February 10, 2012
Message from Rep. Mike Sells
We are now a little more than half-way through the 2012 session. Next Tuesday marks what is known as the “House of Origin Cut-off.” That means that all bills that are not budget related must be passed from the House to the Senate and from the Senate to the House.
These cutoff dates that I’ve referred to are adopted every year by both chambers and ensure a uniform process for moving measures through the legislative process.
Starting Wednesday, we will turn our attention to bills sent to us by Senate and to finalizing the House budget proposal that will come out soon after next week’s state revenue forecast and caseload forecast.
Have a Heart for Kids
Next Tuesday is Valentine’s Day. In our State Capitol it’s also “Have a Heart for Kids Day.” We celebrate “Have a Heart for Kids Day” every Valentine’s Day to remind ourselves that the future of our children depends on the choices we make today as parents and leaders.
It’s a day to remember that our kids and our state need good schools and a good education to succeed.
But it’s also a day to remember that children who are hungry, sick, or abused or neglected can’t learn.
We need our state to have a heart that’s big enough to care about the needs of every child—whether he or she is developmentally disabled, or physically or mentally ill, or in foster care, or poor, or at risk of falling into a life of crime.
As the 2012 edition of the State of Washington’s Children makes clear, the recession has been very hard on Washington’s children. It has also been hard on state funding for children and family services. DSHS alone has already been cut by $2.2 billion and 3,000 employees over the past 2½ years.
As we finalize the budget this year, I hope we keep in mind that every child is precious, and we need to “Have a Heart for Kids.”
Investing in transportation, state and local options
Efficient cars and trucks are great for the environment and for reducing dependence on foreign oil, but they’ve also caused gas-tax revenues to plummet. The result is billions of dollars of urgent but unmet transportation needs at the state and local level.
Help may soon be on the way. House transportation leaders advanced a revenue package Tuesday to address the most pressing needs while also creating or sustaining thousands of jobs across Washington.
The centerpiece of the package, House Bill 2660, is a new $1.50 fee on barrels of oil refined in Washington, which would generate about $1.35 billion over the next decade. Revenue from the oil-barrel fee would be split 50-50 with local governments, with the local share being divided evenly between cities and counties.
Transportation leaders also embraced HB 2751—a key recommendation of the Connecting Washington Task Force—by calling for new local revenue options. Some proposed options include allowing cities and counties with transportation benefit districts to charge a $40 vehicle fee, allowing county councils to levy a one percent motor vehicle excise tax, as well as allowing a voter-approved one, two, or three-cent per gallon local gas-tax increase.
Better transportation and local control. Local options are a recipe that can work for our communities and help build our future economy.
Washington State Tax Ranking
Here’s a fact that might surprise you: Washington’s state and local taxes (as a percent of personal income) dropped to their lowest level in 50 years in 2009, according to new figures recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Washington taxes dropped to $93.24 per $1,000 personal income from $105.49 in Fiscal Year 2008. While many states experienced declines in taxes relative to personal income during that period, Washington’s decline was steep enough to change its national ranking to 35th highest among the states in 2009, down from 30th highest in 2008. The national average for Fiscal Year 2009 was $102.10, down from $111.99 the prior year.
The $93.24 figure, comprising $56.70 in state taxes and $36.54 in local taxes, is the lowest since the Department of Revenue began tracking this statistic in 1960, and when the rate was the second lowest at $98.43. More information on changes in rankings over the years and the factors involved is available in Comparative State and Local Taxes 2009, published online at: https://dor.wa.gov/Content/AboutUs/StatisticsAndReports/2009/Compare09/default.aspx.