More on this: Mark your calendars for 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 19. That’s when the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will give the preliminary forecast.

The formal forecast will still be a month later, on March 19.

Two things:
1. They’re expecting a lot of people — Hearing rooms A, B and C have been reserved for the announcement.
2. They don’t sound like they’re expecting things to get better – the forecast is to provide the Legislature “with early guidance regarding the impact of deteriorating economic conditions…”

Tags: Budget, Revenue forecast

Thursday at 7 p.m. TVW’s Inside Olympia will look back at the last time the budget was this bad.

Host Austin Jenkins will talk with then-Gov. John Spellman as well as Republican House Speaker Bill Polk and House Minority (Democratic) Leader Wayne Ehlers. It ought to be a very interesting conversation.

Background: In Nov. 1979, Washington voters approved a Constitutional amendment to require the Legislature to meet annually. (Before then, it was a once-per-two-years affair.) According to the official legislative history, the following session, in Jan. 1980, was virtually a non-event.

In Nov. 1980, Republicans took control of the House, Democrats had a 25-24 lead in the Senate and Gov. Dixy Lee Ray was defeated.

And then: The state suddenly faced a budget shortfall of $1 billion.

If session this year has been stressful for you, reading this could give you heartburn (speaking from experience): In the middle of budget negotiations, a scale-tipping Senate Democrat switched parties, (more…)

Tags: Budget, Democrats, Inside Olympia, Republicans, taxes

Dorn’s press conference is playing on TVW right now. Go. Watch.

Not convinced? Here’s what Dorn just said on the technology:
“I don’t have to tell print journalists that the use of technology will rock your world. ”

And now for more on Dorn’s power to change the WASL without legislative approval: According to the draft schedule, there’s a 10 a.m. hearing next Tuesday when Dorn has the stage during a work session to present his “action plan” for the WASL.

We’ll have that live. Also, I’ll very soon have a clip where Dorn foreshadows this very day.

Tags: Dorn, WASL

Rep. Richard DeBolt just took the stage at a Republican press conference to offer their opinion on the Governor’s inaugural address.

He said he was recently talking to someone in his community who asked what the state was going to do since it’s out of money. He told the woman that the state actually has 5 percent more than last year.

Sen. Mike Hewitt, Republican leader in the Senate, said the state is largely to blame for the budget crisis because of overspending. He said his caucus supports Gregoire’s plan for sparking private sector business and reform the government.

(Gregoire, for her part, has said the state is mostly the victim of the national economy. “We all know our state didn’t make this economic crisis, and we all know we can’t unilaterally solve it,” she said today.)

“Those are things that we’ve talked about for years.”

Next up: Rep. Gary Alexander, a Republican from Olympia.

“I expected to see more dialogue in terms of reducing the budget,” he said. He said the Legislature needs to get to work cutting from the supplemental budget because every dollar cut from the last six months of this budget saves more in the long term. Read more on that in a post to come very soon, or here.

Sen. Joe Zarelli says: “The message that I’ve been trying to take to Sen. Brown and others in the majority is, even if you do decide to pursue more revenue, you’ve still got a sizable problem,” he said.

Zarelli said that Republicans look forward to working with Democrats to solve this problem, but “in the end of the day, they’re the majority party and they can choose the direction,” he said.

Tags: Budget, Governor, inauguration, Republicans

Rep. Dan Kristiansen, a Republican from Snohomish, is on TVW (and www.tvw.org) right now.

His message: In the last four years, majority Democrats have increased government spending by more than 33 percent.

“This is poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”

He said that’s like expecting to get a 33 percent pay raise, spending accordingly and then only getting a 5 percent raise.

“We have to come together as a Legislature, united to help the people.”

He said Republicans agree with one aspect of Gov. Gregoire’s budget: No tax increases.

He said Republicans are committed to “doing what is right, not what is political.” He said that means cutting spending and allowing the free market to take over, not government.

Tags: Governor, inauguration, Republican

At noon, I’ll be watching the Governor’s inaugural address to the House and Senate. Join me — and feel free to e-mail in any questions you have about what she’s saying: nikis@tvw.org.

At 7 p.m., you should plan on watching The Impact. This week’s show will feature an interview with Gov. Chris Gregoire, a profile on the big issues lawmakers plan to tackle this session, and a segment with top legislators in the House and Senate answering your questions on the budget.

And when you’re done at the Inaugural Ball, come back home and tune into the 11 p.m. Legislative Review show. Today, I’ll recap the Governor’s address, cover her economic development proposals and drop in on the House Ways & Means committee’s continued public hearings on the proposed budget. I also have my eye on the 1:30 p.m. Higher Education Committee, where they will discuss federal and state actions in higher eduction.

Tags: Governor, Higher Education, The Impact, TVW

- The Alaskan Way Viaduct: Governor Gregoire announced this morning that she — and a coalition of local lawmakers — are recommending that a deep-bore tunnel will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Cost: $4.24 billion. The Legislature will have to approve the option.

- These hearings.

- The Senate will unroll a “middle class jobs package” today at 12:45.

- All this and more. Look for a Viaduct update soon. (And watch TVW at 7 p.m. for the full press conference.)

Tags: Alaskan Way, Governor, Viaduct

Tonight at 11 p.m., Legislative Review will offer a complete recap of the day’s news and events. If you’re already in bed, you can watch tomorrow morning at 7:45 a.m. Or, as usual, anytime on the Web.

Here’s a preview:

- Office of Financial Management Director Victor Moore told the House Ways & Means Committee about the dire state of the budget.

- During floor session, House Speaker Frank Chopp remembered now-deceased House colleagues Reps. Steve Hailey and Bill Grant. He then told lawmakers that now is not the time to lose sight of the state’s goals.

- Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown told the Senate that this difficult budget time offers an opportunity to take a close look at how government works.

In other news, two women dressed as suffragists (not suffragettes) were in the Senate to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of women having the right to vote in this state.

Tags: Budget, House, Legislature, OFM, Senate

The 2009 Washington state Legislature starts on Monday. In the 105 days that follow, state lawmakers will need to put together a budget that addresses a projected $5.7 billion deficit.

Here’s Inside Olympia host Austin Jenkins talking to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt:

And here’s the City Club of Tacoma’s annual legislative preview, which was earlier this week:

Now go get some rest and get ready for Monday.

Tags: Democrats, House, Legislature, Lisa Brown, Republicans, Richard DeBolt, Senate, Washington

During Tuesday’s legislative forum, a few officials alluded to the budget picture getting worse. They won’t know until the next forecast in March, but Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Legislative Director, Marty Brown, put it this way: “I don’t think anyone in the room expects the Revenue Forecast to be up in March.”

Here’s the full AP Forum:

How bad could it be? Sen. Joe Zarelli, a Republican budget writer, predicted the deficit would be closer to $7 billion.

How could the budget picture get worse?

- During Legislative Assembly Days in early December, Arun Raha, executive director of the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, told members of the Ways & Means committees that the council predicted zero growth in holiday retail sales. A decline in sales, he said, would mean lower-than-predicted revenues.

And then: Late December storms hit, unemployment increased, and reports indicate that people didn’t spend as much as last year. That means holiday retail sales declined. We won’t know by how much until February.

During the budget-writers panel discussion at the legislative forum on Tuesday, here’s what lawmakers had to say:
(more…)

Tags: Budget, Governor, House, Senate