Inslee Budget Proposal Seeks More Money for Mental Health

OLYMPIA (AP) — While a bulk of Gov. Jay Inslee's budget proposal focuses on education funding, his two-year plan also seeks more money for mental health and a tuition freeze for universities and community and technical colleges.

On the second day of his multi-day budget rollout Wednesday, Inslee called for spending an additional $300 million in the next two year budget on the state's mental health system in order to improve capacity and add staffing. The plan also seeks to move people hospitalized on civil commitments out of the state's two psychiatric hospitals and into beds at facilities in the community.

The $47 billion budget plan assumes more than $4 billion in new revenue, with a majority of it — about $3.9 billion — dedicated to education-related costs.