April 20, 2011
Dear friends and neighbors,
We’re officially in the final days of the 105-day session. Sunday, April 24, is Sine Die, the last day of session. We’re spending most of this last week on the House Floor, running concurrences (approving or turning down changes to bills made by the opposite chamber) and budget-related bills. Of course, the most newsworthy activity remains the budget negotiations as the House and Senate work out a compromise.
There are still many major decisions, and I hope you will continue to share your thoughts and feedback. I welcome and appreciate all of the emails, letters and calls from people in our district.
House and Senate budget negotiations underway
Last time I wrote about the House operating budget proposal, which lays out a spending plan for the 2011-13 biennium. The House budget includes deep cuts to every area of state government and assumes some savings from consolidation of agencies and agency services. As you have heard before, our state faces a shortfall of $5.1 billion in the 2011-13 operating budget, and this proposal will close that margin.
This week the Senate passed its version of the operating budget. Both budgets include similar proposals such as a new Discover Washington Pass that would fund state parks, a three percent salary reduction for most state workers, and suspension of I-728 and I-732, the teacher raise and classroom size initiatives that cost more than $1 billion.
There are also some significant differences. The House proposal avoids many of the deeper cuts to K-12 education, services for our lowest-income citizens such as the Basic Health Plan, Disability Lifeline and Children’s Health, and state colleges and universities that the Senate version includes.
Comparisons of the budget proposals are available here and here. Even as we work to preserve as many programs as possible, this budget will undoubtedly include decisions I never wanted to have to make. It’s extremely difficult to reduce services I know families in our district depend on, and it’s just as tough to scale back investments we know are important, such as education funding. But it’s my hope that we will make the most responsible decisions we can in these tough times given the resources we have. Again, I appreciate your feedback as we move forward to finalize the budget.
State Budget 101
I receive many calls asking why we are funding construction projects or adding freeway lanes while also make deep cuts to essential programs like education; this is a perfectly logical question.
The answer is that the state has three different budgets: operating, transportation, and capital. Each of these budgets has separate, dedicated funds.
The operating budget pays for state operations, the programs and services people in the state receive. Public education, community health clinics, emergency services, college and technical instruction, nursing home care and things we think of as “programs” or “public services” are paid from the operating budget. That budget must be balanced within existing revenues each year.
Our transportation and capital budgets each fund construction projects that ensure our infrastructure is well-maintained and create thousands of jobs, good news for workers in the construction trades where unemployment is as high as 30 percent.
Here’s a great guide to better understand how our state’s three budgets work.
Bills I’ve been working on
Along with my fellow freshmen Democrats, I am proud to be a cosponsor on House Bill 2078 which proposes funding K-3 class size reductions by closing several tax exemptions, including one for Wall Street banks. This legislation is an indication of our commitment to choosing our state’s children over out-of-state interests. I hope you will track the progress of HB 2078 online and continue to contact your legislators to show your support for this type of legislation.
It is also important to remember that Initiative 1053 was approved by the voters last November. I-1053 requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to raise state revenue; closing tax loopholes or ending tax breaks is considered raising state revenue. This means that HB 2078 and any of the other proposals to close loopholes and fund essential services will need overwhelming bi-partisan support to be passed by the Legislature. I am hopeful that many of my colleagues are willing to support health care and education funding over special interest tax breaks.
You can also check out my Video Update for more information.
As we near the end of session, bills are moving quickly. Last Friday I was honored to have House Bill 1808, the Launch Year Bill, signed by the Governor. Even as we make cuts to education programs, legislation like HB 1808 will improve our students’ ability to earn credits sooner and keep college costs down while also encouraging them to challenge themselves throughout their high school careers and build momentum toward higher education.
I continue to track a number of other bills that are being delivered to the governor that would help our district and our state as well.
As always, I appreciate the support and feedback that I receive, so please continue to share your thoughts with me.
Best regards,
Kristine