Lawmakers working toward a midnight deadline cleared another hurdle when the House voted to pass a four-year balanced budget measure with a 79-19 vote.

The bill changed in negotiations from the version that the Senate passed on Monday, which would have required the budget to be in line with the four-year revenue forecast prepared by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

Instead of relying on the revenue forecast — which critics said was too unpredictable — the bill assumes 4.5 percent revenue growth each year. That’s a figure that has remained fairly steady since the ’80s, said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina.

“This will enable us to do solid regular planning and not get whip-lashed by large changes in the forecast,” Hunter said.

Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, said he hopes the bill will end the Legislature’s habit of going into multiple special sessions by forcing lawmakers to “look four years into the future for long-term solutions.”

UPDATE: The Senate passed the balanced budget bill with 38-9 vote following remarks by bill sponsor Sen. Jim Kastama, who said it was a good compromise.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed a bill that repeals Initiative 728. Voters approved the initiative in 2000 as a way to reduce classroom sizes, but without a way to fund it. The Legislature has regularly suspended the measure during economic downturns. It also establishes a task force focused on funding basic education.

Tags: Budget, Reform

The state Senate passed two reform bills Saturday that have been key to budget negotiations. The bills now head to the House, which is set to consider some of the reform bills in the budget writing committee on Monday.

The first measure changes health insurance benefits for K-12 public school employees. It requires all employees to pay some portion of their health insurance premiums, capping the cost of family premiums at three times that of a single individual.

School districts must offer a high deductible health insurance plan with a health savings account – if they don’t, their employees will be automatically moved into the state system.

“For 22 years we have had an inefficient health care system for K-12 school employees,” said bill sponsor Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens. He said the inefficient system “must end or be accounted for.”

The bill passed 29-17.

The other reform bill is a balanced budget requirement proposed by Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup. It requires the state to craft a budget that is in line with the four-year revenue forecast by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

Senate majority leader Lisa Brown said during the debate that revenue forecasts are a craft, not a science. She showed legislators a letter from former state economist Arun Raha, who said it would be “unwise” to tie budgets to an unpredictable number.

“No other state does a four-year budgeting requirement because we can’t see the future,” Brown said.

Sen. Kastama said the requirement has some built-in flexibility because it will be in statute and not a constitutional amendment, as he had originally proposed. It allows for a variance of 5 percent from the revenue forecast, he said, which amounts to $1.5 billion dollars up or down.

“The public is tired of this roller coaster ride on budgeting,” said Kastama. The bill passed 30-16.

Tags: Budget, Reform

Senate Democrats will introduce their version of the supplemental operating budget Tuesday morning at 10:30. You can watch live on TVW — and we’ll be blogging along here.

Sen. Ed Murray will unveil the budget — unlike last year, he won’t be joined by his Republican counterpart, Sen. Joe Zarelli. He will, however, be joined by fellow Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Sens. Derek Kilmer and Jim Hargrove. In addition to unveiling the budget, they’ll discuss job creation strategies and government reform.

With just about a week and a half left of session, we’ll be watching tomorrow to see how close the Senate proposal is to the House-backed plan introduced last week.

Tags: Budget, Jobs, Reform, Senate

The House Judiciary committee is voting on several bills this afternoon, including legislation that would allow same-sex marriage in Washington state. They will also be voting on an adoption bill that would allow adoptees to access their own birth certificates, and a bill supported by Attorney General Rob McKenna that would tighten stalking laws. We will be live with coverage on TVW starting at 1:30 p.m., and we’ll have more on the blog and tonight’s edition of Legislative Review.

Also live on TVW today: At 10 a.m., the Senate Government Ops committee is holding public hearings on bills that would make changes to the state’s Growth Management Act, which was enacted in the early ’90s as a way to limit suburban sprawl. And at 3:30 p.m., the Senate Ways & Means committee is holding a work session on government reform.

Tags: adoption, gay marriage, Growth Management Act, Reform, stalking

This week: Senate Democrat Leader Lisa Brown and House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt share their views on the state budget, possible tax hikes, and other key issues facing the 2012 State Legislature. Enjoy.

Tags: Budget, House, Inside Olympia, Reform, Senate, taxes

Senate Democrats outlined what they hope to achieve this legislative session in an meeting for reporters Thursday afternoon.  Some items are already in consideration, and Sen. Lisa Brown said they plan to introduce others as bills in the upcoming weeks.

