Here‘s the document that spells all the cuts out. I’m wading through it now.
The cuts made to social services start around page 44.
Tags: Budget, Gregoire, social services
Gov. Gregoire’s all-cuts budget — which eliminates the Basic Health Plan, General Assistance for the disabled, children’s healthcare and many, many more programs — depends on about $420 million of “fund transfers.”
What’s that mean? And where does it come from?
The money will come from dozens of state accounts, ranging from the Skeletal Remains Assistance Account to the Education Savings Account. You can see a full list here.
So: It’s money that has already been allocated to various programs — ranging from $12,000 for the Outdoor recreation and education account to $100 million for the Educations Savings Account — not reserves.
In addition to that, the Rainy Day fund will be drained and the Ending Fund Balance will be lower.
Tags: Budget, fund transfers, Gregoire
Here’s a round-up of the cuts, courtesy of the Office of Financial Management. Gregoire’s supplemental budget will:
- Eliminate the Basic Health Plan, which provides low-cost insurance for 65,000 people (and has even more on the waiting list). Savings: $160 million
- Eliminate Apple Health for children, kicking 16,000 low-income kids off the program. Savings: $11 million.
- Eliminate General Assistance Unemployable, which provides cash to 23,000 and medical services to 17,000 adults who cannot work. Savings: $188 million.
- Eliminate funding for 1,500 toddlers in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
- Eliminate funding for K-4 class size reductions
- Eliminate levy equalization, which allows districts with low property tax bases to raise more money
- Reduce State Need Grant by by 12,300 students, reduce grant size. Savings: $146 million.
- Reduce funding for community and technical colleges, baccalaureate institutions. Savings: $89 million.
- Reform, consolidate and eliminate boards, commissions, small government departments, nine state institutions.
- Allow local governments more flexibility, so they can more effectively use their budgets.
Gregoire said she will propose a second budget — this one with a tax package — in January. In that budget, she said she will:
- Restore Basic Health and Apple Health
- Partially restore the General Assistance program
- Restore Levy Equalization
- Restore financial aid for college students
- Restore early childhood education funding
- Restore adult medical, dental, vision and hospice programs
- Restore funding for long-term and developmental disability care providers.
One tax idea that’s on the table: Nixing the sales tax exemption for out-of-state residents.
The final question of the press conference had nothing to do with the budget. Gregoire was asked about whether, in light of the recent killing of four Lakewood police officers, she would support a bill to deny bail to criminals with three strikes.
Gregoire paused for a while as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Yesterday was overwhelming,” she said of the memorial service in Tacoma, her lip visibly shaking.
“It was also heartwrenching. I had private time with the families. Those kids are so young to have lost their father or their mother. It was the most heartwrenching day for me as a governor,” she said.
“I will look with my colleagues at corrections … to see what we can do to ensure this doesn’t happen again. There’s no silver bullet. Bad people do bad things. As a community, we need to stand together and stand tall.”
She said we should thank police and help them “to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure that bad people who do bad things end up in prison.”
Tags: Gregoire, Lakewood shooting
GAU is supposed to be temporary, Gregoire said. “Much of the reason for it is to see those people who are truly disabled to a program called GAX” she said. “I have reviewed the numbers and … about 32 percent of those who come on are found to be ultimately eligible for the federal program,” she said, after six months. But after that, returns diminish to about 2 percent. So: She’s capping GAU to six months.
Austin Jenkins asked why not look at state workers: They’re the most expensive part of state government.
“When you do something that people believe to be illegal, you get sued,” she said, “so, if I unilaterally, in violation of contracts, take some of the actions that you just articulated, I am going to get sued,” she said.
He asked if that was a sign that state unions were too powerful. “This is not about power … we have people now that are doing critical work. You want me to let go of state patrol officers? I am not willing,” she said.
“I have had some very interesting discussions with people in the business community who I think have learned, you can’t run state government like a business,” she said.
