The Committee

The state General Fund budget and five related funds subject to a spending limit defined in RCW 43.135: State Expenditures Limitations.

The Expenditure Limit Committee was established in 2000 for the purpose of determining and adjusting the state expenditure limit. The members of the Expenditure Limit Committee are

• The Director of the Office of Financial Management
• The Attorney General or the Attorney General's designee
• The chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee
• The chair of the House Appropriations Committee
• The ranking minority member of the Senate Ways & Means Committee
• The ranking minority member of the House Appropriations Committee

The spending limit applies to the State General Fund, the Health Services Account, the Student Achievement Fund, the Water Quality Account, the Public Safety and Education Account (including the Equal Justice Subaccount), and the Violence Reduction and Drug Enforcement Account. Each November, the Expenditure Limit Committee adjusts the limit for the previous and current fiscal year, and projects a limit for the following two years. Generally speaking, the expenditure limit is the actual spending level from the prior year multiplied by the fiscal growth factor, plus or minus any adjustments required by statute. The fiscal growth factor is the average growth in state personal income for the prior ten fiscal years.

November 2008 Meeting Materials

• 2008 Presentation (pdf)
• Detail of Adjustments to the Initiative 601 Expenditure Limit (pdf)
• Minutes, November 2008 (pdf)
• 2007 Ballot Measures Affecting the Expenditure Limit (pdf)

About Fiscal Growth Factors