase the Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) hourly rate to $3.85 in SFY 24 and $4 in SFY 25; increase the base subsidy rate to the 85th percentile of the 2021 market rate survey, increase the cost of care rate enhancement to $2,100 per month; pay for background checks and fingerprinting for licensed family home providers.
• Child Care Center Rate Increase Working Connections Child Care ($142.4M in new funding). This funding would ensure all providers are paid a rate that reflects at least the 85th percentile of the 2021 market rate survey. This includes a subset of providers who were paid at a rate that exceeded the market rate and will not receive a reduction in payment.
• Equity Grants ($18.69M).
• Working Connections Child Care Complex Needs ($15.396M).
• Background Check Fee Assistance ($897,000). This funding includes payment of background check application fees and fingerprint processing fees for FY 24.

ECEAP

• Rate Increase ($107.026M). This funding includes a 40% rate increase.
• Expansion ($83.583M). This funding supports 2,000 new slots per year; of these, 1,700 are school-day and 300 working-day.

Early Learning Facilities (Capital Budget)

• Early Learning Facilities Expansion ($40M).
• Facilities Minor Renovation ($5M).
• School District Funding ($5.4M). Funding for Bethel School District $1.08M; Highline School District $809,000; Issaquah School District $1.057M; Orondo School District $1.080M; South Bend School District $300,000; and the Toppenish School District $1.08M.

Home Visiting

• Contract Adjustments ($9.3M).
• Expansion ($1.5M). This funding would serve 160-200 new families.

Other Early Learning Investments

• Audit Resolution ($2.583M). This funding is in response to the State Auditor’s findings, which includes funding and FTE staff to allow DCYF to perform cost allocation at the child-level detail.
• Dolly Parton Imagination Library ($5.279M).
• Pierce County Prevention Pilot ($1.742M). This funding would continue the pilot in Pierce County for universal newborn supports and resource linkages.
• Tribal Early Learning Grants ($10.279M). This is one-time funding to provide early learning grants to provide culturally appropriate early learning opportunities for Tribal children.

Our Capitol Ambassador Ollie loves fresh snowfall

(Photo Credit: Pam Toal, Ollie’s mom)

With the 2023 legislative session rapidly approaching, there is a lot of news to share, so let’s get to it!

Getting Organized …

Election Results

Now that every county has certified its election results, we have a picture of the make-up of the 2023-25 Legislature. (Note there is one more procedural step – the Secretary of State must certify the final results by Dec. 8).

Heading into the 2023 session, Democrats maintain a majority in both the State Senate (with Democrats holding 29 seats to Republicans’ 20) as well as the House of Representatives (with a 58-40 edge). For the first time, women hold a majority of seats in the Senate Democratic Caucus. And, given the virtual nature of both the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions, a large number of lawmakers (including those elected in 2020) have never participated in an in-person legislative session.

Last week, legislators-elect gathered in Olympia for new legislator orientation. Included in the new member class are three former lawmakers returning to legislative service – Senator-Elect Claudia Kauffman from the 47th legislative district; Representative-Elect Beth Doglio from the 22nd legislative district; and Representative-Elect Kristine Reeves from the 30th legislative district.

Newly Elected Members to the House of Representatives

(Photo Credit: Representative-Elect Kristine Reeves Twitter page @RepReevesWA)

Late Breaking Election Results. A number of elections were extremely close, with the declaration of a winner coming down to the wire. As a prime example that every vote counts, a Whatcom County initiative focused on early learning passed by twenty votes (54,290 to 54,270).

Five House Members Moving to Senate. A total of five former House members now hold the title of Senator-Elect: Matt Boehnke from the 8th legislative district; Noel Frame from the 36th legislative district; Drew MacEwen from the 35th legislative district; Sharon Shewmake from the 42nd legislative district; and Javier Valdez from the 46th legislative district.

Four Incumbents Defeated. Only four incumbents lost, with two of those losing to members of their own party. In the Senate, Incumbent Republican Senator Simon Sefnik (who was appointed to fill the term of the late Doug Ericksen) lost to Democrat Sharon Shewmake in the 42nd legislative district. In the House, Republican incumbent Rob Chase lost to Republican Leonard Christian in the 4th legislative district; Republican Incumbent Robert Sutherland lost to Republican Sam Low in the 39th legislative district; and Republican Incumbent Greg Gilday lost to Democratic challenger Clyde Shavers in the 10th legislative district by only 211 votes.

2023 will bring many new faces to Olympia. An exciting time!

Leadership/Committee Jurisdictions and Assignments

The Democratic and Republican caucuses in both the Senate and House of Representatives recently met to decide their leadership and, in some cases, committee jurisdictions and assignments.

Each caucus maintained its top leader, with Senator Andy Billig continuing as Senate Majority Leader; Representative Laurie Jinkins as House Speaker; Senator John Braun as Senate Minority Leader; and Representative J.T. Wilcox as House Minority Leader. In addition, House Democrats selected Representative Joe Fitzgibbon as Majority Leader, replacing the recently retired Pat Sullivan.

The House announced some changes to the subject areas considered by standing committees. Most notably for early learning, Representative Senn’s House Children, Youth and Families Committee has been renamed House Human Services, Youth and Early Learning and its subject matter expanded to include economic assistance programs, developmental disabilities, youth development and children’s mental health.

There does not appear to be subject area changes to the Senate Committees, but the faces on some committees will change. Senator Mark Mullet will now be the lead on the Senate Capital Budget Committee, and Senator-Elect Kauffman will serve as Vice Chair of Senate Human Services Committee. Here is a link to the Senate Democratic news release with a full listing of leadership and committee assignments.

As of this writing, other committee assignments have not been released.

Legislative Committee Days

On Dec. 1 and 2, legislators convened in Olympia for what is referred to as “committee days.” Over the course of two fast-paced days, each standing committee got one, two-hour slot to focus on priority issue(s).

