The House voted to pass the latest Democratic budget proposal with a 54-43 vote Thursday afternoon.

It now heads to the Senate, where Republicans and the moderate Democrats who are siding with them on budget matters said Wednesday that the offer doesn’t have strong enough reforms for them to support it.

During the House debate, lead budget writer Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said that “despite tremendous financial difficulties,” the budget does not cut education.

It also saves the state’s safety net “in the best way possible,” said Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Covington.

But Republican Rep. Gary Alexander of Olympia said the budget isn’t sustainable. Nor is it helpful, he said, adding that he believes it “detracts” from the negotiation process.

“Buried deep inside this budget are scary details,” said Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches. “I don’t believe it is ready for prime time.”

The Senate budget writing committee has a hearing scheduled for Friday to consider reforms related to the budget proposal. Special session ends next Tuesday.

Tags: Budget

The House today is taking up a number of bills, and is expected to vote on the Democratic budget proposal this afternoon. Watch live on TVW or the web, and we’ll post updates on the blog.

First up, the House debated a bill that would add state cigarette taxes to roll-your-own cigarettes. Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, said roll-your-own cigarettes are a way for customers and stores to sidestep taxes, and it isn’t fair to those who play by the rules. 

Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, spoke in opposition to the bill, saying it will only put people out of business and won’t generate enough revenue to help with the budget deficit.

“Is this going to balance the budget? Are you kidding me?” Condotta asked. The bill passed 65-32.

They also took up a proposal to change the way the state handles sales tax revenue collected from local governments, a measure that was introduced by House Democrats in their latest budget proposal. The bill keeps the money in the state’s general fund longer, giving the state a boost in its cash flow every month.

Local governments are not opposed to it, and the accounting maneuver is done by a number of other states, said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina. The bill passed 82-15.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed a measure that amends the Constitution to include the recommendations of the state debt commission. They then adjourned until Friday morning.

Tags: Budget

The latest budget proposal by House Democrats “takes us further apart than brings us together,” said Senate Republican budget leader Joe Zarelli, adding that he didn’t see it as a “good faith effort” to reach a compromise.

Zarelli said at a press conference the proposed budget is not sustainable because it doesn’t leave enough money in reserves for the future, and it uses “one-time” money to pay for ongoing programs.

“They created a bigger hole structurally than their last budget that they passed in the dying days of regular session,” Zarelli said.

House Democrats introduced a new budget proposal this morning that leaves $335 million in reserves, and it boosts the state’s cash flow by holding onto sales tax money collected from local governments a month longer.

Sen. Rodney Tom, who was one of three Democrats to join the GOP to pass a budget during regular session, said that the budget proposal doesn’t go far enough in terms of reforms.

“It boggles my mind that we go to this ‘Washington lite’ model, doing the most minimum change possible,” Tom said.

Given the current situation, it is “highly unlikely” that the Legislature will adjourn with a budget deal by the time special session ends next week, said Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup.

Tags: Budget

House Democratic leaders released a new budget proposal today, saying they are moving closer to the Republicans’ position by offering a number of reforms.

Rep. Ross Hunter, chairman of the House budget writing committee, acknowledged that he doesn’t know if the new plan has enough votes to break the impasse, but said it was time to get the process moving.

“If there’s any opportunity to be done by next Tuesday, we have to move some bills forward,” said House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan at a press conference. Special session ends two days after Easter.

The budget proposal does not delay payments to public schools — a major sticking point in previous budget debates. Originally, Democrats had proposed pushing back millions in school payments by one day so that the expenditure fell into the next two-year budget cycle, and Republicans criticized it as punting responsibility to the next Legislature.

Instead, the budget proposal would keep $238 million in sales tax revenue collected from local governments in the state’s general fund longer, giving the state a boost in its cash flow every month. Hunter said a number of other states do the same, and it would “modernize” the way the state handles its cash without delaying any payments.

The budget does not include any cuts to K-12 or higher education. It would, however, repeal Initiative 728, a measure passed by voters in 2000 as a way to reduce class sizes, but without a way to fund it. The Legislature has regularly suspended the measure during economic downturns, and Rep. Hunter said the money could be more effectively used elsewhere.

The plan includes a number of reforms, including one that would eliminate some pension benefits for new state employees hired after July 1. Rep. Hunter said the proposal does not go as far as the pension reform proposed by Senate Republicans, but “it’s as far as we can go to get the votes.”

It also includes a balanced budget bill with a 4-year “outlook,” and a bill that would consolidate health insurance benefits for K-12 public school employees. It removes a proposed 5 percent increase to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and would eliminate about 1,400 state employees.

The proposal leaves $335 million in reserves.

Senate Republicans and moderate Democrats held a press conference to respond, saying that they didn’t believe the reforms go far enough. Read more about their response here.

