Washington

Decision instrument

Debt service on limited state debt may not take more than 8.25% of the average of the last six years of general state revenues. The Legislature needs three-fifths of each house.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Washington Constitution, Article VIII, Section 1. Principal has to be paid within 30 years. The 8.25% rate runs through June 30, 2034, then drops to 8%. The limit stops new debt. It does not cap debt service the state may pay in later years. The Treasurer certified the fiscal 2025 limit at $2.28 billion. A law for one stated work, approved by a majority of the votes at an election, is outside that limit. Article VIII, Section 3 is that vote. A temporary treasury deficiency has to be paid within 12 months, and only for an appropriation the Legislature already made.

Debt statement

No Annual Debt Statement of the New Jersey kind.

What yearly filing states gross debt, deductions, and how close the issuer is to its limit? State debt is in the annual report for the year ended June 30, 2025, and in the Treasurer’s bond report for the same day. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

Without a vote, a county, city, town, or school district stops at 1.5% of taxable property. With a three-fifths vote, the total stops at 5%.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article VIII, Section 6. The value is the last assessment for state and county purposes. A city uses its own last assessment. A city or town, with that same vote, may add another 5% for water, light, and sewers it owns. A school district, with that vote, may add another 5% for capital outlays. The debt has to be for a strictly local purpose.

Conflict rule

A municipal officer may not be beneficially interested in a contract made under that officer’s supervision.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? RCW 42.23.030. The interest can be direct or indirect, and it covers a payment from someone else who is interested in the contract. A contract is outside that bar if the officer or the officer’s business receives no more than $3,000 in any calendar month. A remote interest is also outside it, if the interest is written in the minutes before the contract and the body approves the contract without counting that officer’s vote. Less than 1% of a corporation’s shares is one of those remote interests. If the officer tries to influence the others, the remote-interest exception does not apply.

Geography

Thirty-nine counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 53001 through 53077. Cities, towns, and school districts also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bond principal: $22.519 billion. The full faith and credit of the state are pledged.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, June 30, 2025. The debt-service schedule’s principal is $22,518,588,000. Interest still on that schedule is $11,671,750,000. The report’s sentence rounds the principal to $22.52 billion. Of that principal, $14.65 billion is inside the constitutional debt-service limit. The rest of the general-obligation principal is outside it. Authorized but unissued general-obligation bonds were $16.27 billion.

Who pays the coupon

In fiscal 2026 the general-obligation principal due is $1.224 billion and the interest due is $1.125 billion.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? General state revenues pay the debt that is inside the limit. Motor-vehicle fuel tax and other pledged taxes pay some of the transportation general-obligation bonds. The Treasurer’s bond report prints total bonds of $22.790 billion. The difference from the $22.519 billion is the toll bond, which is not a general obligation.

Other obligors

Revenue-bond principal: $3.478 billion. Do not add it to the $22.519 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Governmental revenue-bond principal is $1.492 billion. Business-type is $1.986 billion. University general-revenue bonds inside those figures are $1.03 billion governmental and $1.67 billion business-type. They are not a full-faith pledge. A toll bond for the State Route 520 corridor is $270.9 million, payable only from tolls. Principal and interest still on it are $437.8 million. Grant-anticipation bonds were paid off during the year. Certificates of participation, payable from annual appropriations and outside the debt limit, have $747.7 million of principal left. The Treasurer’s report says the school-bond guarantee covered $15.089 billion of school principal. That is a guarantee, not a bond the state issued.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? Series-level confirmation still waits on that official statement. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.