Budget Includes State Fair Funds

Budget Includes State Fair Funds

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, 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 had been eliminated, and an amendment to restore them was rejected, negotiations managed to work them back in to the final product.

Pomeroy Representative Mary Dye was one of those who 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 did not pass a capital budget. That is being held due to failure to reach agreement on fixing the Hirst decision which limited the ability to drill new wells in most of Washington. Senators want a fix for that before agreeing to release the capital budget.

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