Last June, Washington’s chief revenue forecaster delivered the bad news to state lawmakers and state officials. “The longest economic expansion in U.S. history is, unfortunately, over. We are now in a recession,” Steve Lerch told the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. At the time, Lerch projected the state would lose nearly $9 billion in revenues over four years. But he also emphasized there was a lot of uncertainty in the forecast. Sure enough, the September and November forecasts weren’t nearly as bleak. Taken together they reduced the almost $9 billion drop to a projected $3.3 billion reduction. Then came Wednesday's March revenue forecast . It showed the state returning to pre-pandemic revenue levels.