Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the final operating budget of her career Wednesday, saying she was pleased that it makes no cuts to education — a feat achieved “by the skin of our teeth.”

But that won’t be possible in the future without a new revenue source, Gregoire warned. It will cost about $1 billion to meet constitutional and “moral” obligations to the K-12 education system alone, she said at the bill signing.

“If anyone understands the harsh reality of the future, it’s me,” she said. “We cannot properly fund education in this state without more money.”

Gregoire said she was disappointed the Legislature didn’t eliminate more tax breaks after she gave them a list of options “as long as the room.” In the end, the Legislature ended a tax deduction that big banks can claim on first-time mortgages. That’s expected to generate about $15 million a year in new revenue, and another $12 million is expected to come from taxes added to roll-your-own cigarettes.

Many lawmakers opposed the roll-your-own measure, saying that it would put store owners out of business who have invested as much as $30,000 in the machines. But Gregoire said it is only right that people pay taxes on the product because “in the end, taxpayers pay the health care costs.”

The budget included several partial vetoes that will bring the ending fund balance down to $311 million. The original budget left about $320 in reserves.

Watch the full bill signing ceremony here.

Tags: Budget

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the $1 billion capital budget today at a ceremony at Tacoma Community College, which is receiving $39 million as part of the deal to build a new training center for health-related careers like nurses and radiology techs.

Dozens of other construction projects ranging from sewer improvements to roof repairs are included in the capital budget, which is backed in part by bonds.

Gregoire vetoed parts of the bill, including a $2 million “concession and event facility” at Lake Sammamish. She also vetoed a provision that would have created a loan consolidation board to look at state lending programs — including student loans –  which Gregoire said was not appropriate to mix with infrastructure loans.

The capital budget is expected to create 18,000 construction jobs across the state, and Gregoire said at the ceremony that it will also drive long-term economic development. “If you want a business here, you’ve got to show them you have infrastructure,” she said.

Gregoire cited a number of projects that she says will help spur growth — including one that she described as her “personal favorite” on the list: $5 million to build a wine research facility in Richland.

Tags: capital budget, Gregoire

As the Legislative special session spilled into 7-and-a-half hours of overtime over the last 31 days, Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was as “angry” as she’s ever been in her tenure as governor.

“Temperatures were high, emotions were high,” as lawmakers attempted to break a stalemate over the budget, Gregoire said. “It was my most difficult legislative session,” she said.

But in the end, Gregoire said they accomplished something notable: A budget with broad bipartisan support.

In the state Senate, the budget passed with a 44-2 vote; Republican Senators Mike Padden and Cheryl Pflug both voted no. The vote was 64-34 in the House, with eight Republicans joining the Democratic majority to vote yes.

“I don’t recall having a budget passed out of the Washington state Senate with only two no votes,” Gregoire said today at a press conference. “The end product for people of the state of Washington is significantly bipartisan.”

Democrats did not want to cut education or social safety net programs like Disability Lifeline, while Republicans wanted reforms that would make the budget more sustainable long-term, Gregoire said. The budget that the Legislature passed in the early morning hours Wednesday encompasses both demands.

The budget makes no cuts to education and leaves the social safety net largely in tact. It incorporates a handful of reforms, including a constitutional debt limit, changes to the health insurance system for K-12 public school employees, ending some early retirement benefits for state workers and a four-year balanced budget requirement. It uses an accounting maneuver that holds onto the sales tax revenue collected from local governments about a month longer, which boots the state’s cash flow to the tune of about $238 million.

Gregoire said she regrets the state was unable to put more money into funding K-12 education, and she would have also liked to see a larger transportation investment.

Watch video of the full press conference below.

Tags: Budget

After ending her moratorium of bill signings on Thursday, Gov. Chris Gregoire is set to sign all of the bills that remain on her desk today.

In remarks to the media this morning, Gregoire said there’s continued progress on a comprehensive budget package. Budget writers will continue working through the weekend, she said. But movement needs to happen early next week.

“If we don’t close this off on Tuesday, I don’t see how we get done,” said Gregoire, adding that she wants them done by Good Friday. Special session ends April 10th.

Among the bills she’s signing today:

• SB 5978, cracking down on Medicaid fraud. The bill allows whistleblowers to collect a portion of legal settlements, called a “qi tam provision” — a provision that already exists at the federal level, but not state.
• HB 2373, making changes to the Discover Pass program. The pass is required to visit state parks, and each annual $30 pass will now be transferable to two vehicles. It also creates a new $50 Family Discover Pass that will be transferable to any vehicle.

