From Kelly Susewind, Director

Hello Everyone: 

 

We’re more than two-thirds of the way through the short, 60-day legislative session. While every session is critical, we have a lot riding on our supplemental budget requests for stable and ongoing funding.  

 

The House and Senate have both released their supplemental budget proposals earlier this week. Overall, I’m pleased to report that both chambers have recognized our need and have elected to invest in WDFW. Both proposals primarily rely on State General Fund and neither chamber proposed a recreational license fee increase to balance our budget. There are some significant differences between the two proposals, in particular, how each proposals’ appropriations would ‘carry forward’ into the next biennium. We plan to continue to work hard in the remaining weeks of session to ensure that there is adequate funding for the remainder of this biennium, and that ongoing costs approved by the legislature in this biennium are also funded next biennium.

 

We sincerely appreciate the many partners that have stood up and communicated the real challenges that arise from underfunding fish, wildlife, and habitat conservation. I am both humbled and inspired by the partnerships and efforts these leaders make on behalf of fish and wildlife conservation. 

 

The new decade is off to a promising start, and I’m excited to build on this momentum.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kelly Susewind, 
Director