Tags: Budget

House Democratic leaders will put out a new budget proposal Wednesday morning and say they plan to take action on it later this week. TVW will be live with their press conference starting at 10 a.m.

The House budget writing will also hold a public hearing on a number of budget-related bills, including pension reform and consolidating K-12 public school employee health benefits.

“The length of time it takes to pass a budget through both chambers means we have to begin moving things now,” said House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan in a statement.

House Democratic leaders said they have not reached a budget deal with Republicans, but wanted to get the process moving. Special session ends on April 10th — two days after Easter. House budget chair Ross Hunter said the time has come to “act as well as talk.”

Other bills the House budget writing committee is set to hear on Wednesday include changing the way the state handles local sales tax revenue, creating a 4-year balanced budget requirement and a proposal to repeal I-728, the voter-approved initiative that reduces class sizes.

Tags: Budget

Rob McKenna today said a Democratic “failure of leadership” in the Legislature is at fault for protracted budget negotiations, and the Republican gubernatorial candidate urged adoption of reform bills that he says have bipartisan support.

McKenna said House Speaker Frank Chopp won’t allow a vote on the reform bills, despite offers from Republicans who are “ready to move quite a ways” toward a compromise.

“But they haven’t seen once inch of compromise from the speaker’s office,” McKenna said. “He will not allow any vote on any reform bill, even those that have strong Democratic support.”

McKenna said he supports a pension reform bill and 4-year balanced budget bill that were both part of the budget that passed the Senate with the support of Republicans and three moderate Democrats, then stalled in the Democratic-controlled House.

He also called for a number of long-term reforms during a press conference held in front of the newly built state Data Center building in Olympia,  which houses data and IT services. McKenna said the $268 million building is an example of government spending without oversight — rental space in the building costs double the going rate per square footage, McKenna said, and data storage could have been contracted out to “cloud” services for less money.

In addition to contracting out some state services to private businesses, McKenna called for reducing 5 percent of the state’s workforce through attrition, implementing a performance-based pay system, and giving the Legislature more power in negotiating labor contracts for workers’ pay and benefits. He outlined all of his ideas in a policy paper.

Update: Democratic Sen. Ed Murray, who chairs the Senate budget writing committee, issued a statement Monday evening saying McKenna is not part of the budget negotiations and his account of them “is not true and certainly not helpful.” Murray said House Speaker Frank Chopp has been working with budget negotiators daily.

“I’m surprised that McKenna, our state’s attorney general, thinks it’s constructive to insert himself into legislative negotiations as a political candidate,” Murray said.

Watch video of McKenna’s press conference below.

Tags: Budget, McKenna

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

Republicans and Democrats have been locked at an impasse in budget negotiations over two main sticking points: Republicans want to skip a pension payment, while Democrats would prefer to push back payments to school districts into the next budget cycle.

Jordan Schrader of The News Tribune has a story today about a proposed third alternative that could potentially break the logjam. The idea would keep $238 million in sales tax revenue collected from local governments in the state’s general fund longer, giving the state a boost in its cash flow every month. Read more about it here.

Although Gov. Chris Gregoire has said she put a third alternative on the table, she’s previously declined to say what it is. Earlier this week, Gregoire said the two ideas put forth by Republicans and Democrats had become so “toxic” that they needed a fresh proposal.

Tags: Budget

Several legislators held a press conference today to draw attention to what they say is an attack on women’s healthcare rights in the budget proposed by Senate Republicans and three moderate Democrats.

“This budget moves us backwards,” said Sen. Sharon Nelson, D-Seattle. The budget proposal includes a 27 percent cut in family planning grants, which help provide reproductive health education and services. It also reduces funding to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, Nelson said.

They called for the revival of a bill requiring insurers to cover abortion services. It passed the House with a 52-46 vote, but when Republicans took control of the Senate floor using a procedural maneuver earlier this month, the bill was essentially killed — along with other non-budget bills that hadn’t yet come up for a vote.

“We must shine the light on this attack on a woman’s right to chose, ” said Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma. Jinkins said she believes there are enough votes for the bill in the Senate, and she wants to see it called to the floor during special session.

The group also celebrated the two-year anniversary of President Obama’s federal healthcare reform, or the Affordable Care Act. The Legislature passed a bill during regular session that helps the state implement the act, which the governor is slated to sign on Friday,  said Sen. Karen Keiser.

Meanwhile, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday that budget writers are making significant progress, and she may be open to signing more bills into law. Last week, Gregoire said she wouldn’t sign the vast majority of bills — or veto them altogether — if lawmakers didn’t make progress on budget negotiations. Since then, she’s slowed her bill signing ceremonies down to a trickle.

Tags: Budget, 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