The complete list of bills she’s signing today is here.

On Thursday, Gregoire signed more than 100 bills after announcing that there has been significant progress on budget negotiations. She’s been refusing to sign bills into law for the past few weeks as a way to pressure lawmakers to get work done on the budget.

Budget writers are making progress on putting together an all-encompassing budget package, with about six major issues that remain to be resolved, Gov. Chris Gregoire said today at a news conference.

“Rather than piecemeal, I’m trying to put the whole agreement together,” so that party leaders can take it to their members and determine if it has enough votes to pass, Gregoire said.

Special session is now more than half over. Despite the closing window, Gregoire said she wanted to squash rumors that there would be a third special session, calling the idea “abhorrent.”

Her remarks came just before she was set to begin a marathon day of bill signing. Gregoire has been refusing to sign the vast majority of bills into law until lawmakers made progress on the budget.  That strategy worked, she said, and it forced legislators to come to the table.

“Their members were very upset,” she said. “We heard from them loud and clear.”

Tags: Budget, Gregoire

Gov. Chris Gregoire has an epic day of bill signing ahead of her today. She has 112 bills on her schedule, starting at 1 p.m. and running well into the evening. The complete list of bills is here. TVW will be airing the bill signings live on the web.

Of note:

• Twelve bills aimed at combating human trafficking, including one that will require online escort services such as Backpage.com to verify the ages of those depicted in ads. Backpage.com is owned by Seattle Weekly’s parent company, Village Voice Media.

• SB 5539, extending a program that grants tax credits to filmmakers to 2017. It’s aimed at attracting more movie and TV production to Washington state.

It’s unclear if the flood of bill signings means that there’s movement on the budget. Last week, Gregoire issued a “no budget, no bills” threat — refusing to sign the vast majority of bills into law until lawmakers made significant progress on the budget.

Tags: filmmaker, human trafficking

Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday the state will appeal a judge’s ruling that Washington state cannot compel pharmacies to sell emergency contraceptives such as Plan B.

Ralph’s Thriftway in Olympia and two other pharmacists first brought the suit in 2007, arguing that they should not have to dispense Plan B or other emergency contraceptives because it is against their religious beliefs. U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton issued a ruling last month saying the state’s rules violate the constitutional rights of the pharmacists.

Gregoire said in a statement she fully supports the decision to appeal the ruling.

“Any decision that puts patients at risk by delaying or denying them lawful and lawfully prescribed medications should be carefully reviewed by a higher court,” Gregoire said.

Tags: healthcare

Gov. Chris Gregoire is continuing to pressure lawmakers to strike a budget deal by refusing to sign the vast majority of bills into law. Or, as she put it: “No budget, no bills.”

Gregoire said budget writers met this morning, but there doesn’t appear to be any movement on what have been the two biggest sticking points: Democrats want to delay about $340 million in payments to school districts by a day, pushing it into the next budget cycle. Republicans want to skip a $140 million pension payment.

Gregoire said those two issues have become so “toxic” that she’s put a third alternative on the table. She declined to say what her suggestion was.

Gregoire signed nearly a dozen bills Monday, saying she doesn’t want to hold up bills that citizens worked hard to pass. But the vast majority of bills will remain unsigned to send a message to legislators and lobbyists, Gregoire said.

Tags: Budget, Gov. Chris Gregoire

Gov. Chris Gregoire is slated to sign nearly a dozen bills this afternoon at 1:30 p.m.  Among them is SB 6384, which allows people with developmental disabilities who are enrolled in employment training programs to get access to community services, like independent living and life skills training.

Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, criticized the governor for removing the bill from her schedule last week along with 50 others, saying the developmentally disabled community shouldn’t have “bills held hostage just because the governor hasn’t gotten her way on the budget.” Gov. Gregoire threatened last week to veto or hold off on signing bills until lawmakers struck a budget deal.

She’s also signing the collaborative schools bill, or HB 2799, which pairs six low-performing elementary schools with colleges of education. The colleges will create a teacher training lab for the school — similar to medical residency programs — under the bill, which was introduced to the Legislature at the request of the governor.

Also on the docket: SB 5991, which strengthens the state’s mandatory child abuse reporting laws. Spurred by the Penn State sex abuse scandal, the bill requires that all university employees report suspected child abuse to their supervisors. Administrative, academic and athletic department employees must report suspected abuse directly to law enforcement.

Tags: Gov. Chris Gregoire

Yesterday, Gov. Chris Gregoire had some harsh words for legislators: Get some work done or she’ll start vetoing their bills. Here’s the full video:

Tags: Budget, Governor, veto