Brief Description: Creating the reading achievement account.

Sponsors: By House Committee on Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Sommers, Kagi, Green and Kilmer).

House Committee on Appropriations
Senate Committee on Ways & Means

Background:

The Office of the State Treasurer manages over 400 trust accounts and funds. If a fund or account is held within the state treasury, an appropriation is required for expenditures. Funds and accounts in the custody of the State Treasurer are not held in the state treasury and are nonappropriated and generally restricted to a particular purpose. Ordinarily, unspent appropriations lapse at the close of the fiscal year. Monthly interest earned from the investment of trust accounts and funds mya either be set aside for the State General Fund or a proportionate share of earnings may remain in specified accounts or funds.

The Governor is proposing to consolidate early learning activities into a new cabinet level Department for Early Learning (Department). Washington Learns is also recommending the creation of an early learning department. In the 2005-07 budget, $250,000 was appropriated to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish the Early Reading Initiative (Initiative). The Initiative is a grant program targeted at pre-reading and early reading skills through community-based initiatives.

Summary:

A Reading Achievement Account (Account) is created in the custody of the State Treasurer. The Director of the Department for Early Learning (Director) must deposit in the Account all state appropriations to the Department and all non-state moneys received by the Department for reading achievement, including reading foundations and implementation of research-based reading models.

The Director, or the Director's designee, may expend moneys in the Account only for the purposes for which they were appropriated and is subject to any other conditions or limitations placed on the appropriations. Moneys deposited in the Account will not lapse at the close of the fiscal period for which they were appropriated.

The Reading Achievement Account will retain its interest earnings.

Votes on Final Passage:

House   97   1
Senate   43   0   (Senate amended)
House   98   0   (House concurred)

Effective: June 7, 2006