Committee days serve as a reminder of the breadth of issues lawmakers tackle on a daily basis. Committees held work sessions looking at areas from affordable housing to the state’s assistance for Ukrainian refugees to police accountability. These work sessions provide a great opportunity to glean data points from PowerPoints and hear questions from lawmakers that give insight into their thinking on a matter.

Amongst these busy two days, two primary issues stood out. Not surprisingly, the state’s fiscal outlook received attention in a number of committees. The State’s Economist Dr. Steven Lerch presented to both the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House Finance Committee. (See Revenue Update for our summary of the state’s fiscal outlook).

In the House Appropriations Committee, Budget Coordinator Mary Mulholland presented an excellent preview of the 2023 budget process. This House Appropriations preview may be the most thorough overview of state budgeting I have seen. It is worth a look and a “file away” for reference as the legislative session progresses.

The second issue that received a great deal of attention was child care. The House Children, Youth and Families Committee held a work session that focused exclusively on workforce shortages and challenges in recruitment and retention. This work session included testimony from providers representing the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), child care centers and family child care homes describing their current realities.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee held a work session in follow up to the “Blueprint for Recovery from the Washington State Senate Special Committee on Economic Recovery” report. Chaired by Senators David Frockt and Shelly Short, this bi-partisan report included recommendations for the state’s economic recovery following the pandemic. At the top of the recommendation list was the need to increase access to affordable child care and support providers to build capacity. Child Care Aware’s Ryan Pricco was charged with providing the Committee with an update on the status of the child care industry.

All committee day work sessions can be found at TVW.org. Look under “media archives” to find specific sessions.

Capital Gains Update

As we have reported, the Washington State Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing oral arguments on the constitutionality of a capital gains tax beginning Jan. 26, 2023.

The state’s Department of Revenue (DOR) is currently pursuing rule making related to tax collections. On Nov. 3, Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a motion with the State Supreme Court asking that the Court allow the DOR to complete its rule making and begin collecting the capital gains tax prior to the Court’s final ruling.

On Nov. 30, the Supreme Court unanimously granted the Attorney General’s request, allowing the DOR to collect the tax prior to the Court’s final ruling.

All of the revenue forecasts include revenue from the capital gains tax.

Revenue and Caseload Forecasts

Recently, state budget writers received updated forecasts that help guide how much money the state has to spend (aka the revenue forecast) as well as its major cost drivers (aka the caseload forecast for entitlement programs). These numbers will inform Governor Inslee’s budget which is expected to be released around mid-December.

Caseload Forecast. Early Childhood Education Assistance Program (ECEAP) and Working Connections Child Care caseloads are both forecasted. For the current fiscal year (SFY 23), ECEAP caseloads are projected to decline by 2540 from the June forecast – a 16.7% drop for an expected caseload of 12,659. The state Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025 caseloads are also expected to be lower than projected in June, with expected caseload of 14,437 and 14,905, respectively. Risks to the ECEAP caseload projections include the lingering impacts of the pandemic, a tight labor market and, “potentially, competition with other early learning options.”

Working Connections Child Care caseload projections are also lower than the June forecast. The projection for the current state fiscal year is a caseload of 24,300 which is 700 families less than what was expected in June. The caseload is expected to rise to 27,392 in SFY 24 and to 28,135 in SFY 25. The forecast notes the pandemic altered work patterns which, in turn, impacted child care utilization, leading to a decline in Working Connections Child Care usage. Additionally, the forecast notes that increased eligibility made possible through the Fair Start for Kids Act should impact caseloads with more families participating.

Revenue Forecast. In short, because revenues did not slow as quickly as projected, the state’s overall revenue is expected to be higher than the September projections by $762 million in our current 2021-23 biennium and $681 million for the upcoming 2023-25 biennium.

While these numbers represent good news, the Governor’s Budget Director David Schumacher and legislative members of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council emphasized that many moving pieces could complicate the construction of the biennial budget. Director Schumacher stated the budget situation is much tighter than the revenue alone indicates.

Importantly, the forecast council meeting showed that many caseloads are rising, which generate additional costs for the state. In the K-12 system, for example, inflationary cost increases alone will cost $1.5-$2 billion.

Although the base budget does not assume a recession, the state Economist’s “pessimistic” budget outlook (which Dr. Lerch said is much more likely than his optimistic forecast) has a decline of $5.3 billion in revenue for the 2023-25 biennium.

House Appropriations Chair Timm Ormsby noted that in addition to caseload and inflationary costs, the Legislature will need to consider the major workforce challenges “all around” as well as pressing needs in housing.

A few other items of note:

• The revenue projections assume the State Supreme Court will uphold the new capital gains tax and assumes revenue.
• The budget grew 20.4% between 2019-21 and 21-23 (largely due to COVID-19 funding) and is only projected to grow 3.5% between 2021-23 and 2023-25.
• While real estate is projected to be on the decline (impacting real estate tax revenue), consumer spending has been higher than expected and, with higher inflation, items are more expensive and the state accumulates more sales tax.
• Downside risks to the revenue forecast include: increasing interest rates could lead to recession, rise in technology sector layoffs, continued high inflation, uncertainty around the Russia-Ukraine war and potential rail and port strikes.

Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Reauthorization

On Friday, Dec. 2, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 8876, the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022, by a vote of 390-26. The entire Washington state Congressional delegation voted in favor of the bill.

The next step is the U.S. Senate, so stay tuned.

Start Early Washington Resources

A friendly reminder that the Start Early Washington State Policy Resources page contains a number of policy resources, including our organizational 2023 budget and policy priorities, the Home Visiting Advocacy Coalition’s 2023 budget ask as well as a new resource highlighting challenges facing the home visiting workforce.

As the legislative session progresses, our resource page will include weekly bill trackers along with budget and other analyses.

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Raising a child is one of life’s most pivotal roles. Parents often turn to each other for support during the critical stages of their child’s development, but not all parents have access to the resources they need.

For Alex, home visiting helped bridge the missing pieces of her Native heritage and supported her in reclaiming family traditions stripped from her through her great-grandfather’s U.S. Native boarding school experience.

