Operating Budget Includes State Fair Funding

Operating Budget Includes State Fair Funding

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. When Governor Inslee signed the new 2-year state operating budget, it included $2 million per year for the Fair Fund.

After the funds were eliminated, and an amendment to restore them was rejected, effective negotiations worked them back into the budget.

Pomeroy Representative Mary Dye spoke about the importance of fairs AND the real-world experience it gives kids in rural Washington ...

MARY DYE ... "And it is this factor, the fabric of our rural communities. It may seem like a no-big-deal thing for a small appropriation of $4-million dollars, but it is the way we acculturate our children into that sense of personal responsibility, a long-term commitment to an animal, and then to give that up in a market sale and learn the responsibility that they're earning their way in this world."

Dye says it's generational ...

MARY DYE ... "It's part of the history of Washington state. It's part of our culture and we should be very proud of the opportunities we have given kids across this state using the fairs, 4-H, FFA, and teaching these kids that they have a can-do spirit, that they can follow a project through from beginning to end and they can be proud of what they accomplished."

This is the same amount that has been allocated to Fairs in our state for most of the past 20 years.

Lawmakers are still working on a capital budget that's being held up, in large part, due to failure to reach agreement on fixing the Hirst decision which limits drilling new wells in most of Washington. Republicans want a Hirst fix before agreeing to a capital budget.

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