While Gregoire was answering questions about taxes, Pete Callaghan from The News Tribune chimed in. Gregoire had said that she wasn’t sure whether tax increase votes (or tax loophole eliminations) would be taken to voters. She said she wouldn’t be boxed in.
But Callaghan said taking tax votes to the public wouldn’t be practical — it would require a wait to get on the ballot, and the big chance that voters would reject the increases, which would create a bigger problem.
She said to reporters, “He just answered your question.”
She said she’s been as specific as she can be today.
A TV reporter asked if she could address criticism that her budget was a worst-case scenario, meant to scare people into accepting tax increases.
“I sure can. To those that say that, you come show me a budget that cuts $2.6 billion. I don’t know of anything that has three digits that hasn’t been cut,” she said. “I am trying to tell people the truth. Let there be no mistake, this is not about scare tactics. I don’t believe in it. I’ve seen it done in another administration at the federal level. I don’t believe in it … this budget was done as thoughtfully as could be done. There was no discussion whatsoever about, How can we scare people? … this is the only way that we could come up with a balanced budget,” she said.
Gregoire said one cost-cutting measure will be consolidating “one-third of the state’s 64 small agencies.” And: “I will propose that we consolidate eight natural resource quasi-judicial boards into three,” she said.
Those, along with other changes, will “give our taxpayers more for their dollar” by “working smarter.”
“Closure of all or part of nine state institutions that will allow us to operate and save more efficiently without compromising patient care,” she said.
“We will close less-efficient prison units,” she said.
“Secondly, we have to help others to help ourselves,” she said. “Public safety is threatened when local fire and police departments don’t have adequate funding,” she said, and public health is dealing with H1N1 outbreaks and other problems, “So, I propose allowing local governments more flexibility … so they can focus their scarce dollars in these priority areas.”
“These changes and others will have an immediate impact on our ability to address budget shortfalls,” she said.
“To balance this budget, we end the Basic Health Plan,” she said.
General Assistance is also done, as is prescription drug assistance for 85,000 senior citizens.
“Washington values know that healthy moms produce healthy babies and healthy families. This budget suspends maternity support for more than $50,000 high-risk pregnant women,” she said.
Gregoire’s budget also cuts hospice assistance. And financial aid to over 12,000 low-income students. And suspends levy equalization, “which ensures that school districts in poorer areas can raise enough money” to ensure their schools can operate.
“These cuts and many, many more I have not mentioned are what we have to do,” she said. “They represent, I believe, the most responsible decisions we could make.”
Gregoire said she and her staff went through the budget line-by-line, looking at every program that could be cut.
Gregoire said the budget “does not reflect my values … let me be very clear, I do not support this budget. As required by law, it is balanced,” she said, “but unjust.”
In January, she says she’ll release another budget. And that means taxes. “I will balance the need to keep new taxes down,” she said. “My budget will restore the Basic Health Plan,” it will restore General Assistance, but scale it down and create caps. “I intend to restore hospice care for those who face the end of their lives and maternity care for those at the beginning of life … I will find a way to restore financial aid for low-income students,” she said.
“Make no mistake, we cannot raise enough revenue to stop all the cuts,” she said. “We need a combination of reduced funding for services and raising revenue,” she said. “At this point, I believe that everything needs to be on the table,” she said. “I am looking at closing tax loopholes and ending or extending other” tax laws.
“I know many of our families and businesses are struggling. I have seen hardships across this state,” she said. “Priority one is put Washingtonians back to work,” she said.
“We always come out stronger and better because we pull together when the challenges are greatest,” she said.
Gregoire said it would be “very hard” to raise Business and Occupation tax “across the board.” She said she struggles with raising property taxes.
She says she’s hoping for additional federal dollars, too. “As bad off as we are, there are plenty that are worse,” she said, of other states.
To further questions about specific taxes, Gregoire indicated that she wouldn’t want to ask voters whether to eliminate loopholes. But she wouldn’t go further. “I’m not going to lock myself in today, as much as you would like that,” she said, to reporters.
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