Alex received home visiting services for the first time when she was pregnant with her oldest son, Mateo. But growing up, home visiting was already a part of her life as her mother was a tribal home visitor and a passionate advocate for early learning. Inspired by her mother, Alex felt she was destined to work in early learning, yet it wasn’t until motherhood that she intimately understood the precious rewards of home visiting support.

“Learning about the growth and development of my baby from my home visitor was fascinating! And that feeling like I’m succeeding as a first-time parent took me a long way.” Alex experienced a substantial shift in knowledge and confidence through her relationship with a home visitor; she was determined to support families in a similar way.

Bridging the Missing Pieces

The concept of home visiting is not new to Native families; Alex shared that home visiting is one of the most traditional things a Native family can do. Its critical process passes down knowledge and skills to preserve generational culture and heritage. In addition, home visiting creates a strong sense of community where the intrinsic needs of a child – during a foundational time in life – are addressed through trusted partnerships and shared goals.

Through home visiting, Alex established a special connection with local tribes as well as her own. Alex is an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska but lives and works in Washington state. Connecting with other members of the Haida Tribe and creating a sense of community was not easy so far away from Alaska. However, her home visitor was able to help connect her to local resources and inspire her to the place where she is now — celebrating her cultural heritage and reclaiming family traditions lost through her great-grandfather’s boarding school experience.

Native children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in government operated boarding schools between 1869 and the 1960s. The schools used “systematic militarized and identity-alteration methodologies,” to force white assimilation. They changed children’s names, cut long hair, and prohibited any use of Native languages and cultural practices — or else they faced brutal punishment. – “All the hurt and the rage: Elders recall trauma of Native boarding schools.”

Alex’s great-grandfather had 17 siblings. He was displaced from his family when he was taken to a boarding school – never to be reunited. As a result, her family lost a great deal of their cultural heritage and traditions; Alex knows very little about her native language, songs, dances, or traditional medicines because her great-grandfather was deprived of his cultural identity.

Instead of a rich sense of cultural identity, the historical trauma of Alex’s great-grandfather’s experiences were passed down through her aunts, uncles and mother. For Alex, home visiting support provided a way to heal from this generational pain by offering resources to traditional activities and connection to a shared community. Home visiting helped Alex find a new sense of hope and resiliency. In realizing that she was experiencing the collective intergenerational trauma of losing language, culture and identity, Alex now has a path forward for her family and tools to support other families experiencing generational trauma.

Alex’s great-grandfather, George Nix, was Alaska’s first professional football player (1926)

Near@Home is a great resource to help home visitors have difficult conversations, particularly when reflecting on times of trauma. When home visitors are equipped with tools to tackle difficult conversations, they can safely, respectfully and effectively discuss ACES (adverse childhood experiences), trauma, and other hard topics with parents by focusing on hope, respect and resilience.

Communities of Practice for Home Visitors

Communities of practice are another support Start Early Washington facilitates for home visiting professionals. Our community of practice, “Supporting Native Families,” aims to provide opportunities for professionals to understand tribal communities better and walk away with strategies and ideas to better serve Native families in Washington.

Washington state is home to 29 federally recognized tribes. Each tribal nation is uniquely different, including the size of the reservation, number of citizens and financial resources. Similarly, they each have unique cultural identifiers and shared experiences.

With this in mind, there’s a lot for home visitors to learn when engaging with Native families. Families feel more connected and appreciate when home visitors make the time to understand family culture and dynamics.

“I think all home visitors want to achieve that goal — to understand each member of the family. But when families know that someone wants to learn about their culture and identity, when someone takes an interest in what’s important to the family and genuinely supports the caregiver and child — that’s empowering.” – Alex

Visit our page to learn more about home visiting work in Washington and supports provided by Start Early Washington’s home visiting team.

(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

2022 General Election

What do we know so far? While the news is predominantly focused on national races, we are closely following the results here in Washington state. With an entirely vote-by-mail system in our state, it can take days to know the outcomes, especially if a large number of voters submitted their ballots on election day.

The Washington state Secretary of State has a website where you can track the results of federal, state and local races. The website notes when updated numbers are due to be released, voter turnout and the number of ballots counted as well as those left to be counted. County officials certify their results on Nov. 29 and the Secretary of State will certify final results by Dec. 8.

What are we watching? As a reminder, the current breakdown of the Washington State Legislature sits at 28 Democrats and 21 Republicans in the State Senate and 57 Democrats and 41 Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Roughly 24 hours after the release of the first results, here are the initial takeaways:

Tight Races. As of 5 p.m. Nov. 9, the tightest contests can be found in the following races:

• 10th Legislative District, position one (Island County and parts of Skagit and Snohomish counties): Democratic challenger Clyde Shavers leads Republican incumbent Greg Gilday 53%-47%
• 26th Legislative District (parts of Kitsap and Pierce counties): State Senate Democratic Incumbent Emily Randall holds a 52%-48% lead over Republican challenger Jesse Young and, to fill Rep. Young’s open House seat, Democrat Adison Richards leads Republican Spencer Hutchins 51%-49%
• 42nd Legislative District (parts of Whatcom County): all of the Democratic candidates hold slim leads over their Republican challengers. State Senate candidate Democrat Sharon Shewmake is leading the incumbent Republican Simon Sefnik 51%-49%. In the House of Representatives position one, incumbent Democrat Alicia Rule holds a 52%-48% lead over Republican challenger Tawsha Thompson. And, finally, in the open House of Representatives position two race, Democrat Jim Timmons holds a 51%-49% lead over Republican Dan Johnson.

Vulnerable Incumbents. Initial results indicate four Republican incumbents may be vulnerable. This includes:

• Republican Rob Chase in the 4th District (parts of Spokane County) is trailing his Republican challenger Leonard Christian 51%-47%
• As noted above, Republican Incumbent Greg Gilday is trailing his Democratic Challenger in the House of Representatives position one seat
• In the 39th District (parts of King, Skagit and Snohomish counties), Republican Incumbent Robert Sutherland is trailing his Republican challenger Sam Low by a wide margin of 55%-42%
• Republican Incumbent Simon Sefnik, who was appointed to fill the term of the late Senator Doug Ericksen in the 42nd District, is trailing Democratic challenger Sharon Shewmake by 51%-49%

As more votes come in, these results could change.