Among their priorities:

• Consolidating K-12 public school employee benefits (something we reported on earlier this week)
• Combining some regulatory permits, such as those related to the State Environmental Policy Act.
• Reevaluate leases on buildings. Government downsizing has created a lot of empty space in buildings with 5 or 10-year leases and “we don’t have an escape clause,” said Sen. Jim Hargrove.
• Create a commission that would look for cost saving measures and reorganization opportunities within state government.

They also handed out a packet with dozens more ideas — we’ll keep you posted on which reform ideas from across the legislature gain traction this session.

Tags: Reform, Senate Democrats

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a package of government reforms that she hopes the Legislature will act on during regular session. She said the state has made real reforms in the past several years — and those changes have been difficult.

“Our public servants today are doing more with less,” she said, and are paying for more of their benefits and pensions.

Her new reform ideas? First, turn the lottery over to the private sector — or at least explore the idea. “Some have asked me, Should the state be in the gambling business?” She said she’s open to the idea of taking bids to see if the private sector could do better, similar to what the state did with liquor privatization bids before Initiative 1183 passed.

Second: She’s asking the Legislature to end the paid Liquor Control Board. The existing director and staff would take over the duties. “If a board is needed, I believe it should be voluntary,” she said, like the Lottery Commission. She said the move would save more than $700,000 a biennium.

Third reform: Expand the Department of Enterprise Services, which opened Oct. 1 and combines a five departments’ back-office functions into one. She said it’s already paid dividends, and she’s ready to look at expanding it.

Fourth: She’s issuing an executive order to all cabinet-level agencies to continue to find efficiencies through the LEAN process. A Boeing team of four executives will help the state with this process for another six months, free of charge.  Children’s Hospital and Group Health will also help.  “LEAN is about eliminating anything that doesn’t serve the customer efficiently and effectively,” she said.

“Three years ago I said to the people of our state, We cannot waste this crisis,” she said. “I can come to the people of this state today and say we did not and we will not.”

Click through to the jump to see press Q&A to the governor and the press release on the Governor’s reforms. (more…)

Tags: Gov. Chris Gregoire, Reform

The House considered a bill this morning to create more disclosure for campaign mailers. Rep. Troy Kelley says drafting the bill has been a long process. “It is very different than the Senate version,” he said, in part because “I am a lawyer (and I) attempted to draft something very narrow.”

His goal was to address three issues:  shadow Political Action Committees,  disclosure, and fines.

On the topic of disclosure, Kelley said that mailers sent out by Political Action Committees should be kept on file. He said the current system makes it very difficult to track down mailers — let alone who sent them.

He said repeat offenders — even if they are operating under different PAC names — should be fined.

Tags: campaign, disclosure, Reform

“Today we are announcing a significant new effort in how we’re going to create our budget,” Gregoire said, starting out her announcement. “We are seeing hopeful signs in our economic recovery but quite frankly, we are also seeing that things are not going to get back to the way they were anytime soon.”

She said in the first five months of this year, the state has added 14,000 new jobs — but that doesn’t hold a candle to the jobs lost. “Credit is tight for our businesses and tighter than it was two years ago.”

As a result of the economic crisis, she said, state revenues are down. When the 2011 Legislature meets, they’ll face a $3 billion projected shortfall.

“Today must mark the start of something different,” she said, to “think differently, to ask our questions in a new way.” She said tough choices aren’t new to the state, which has cut $5.1 billion in spending over the past two years.

She said the changes aren’t just about the process, they’re about building a strong financial foundation. “It’s about transforming government to meet the needs and the economic realities” of the future.

So: She wants to reform budget writing. “There are no sacred cows. We’re going to ask new and challenging questions” about state programs. “In addition to the rigorous budget process, I’ll challenge our state agencies” to go beyond “priorities of government” budgeting and consider fiscal responsibility, performance and efficiency.

Those three additional areas each have several questions. Example: Is this an essential service? If so, is it something that can be provided by others. “Could Washington State Ferries be managed by an outside organization,” she asked, by way of example. She said many ferry services are private run or on the way to that — ditto for the state data center. (more…)

Tags: Budget, Governor, Reform

Read Gov. Chris Gregoire’s press release after the jump.
(more…)

Tags: healthcare, Reform