The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget process reached another milestone today with the release of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means (SWM) budget proposal. The $55.9 billion SWM spending plan differs from earlier proposals as it was not released in conjuncture with a tax reform bill. However, the SWM budget does set aside $575 million for the first-year costs of a tax policy bill the Senate plans to take up later this session.

The SWM budget also includes $1 billion in spending supported by income surtax revenues, and creates a structure to collect, track, and spend surtax revenues that largely follows the framework passed by the House. Additionally, to support early education and behavioral health-related investments in FY 2024, the SWM budget relies on $437 million in one-time resources from existing trust funds. These same resources, though available, were not utilized in the House budget to support spending.