Whatcom County Early Learning Initiative. Initial results show that the Whatcom County’s Children Initiative is failing 51%-49%.

Stay tuned for another “Notes” focused on election results.

Capital Gains Tax Status Update

The Washington State Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of a capital gains tax Jan. 26, 2023. Oral arguments will be held in Tumwater because the Temple of Justice, where the Court usually meets, is closed for a two-year renovation.

On March 1, 2022, Douglas County Superior Court judge Brian Huber ruled the capital gains tax unconstitutional. Following this action, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson asked the state Supreme Court to accept the case on direct appeal, to which the Supreme Court agreed.

On Nov. 3, Attorney General Ferguson filed a motion with the Supreme Court asking the Court to allow the state’s Department of Revenue (DOR) to start collecting the tax before the Court makes its final ruling. DOR is currently pursuing rule-making related to tax collections. The Court will consider the Attorney General’s motion at a conference on Nov. 29.

As a reminder, the capital gains tax is intended to provide significant funding for early learning and the Fair Start for Kids Act, specifically. This Start Early Washington resource identifies investments in the Fair Start for Kids Act that were initially supported with short-term federal COVID-19 dollars with the intent for capital gains tax revenue to serve as the funding source once the short-term federal funds conclude.

Fair Start for Kids Act Resource

As we prepare to enter another two-year budget development process (one with a tightening fiscal picture), Start Early Washington put together a resource laying out which budgetary components of the Fair Start for Kids Act are laid out in statute and which are deemed “subject to appropriations.”

It is important to remember the funding of all policies is ultimately determined through the budget process, and while it is preferable to have specific funding levels set out in statute, the Legislature can change statute to fund at a different level – or not at all.

This resource breaks down which parts of the Fair Start for Kids Act are in statute, which are subject to appropriation and what this all means.

State Budget Preparations

Our last couple of “Notes From Olympia” have focused on summarizing the budget requests (known as decision packages) submitted by the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) to the Governor’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) for inclusion in the Governor’s budget. Additional resources are available through DCYF’s Government Affairs webpage which has been updated to include summaries of some of the agency’s decision packages.

Staff at OFM are busy reviewing and building the Governor’s budget which is expected to be released around mid-December. The state’s next revenue forecast will be released Nov. 18. The status of the state’s revenue picture will impact what is (and is not) included in the Governor’s budget proposal. The last revenue forecast in September projected a sharp decline in available revenue for the upcoming 2023-25 biennium. Many eyes will be on the Nov. 18 revenue forecast to see if the projection continues to decrease.

On Nov. 4, the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council met to receive an economic review from the state’s economist, Dr. Steve Lerch. Not surprisingly, most of Dr. Lerch’s report focused on concerns about the potential for an upcoming recession and the impacts of high inflation on our state’s economy.

Legislative Committee Days

Each year in late November/early December, the Legislature holds “Committee Days,” where members of the existing committees meet and hold work sessions on issues likely to garner attention in the upcoming legislative session. The event is timed to occur before the “legislative session freeze” commences, wherein elected officials are barred from fundraising. This means that committee days also include a hearty number of evening fundraisers.

This year, the Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to meet Dec. 1 and 2 in person, and the two days are jam-packed with legislative committee work sessions. I view this as a test to gauge how ill-prepared I am for a return to walking on marble, dressing professionally and being social for an extended period of time. (High likelihood I will fail this test.)

Of note for early learning, the House Children, Youth and Families Committee will hold a work session at 1 p.m. on Dec. 1 focusing exclusively on early learning recruitment issues. Also on Dec. 1, the Senate Ways and Means Committee will hold a work session at 3:30 p.m. that looks at the state’s revenue and economic picture as well as implementation of the state’s COVID-19 recovery plan including a segment on how child care providers utilized stabilization funds. Finally, the first will also include a work session for the House Appropriations Committee that includes a 2023 Session Budget Preview.

While Committee Days will see a return to in-person work, TVW will continue to stream all the committee meetings, so you can catch them live or by accessing the media archives at tvw.org. It is important to note that unlike committee hearings, work session presenters are by invite-only, so the public cannot testify during these committee day activities. However, when the legislative committees pivot to bill hearings come January, public testimony will be back, and work is underway to continue to incorporate the availability of virtual testimony.

Child Care Center Coming to Capitol Campus

This fall, the state’s Department of Enterprise Services announced it selected KinderCare Learning Centers to operate the second child care center in Olympia to serve state employees and their families. Located right across from the Capitol campus at Maple Park Avenue SW and Capitol Way South, the center hopes to open soon and will serve children from six weeks to five years old.

I saw the center recently in Olympia and it looks ready to welcome children!

Our Capitol Ambassador Ollie eagerly awaits the return of people.
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

As we get further into fall, we see an uptick in activity that will influence the 2023 legislative session. Of course, one of the biggest influencers will be the Nov. 8 General Election and the subsequent leadership and legislative committee assignment decisions. Be on the lookout for a detailed analysis of upcoming changes following the election. In the meantime, this edition features timely updates.

Legislative Work Sessions

As part of the gear-up for the 2023 legislative session, legislative committees held a number of work sessions in the last few weeks. An interesting aspect of the preelection meetings is they include the sitting lawmakers, some of whom may not be returning in 2023.

Senate Ways and Means Committee

On Sept. 27, the Senate Ways and Means held the first in-person committee meeting since March 2020. I think it would be fair to say both lawmakers and audience members were excited to be back together.

Among the agenda items was a presentation by State Auditor staff regarding the audit of the state’s receipt and usage of federal dollars. It is not a surprise to see this review given that the state received billions of federal dollars to address pandemic-related items.

