The Capital Budget Committee on Feb. 25 received a briefing and public comment on House Bill 20 21, which would authorize the Public Works Board to issue bonds to finance public‑works infrastructure projects and change existing appropriation rules for the Public Works Assistance Account.

Staff explained that under the bill the Public Works Board could issue bonds in its own name and repay them from a special fund created by the board; those bonds would not be obligations of the state and would therefore not count against the state’s constitutional debt limit. The board could only use funds generated by bond sales, loan repayments or other board revenues to pay administrative costs, and the board’s total indebtedness would be capped at $4 billion.

The bill would also remove a current‑law requirement that the Public Works Board not obligate funds out of the Public Works Assistance Account until the legislature appropriates funds to the board; instead, the board would have authority to issue obligations under the plan it adopts. The board would have to adopt a general plan of public‑works infrastructure objectives and report on implementation at least every two years, staff said.

Sponsor Representative Mike Steele said the bill is intended to protect the Public Works Assistance Account from repeated legislative transfers and to give the board more financial permanence similar to other authorities such as the Housing Finance Commission. Steele said the board’s work has funded critical water, sewer, stormwater and street projects that smaller jurisdictions could not otherwise accomplish; he urged the committee to consider how to protect these resources from budget sweeps.

Steele and other members cited 2024 transfers out of the account to other state priorities — including $114 million to Move Ahead Washington projects and other transfers — as evidence of the account’s vulnerability in years with fiscal pressure. The committee closed public testimony with no public speakers in opposition and no amendments pending at the hearing.