Of note for early learning, the State Auditor representatives discussed their finding that $293.2 million of the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant funds were “unauditable” due to the Department of Children, Youth and Families’ accounting practices which limited the State Auditor’s ability to access the level of detail needed to determine if funds were spent appropriately.

Following the State Auditor staff’s presentation, DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter responded (starting at around 1:30), noting that DCYF’s current Information Technology system needs an update to provide the level of detail required for more detailed auditing. Importantly, Secretary Hunter emphasized that DCYF did not receive any significant findings related to eligibility determination.

Secretary Hunter committed to working with the State Auditor; his agency submitted a decision package to provide the Information Technology investment needed to support the requested level of accounting detail.

House Children, Youth and Families Committee

On Oct. 11, the House Children, Youth and Families Committee held a work session focused on:

• Early learning programs for children with special needs or who have experienced trauma.
• Updates from DCYF on the Complex Needs Grants, Working Connections Child Care special needs rates and the Infant Child Mental Health Child Care Consultation program.
• Updates from OSPI on Inclusive Transitional Kindergarten Grants.

Each of the presentations linked above contain excellent background and data on the various programs, and the meeting video is worth a watch. The work session highlighted not only general confusion over the varying goals and target populations for the programs, but also the challenge for families in securing needed supports and care. We can expect these conversations to continue into the legislative session.

Joint Committee on Employment Relations

You are probably wondering why an early learning related newsletter includes an update about a rather obscure legislative committee related to state employment. I actually have a good answer for that!

The Oct. 13 meeting of this Joint Committee received an update detailing the estimated costs and themes of the various collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). This bargaining not only involves state employees but also includes higher education employees, state and K-12 education health care expenses and non-state employee groups of family child care, adult family home and language access providers. These collective bargaining agreements will be included in the 2023-25 biennial budget and with the state’s revenue picture tightening (See Sept. 29 Notes From Olympia), the price tag of these agreements will impact the availability of funding for other investments.

In short, the estimated costs of all the CBAs totals $2.24 billion, with $1.401 billion of that amount from the state General Fund. Like nearly every other sector, state government is challenged to recruit and retain its broad and diverse workforce. These agreements aim to address staffing shortages – especially in high priority areas such as hospitals, ferries and state institutions – by providing overall wage increases, various retention bonuses and premium pay/lump-sum payments for employees working in institutions and other high-risk positions.

Family Child Care Providers. As noted above, the state also bargains with Family Child Care providers and that agreement totals $217 million from the state General Fund to support 3,612 providers. This agreement increases the cost-of-care rate to $2100/month for providers accepting subsidy; increases the Working Connections Child Care subsidy rate to the 85th percentile of the 2021 market rate survey; removes the cost of background checks; and increases the hourly rate for Family Friend and Neighbor providers from $3.00 to $3.85 as of July 1, 2023 and up to an hourly rate of $4.00 on July 1, 2024.

What Comes Next? Following the November Economic and Revenue Forecast, the Director of the Office of Financial Management will make a “financial feasibility determination” (meaning – can the state afford these agreements?). After that decision, the agreements will be included in the Governor’s proposed budget, and then the decision moves to the legislative arena. Note that collective bargaining agreements are given an “up or down” vote. This is one of the few areas where the Legislature does not negotiate nor get the opportunity to make changes.

Minimum Wage Increasing January 2023

On Sept. 30, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced the hourly minimum wage will increase to $15.74 as of January 2023. This represents an hourly increase of $1.25, or 8.66%.

The 2016 initiative approved by Washington state voters calls for the Department of Labor and Industries to adjust the hourly minimum wage based on changes to the Consumer Price Index. With this increase, Washington will have the highest state minimum wage in the country.

Updated Summary of Decision Packages

Start Early Washington recently updated its summary document detailing early learning related decision packages submitted to the Office of Financial Management for consideration in the Governor’s 2023-25 biennial budget. The update includes a $5.046 million Capital Budget request from the Department of Commerce to support facility costs for early learning programs at six school districts. Our Sept. 30 Notes From Olympia contains more detail on the decision package process.

The Capitol campus on a gorgeous September morning.
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

A Reminder …

Start Early Washington publishes “Notes From Olympia” periodically throughout the legislative interim. This edition focuses on recently released state agency “decision packages,” a state revenue update and workforce challenges.

State Agency Decision Packages

Each September, state agencies submit decision packages detailing budget requests to the Governor’s Office of Financial Management (OFM). These decision packages (or “DPs” as commonly known) are used to build the Governor’s proposed budget that will be released in mid-to-late December. See Start Early Washington’s August 25, Notes From Olympia for further discussion on the DP process.

OFM established a dedicated website where every agency DP can be downloaded. Unfortunately, this website is clunky at best, and downloading each DP can be extremely time consuming (my grumbling may have been heard statewide).

Thankfully, the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) has been transparent about their DPs. They have held multiple stakeholder feedback sessions as their DPs were under development as well as a webinar to answer questions once the DPs were uploaded on the OFM website.

A full summary of the DPs most relevant for early learning issues is on our website. A few items of note:

• Looking across the variety of state agency DPs (broader than early learning), common themes emerge. These themes include advancing equity, providing direct funding to BIPOC-led organizations, targeted support to BIPOC and rural communities and increasing support to families (particularly in substance use disorder treatment services) to prevent out-of-home placement in the child welfare system.
• State law requires the adoption of four-year balanced budgets, so many of the DPs not only include requested spending for the upcoming 2023-25 biennium, but also for the subsequent biennium for state Fiscal Years 2025-27.
• You may find that not all the numbers add up perfectly in the finalized DPs, and that’s okay.
• DCYF organized many of their DPs into themes (e.g., Prevention, Child Care Access and Affordability), so their number of DPs is smaller than most other state agencies, but the grouped DPs often contain a larger number of requests. DCYF’s early learning budget requests total more than $1 billion in new funding for the 2023-25 biennium.

As the DP list is so long this year, we’ve summarized an analysis on our resource page. If you have a deep interest in a particular item, I recommend reading the DP as they include cost modeling and further explanation and detail. Feel free to reach out if you have questions or would like help navigating OFM’s unwieldy website.

State Revenue Update

On Sept. 21, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Council met to receive an update on the latest revenue figures from the state’s economist Dr. Steve Lerch.

In the current 2021-23 biennium, revenue is projected to exceed the June forecast by $43 million, bringing the 2021-23 budget to $65.999 billion.

For the upcoming 2023-25 biennium that begins July 1, 2023, revenue is projected to decline from the June forecast by $495 million. Even with this projected decrease, the 2023-25 budget is projected to exceed the 2021-23 budget by $2.313 billion, with a projected biennial budget of $65.504 billion for 2023-25.

You may be asking, what is contributing to the slowing revenue? It comes down to three primary challenges:

1. Decreasing personal income is leading to slower retail sales.
2. Washington construction is slowing at a rate faster than projected.
3. Interest rate hikes are slowing real estate activity, impacting real estate tax collections.

Finally, there was apparently a significant Board of Tax Appeal decision that reduced expected revenue in 2023-25 by $117 million.

A reporter asked the Governor’s Budget Director David Schumacher how the slowing revenue projections would impact the budget Governor Inslee will release in December. Director Schumacher responded by noting the Legislature left a healthy reserve that should help mitigate the blow of federal stimulus dollars concluding.

Per state budget documents, the Legislature left an ending fund balance of $789M for the 2021-23 biennium and $83M for the 2023-25 biennium. Additionally, of the $4.428 billion the state received and deposited into the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSFRF) in the State Treasury, $3.151 billion was appropriated ($1.0 billion in the transportation budget; $400 million in the capital budget; and $1.75 billion in the operating budget). The remaining $1.277 billion was not appropriated and remains available for use.

The next revenue forecast will be released Nov. 18. These numbers will inform the Governor’s budget.

State Employee Workforce

The word of the year is workforce, particularly in the health and human services sectors. Looking through the agency DPs, you can see efforts to increase contracts and provide wage adjustments to help with staffing critical jobs ranging from child care to ECEAP to nursing home staff to behavioral health staff.

At the Sept. 15 DCYF Oversight Board meeting, DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter discussed his agency’s efforts to address recruitment and retention. (Secretary Hunter’s remarks begin around the 2:00 mark). He noted this is a challenge crossing all state agencies as they face competition from the private sector, with compensation being the largest barrier. Secretary Hunter acknowledged this workforce issue extends to DCYF’s contracted partners.

For DCYF, Secretary Hunter noted the emotionally and physically difficult work in all its programs, especially with the acuity of youth served in juvenile rehabilitation. A particular challenge for state agencies is in the Information Technology (IT) sphere, with the average age of state employee IT staff exceeding 50 years of age. IT is an area where the private sector is more lucrative.

Secretary Hunter also noted the importance of offering a career pathway for his agency’s employees and highlighted the magnitude of change the agency employees have undergone, starting with the creation of the new agency, navigating a pandemic and implementing multiple new laws and policies.

A few days after Secretary Hunter’s presentation, the Spokesman Review reported on a tentative deal between the state and its largest public employee union, the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE). The agreement includes a 4% wage increase in SFY 23 and a 3% increase in SFY 24, a $1000 bonus for receiving a COVID-19 booster shot and a $1000 retention bonus for current employees who stay employed on July 1, 2023.

While no cost estimate has been made public yet, WFSE said this is the largest compensation increase in the union’s history. But, first, the agreement needs to be approved by the state and the union, and then it will go to the Legislature, where an up or down vote would approve it. This is one of many Collective Bargaining Agreements the state is negotiating.

I raise this agreement because it will likely result in a significant price tag and, with slowing state revenues, competition for resources will be great. The policy question of workforce may be THE issue facing lawmakers when they gather in Olympia on January 9, 2023. Without people to perform mission critical work, the state will be challenged in serving Washingtonians in many areas.

What Will the 2023 Legislative Session Look Like?

While there has not been formal communication about the structure of the 2023 legislative session, we will likely see a return to in-person campus activity with continued ability to participate virtually.

The House of Representatives sent out communication last week stating that its December committee meetings will be in-person, with its hearing rooms equipped for hybrid participation and the Senate is holding work sessions this week from hearing rooms (with hybrid participation).

More to come …

Hello from my friend Ollie. He gets very happy when his human takes him for walks on the Capitol campus. He’s kindly offered to show us interesting spots when trivia resumes in January. (Photo Credit: Ollie’s mom, Pam Toal)

Flowers lining the State Capitol campus on an early August morning
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

A Reminder …

Start Early Washington publishes “Notes From Olympia” periodically throughout the legislative interim. During this time, we are replacing trivia with “deeper dives,” looking at innovations and issues that intersect with policy. In this edition, our deep dive focuses on the state agency decision package process that is currently underway.

Programmatic Updates

Home Visiting Expansion

Earlier this summer, the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) announced the expansion of home visiting access to approximately 300 new families with the award of 11 contracts totaling $2.1 million. This expansion came from state funding secured in the 2021 budget process.

Programs and home visiting models supported with these expansion dollars include:

• Horn of Africa Services (40 families). ParentChild+ serving 40 immigrant families in south King and Pierce County.
• InterCultural Children & Family Services (36 families). Parents as Teachers serving primarily Black or African American families in Pierce County.
• Eastern Washington University (28 families). Early Head Start Home Based serving families in rural areas of Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille and Spokane counties.
• Chinese Information and Service Center (24 families). ParentChild+ serving immigrant families in south King County.
• Open Arms (24 families). Perinatal Services Outreach Doula serving families in King and Pierce counties.
• El Centro de la Raza (18 families). Parents as Teachers serving Latinx families in south King County.
• Lydia Place (16 families). Parents as Teachers serving largely families experiencing homelessness and Hispanic families from Whatcom County.
• Child Care Action Council (15 families). Parents as Teachers serving Hispanic families in Mason County.
• Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (15 families). Parents as Teachers serving Native families in rural Yakima County.
• Chelan-Douglas Health District (12 families). Nurse-Family Partnership serving primarily Hispanic families in rural Chelan and Douglas counties.
• Suquamish Tribe (12 families). Parents as Teachers serving Native families, primarily the Suquamish Tribe.

DCYF is also in the process of finalizing an expansion opportunity designed specifically for federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations. A total of $480,000 will be available for programs to expand their services to approximately 50 new families.

The Home Visiting Advocacy Coalition is working on finalizing its 2023 state budget ask. The request will incorporate recommendations submitted to the Legislature and DCYF earlier this summer by the Home Visiting Advisory Committee. (See the June 2022 “Notes from Olympia” for a summary of the recommendations). Specifically, the request will focus on serving additional Black, Indigenous families or other families of color, families living in rural communities and supporting smaller community-based organizations that are more likely to be BIPOC-led.

Early Learning Facilities Fund

The Early Learning Facilities Program (or “ELF”) provides funding to Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) contractors and Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) providers to expand, remodel, purchase or construct early learning facilities, classrooms and Family Child Care Homes statewide.

ELF offers four different funding opportunities:

• Competitive grants to eligible organizations.
• Competitive grants to K-12 school districts.
• Direct appropriations from the Legislature.
• A grant and loan program operated by Washington Community Reinvestment Association, Enterprise Community Partners and Craft3.

Operated in partnership by the Department of Commerce and DCYF, ELF provides funding in three categories: pre-design ($20,000 award limit); minor renovation and pre-development ($200,000 award limit); and new construction and major renovation ($1 million award limit). When making award decisions, Commerce and DCYF evaluate key project criteria such as the number of early learning spaces for children from families earning a low income, the project location relative to other early learning facilities and projects located in rural areas and low-income neighborhoods, among other factors.

The need for facilities funding is great. This year, ELF received 143 applications requesting a total of $72.9 million. In the end, $43.2 million was awarded to 69 early learning projects.

On Aug. 17-18, advocates in support of state funding for early learning facilities held site visits in Ellensburg, Zillah and Toppenish – providing a chance to see ELF’s investments in action.

Maria Carriedo – owner of Busy Bee’s Child Development Center in Toppenish – is joined by teacher Esme and an eager group of young learners.
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

At Maria’s child care center, approximately 90% of the children are supported through Working Connections Child Care. Through ELF, Maria received funding to expand her facility to serve 48 additional children.

Engaging artwork from a student at Alejandra’s Day Care in Zillah, WA
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

Alejandra Navarro is a Family Child Care provider with a level 4 Early Achievers rating, and she subcontracts with the Educational Service District 105 to provide ECEAP services. With support from ELF funding, Alejandra purchased a building in Toppenish and will open a center to serve 40 additional children.

Primary Election Results Are In – On to the General Election

On Aug. 19, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs certified the results of the Aug. 2 primary election. Washington state has a “top two” primary system whereby the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the Nov. 8 general election. In some legislative races, a Democrat will face a fellow Democrat and, in others, a Republican will face a Republican.

The results of the general election will determine every seat in the State House of Representatives, 24 of the 49 State Senate positions and the Secretary of State’s office because our current Secretary of State Hobbs was appointed to the position, replacing Kim Wyman who left to join the Biden administration to lead cybersecurity efforts.

An interesting note about the Secretary of State position – up until Hobbs’ appointment in February, Republicans had held the Secretary of State office for 56 years. However, with Hobbs advancing to the General Election with 40% of the vote, followed by Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson running as non-partisan with 13% of the vote, the streak of a Republican elected to the Washington state Secretary of State office will be broken.

Generally speaking, incumbent Democrats in the Senate and House performed better than some had projected with the expected “red wave” not materializing. Every state legislative incumbent – regardless of party – advanced to the November election. Check out Austin Jenkins’ piece summarizing the election results and visit the Secretary of State’s website for all the data on the general election match-ups.

Home visiting supports have meaningful impacts on the lives of children and families. Start Early Washington supports new and existing home visiting programs with coaching, consultation, training and professional learning to ensure the highest quality home visiting services for families.

Our staff includes professionals whose expertise is enriched by lived experiences and practical knowledge. As one of our proudest achievements, Start Early Washington staff hold over 165 years of combined home visiting experience!

This blog post introduces our senior home visiting manager, Cassie Morley, who draws from nearly three decades of home visiting experience to oversee a talented team that supports 63 home visiting programs statewide.

Cassie swinging with her 5-month-old granddaughter, Loveday (2021)

Visit our main page to learn more about Washington’s home visiting team.

As requested by the Legislature, Washington state’s Home Visiting Advisory Committee — consisting of home visiting providers, advocates, state agency partners and other allied professionals — recently outlined an ambitious path to strengthen the state’s home visiting system. Submitted to the Washington state Legislature and the Department of Children, Youth and Families, this plan makes essential recommendations to improve equity in the home visiting system, ensure a skilled and sustainable workforce and expand home visiting access to additional families.

Many of the recommendations identify strategies that are within the Department of Children, Youth and Families’ administrative power to implement while others will require additional investment from the Legislature.

Recommendation Highlights

A comprehensive overview of the recommendations is available on the Department of Children, Youth and Families website. In summary, the recommendations focus on the following areas of improvement:

Promote Equity: Washington must support a range of home visiting programs that meet the needs of diverse communities; ensure parent, community and provider voice is embedded in decision-making; and recruit and retain a workforce representative of families served.

Strengthen the Workforce: Home visitors have continued to provide essential supports to families, yet the workforce is under tremendous stress with higher than usual attrition in the past two years. The recommendations include investing in wages – including addressing racial and positional wage disparities; increasing access to professional development; and assessing home visitor caseloads and administrative burden.

Systems Improvements: To create a stable, sustainable and scalable home visiting system, the recommendations include completing a cost study to inform contracting to better reflect the true cost of the service; funding adjustments that promote equity; and streamlined data strategies.

Start Early Washington supports the recommendations submitted by the Home Visiting Advisory Committee. We are committed to working with our public and private sector partners to create comprehensive implementation plans with a strategic direction to build an equitable home visiting system that supports children and families in Washington state.

(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

A Reminder …

Start Early Washington publishes “Notes From Olympia” periodically throughout the legislative interim. During this time, we are replacing trivia with “deeper dives,” looking at innovations and issues that intersect with policy. This edition’s deep dive focuses on recommendations the Home Visiting Advisory Committee recently submitted to the Legislature and the Department of Children, Youth and Families to improve equity in the system, ensure a skilled and sustainable workforce and serve additional families.

A Look at the State’s Revenue Picture

Two important updates impacting our state’s budget outlook were released in June – the first being the caseload forecast (projecting the state’s spending commitments for entitlement programs) and the other is the revenue forecast (projecting how much money the state has available to spend).

Caseload Forecast

The June 15 Caseload Forecast provided updated projections from the last forecast in February related to a number of state programs. These include projections for K-12 enrollment, state prisons and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program – all major cost drivers in the state budget. Forecast reports are used by the Governor to build his proposed budget as well as by legislative budget writers in their adoption of budget numbers.

Interestingly, K-12 enrollment has not yet bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. For specific early learning programs, the following changes are forecasted:

• ECEAP enrollment is projected to increase by 2.1% from the February forecast, growing by 309 children, bringing the caseload to 15,199 in state Fiscal Year 2023 (state Fiscal Year 2023 runs from July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023). The forecast notes ECEAP enrollment has been impacted by COVID-19 and labor market developments. (It is fair to say COVID-19 was noted as a risk in every program forecast).
• Working Connections Child Care participation is expected to decline by 4.2% from the February forecast (a decline of 1,105 families) bringing the caseload to 24,999 in state Fiscal Year 2023. The forecast accounts for the increased eligibility provided by the Fair Start for Kids Act. Risks to this forecast include COVID-19 and changing patterns in work and child care usage.
• Special Education Preschool is projected to increase by 2.3% from the February forecast. The percentage of eligible children in this age group participating in Special Education preschool is projected to recover to exceed pre-pandemic levels from 2022-23 to 2024-25, but the actual caseload will not reach pre-pandemic levels due to declining birth rates.

Currently, the caseload forecast does not include a specific projection for the Transitional Kindergarten caseload. As a reminder, the 2022 supplemental budget included funding and a directive for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) to complete an evaluation on a number of items related to Transitional Kindergarten (TK) by Dec. 1, 2023, including the number of school districts offering TK and the number of children participating in the program (to the extent data is available).

Revenue Forecast

If the remarks from State Economist Dr. Steve Lerch at the June 22 meeting of the Economic Revenue and Forecast Council were put into a “word cloud generator,” the words “caution” and “slowing” would likely come out the largest as they were the most frequently cited.

In short, while the state’s revenue continues to grow beyond previous projections, expected growth is accompanied by a number of asterisks. Washington state continues to experience stronger than projected revenue collections, but there is concern about where our economy is headed. The largest concerns are around inflation, rising gas prices, a drop in retail sales, a potential slowdown in residential construction and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. The potential for a recession in our state is a possibility.

In terms of the official revenue forecast, revenues for the 2021-23 biennium (our current biennium) are up $1.457 billion over previous projections, and revenues for the 2023-25 biennium are up $632 million over previous projections. The variance between the two biennia demonstrates the expected slower, more moderate growth for our state’s economy.

Dr. Lerch also produces “alternative forecasts” including optimistic and pessimistic projections. The odds of the pessimistic forecasts for 2021-23 and 2023-25 outweigh the optimistic ones, and notably, the pessimistic forecast for 2023-25 projects a potential $6.2 billion drop in revenue.

Back to the proverbial word cloud – caution and slowing.

Primary Election Coming Soon

The state’s Aug. 2 primary election is quickly approaching, with ballots in the mail by July 15. Washington state has a top two primary system, which means the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.

Candidate filing week occurred from May 16-20 with hundreds of aspiring elected officials throwing their hats into the ring for offices ranging from Secretary of State to every seat in the House of Representatives as well as 24 of the 49 State Senate positions. The Secretary of State office is up for election in this “off year” because Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was appointed to replace Kim Wyman, who left her elected position post midterm to lead cybersecurity efforts for President Joe Biden.

Even before candidate filing week, we knew the makeup of the 2023 Washington state Legislature would be significantly different with more than 20 sitting lawmakers announcing they did not plan to run again for their current position. Many of these legislators are running for an open State Senate seat or the U.S. House of Representatives, but a significant number are retiring from elected service (at least for the 2022 election cycle). These retirements include a number of veterans such as the lead Capital Budget writer in the Senate David Frockt; House Majority Leader (and key budget negotiator) Pat Sullivan; and the long-time chair of the House Health Care Committee, Eileen Cody.

In addition to the retirement of veteran lawmakers, we saw an unusually high number of newer legislators, largely Members of Color, opt out of running for state legislative office in 2022. Newer lawmakers cited part-time employment reimbursement for what is really a full-time job, lack of support as well as frustration with the institution as impacting their decision to not return in 2023.

With some very crowded primary races, we will have a better picture of the November general election competitions after Aug. 2.

Ballot Initiatives

In the upcoming November general election, voters will also be asked to consider various initiatives. Initiative sponsors have until 5 p.m. on July 8 to submit signatures to the Secretary of State from at least 324,516 registered voters supporting the proposed initiative. The signature gathering process is time intensive, complex and costly.

One initiative that will not appear on voters’ ballots is the proposal to repeal the state’s recently enacted Capital Gains tax that was passed to support components of the Fair Start for Kids Act and other education related items. As reported in the June 10, 2022 Washington Wire, backers of the initiative decided not to pursue a ballot initiative, instead opting to place their bets on the legal challenge that is headed to the Washington State Supreme Court. The Wire piece cites the high costs of signature gathering as a reason for the decision.