Gov. Chris Gregoire says she’s calling a special session to begin on Nov. 28. Why that date? “We need to get a budget done well before Christmas,” she said, but they also need the benefit of seeing the November revenue forecast.

“I have met with all four caucus leaders and all four budget leaders,” she said. She’s asking them all to work together. “Let’s do what we did last session so effectively,” she said, so in January, lawmakers can roll up their sleeves and try to find ways to spur job growth.

“Over the next week, I will provide our Legislature with the 10 percent reductions” requested from state agencies, she said. “However, let me be clear, not even that is enough to get us out of the hole,” she said.

“Our work will be brutal,” she said, but she’s not asking the Legislature to start from scratch: She’ll provide a “road map” with some proposed cuts. “Everything has to be on the table,” she said, including public schools, universities, social services and more. “We cannot take … a Pac-Man approach to the budget. We can’t just keep taking little bites out of one program, little bites out of one service,” she said. Instead, the state will have to admit there are some things it cannot do.

She said the $2 billion in cuts will come from $8.7 billion in areas where the state can actually make cuts. The remainder of the budget constitutes debt repayment and other mandatory spending. “Everything over which we have legal discretion … there will be those who disagree with us,” she said, and may file a lawsuit, but in her opinion the state can cut from social services, healthcare, education and corrections. “Those are the only places where there’s any real amount of money to get to $2 billion.”

She said she wants this done and finished before the next regular legislative session begins in January. “Let’s reserve the 2012 session to work on the policies that will help our economy,” she said.

What about taxes? “Premature. I won’t take anything off the table, I’ve asked them not to, so I won’t,” she said. “I’m not talking revenue now… I will take nothing off the table at this point.”

Why not start now? “We’re doing exactly what would be done if we came into legislative session in 2012. We’re doing it so we can get done in December,” she said. “I think they come in once all the work has been done,” she said, including committee meetings. “I think it helps them if I give them a start on it all, so that’s why I intend to give them a plan. They can disagree with it … I want them to begin the debate early,” she said.

Tags: Governor, special session

Today at 9:30 a.m., tune to TVW to watch Gov. Chris Gregoire hold a media availability on “next steps” in the budget. This comes a week after the state’s chief economic forecaster predicted the state will see about $1.4 billion less in revenue over the next two years.

Tune in today and read all about it right here.

Tags: Budget, economy, Governor, special session

Enjoy!

Tags: Budget, House, Hunter, sine die, special session

Members of the House and Senate are meeting right now — at 10 a.m. — to unveil their budget agreement. You can watch live on TVW or at TVW.org. Or read-along here.

Sen. Ed Murray began the press conference. “This process didn’t take a long time because of partisan disagreements … but how do you cut a budget. Cutting a budget means cutting schools, cutting healthcare,” he said, and the question was how to do that in a reasonably responsible way. “This was a good process,” he said.

Highlights of the budget: The budget cuts $4.6 billion — $200 million less than the Senate proposal, Murray said.

For K-12: “We lowered the K-12 salary reductions from the Senate position down to 1.9″ percent, said Rep. Ross Hunter. “In making some of the changes, we were able to shift some of the money around in high-poverty schools,” he said.

Murray: Higher education sees $600 million in reductions, based on the Senate budget formula. It includes the Senate tuition policy, too.

Hunter: On healthcare, he said they reduced the cut to low-income health clinics. “We do not freeze admission into the childrens’ health program,” he said, but the eligibility is lowered to 200 percent of poverty.

After the highlights, they turned the microphone over to other legislative leaders.

“I just want to give credit to the chair for being willing to stay committed to (bipartisan bargaining),” said Sen. Joe Zarelli. “In my 16 years I’ve never seen a process such as what we had here.” He said all four corners have worked together on this budget. “What it means ultimately is nobody gets their way in everything.”

Sen. Lisa Brown said Democrats decided at a retreat in December to work across the political divide. “We felt that we wanted to risk moving from a traditional approach to a bipartisan approach,” she said, because the risks of the traditional process were “too great.” She said she and other lawmakers learned a lot from the process.

Sen. Mike Hewitt: “A lot of people said that we couldn’t get this done,” he said, “but we did.” He said they’ve all been locked in rooms with the governor for hours at a time — and that means lawmakers will work better together in the future.

Rep. Gary Alexander: “The thing that’s important from my perspective is … I am very appreciative of the fact that we have been at the table,” he said. “In many cases, the final conference budget that’s come out, I’m reading it for the first time,” he said — so even being in the negotiations was a big step.

Rep. Pat Sullivan: “You see a lot of tired eyes up here,” he said, from all the late nights. He said he’s thankful for the “unbelievable” staff, who haven’t had a break since last year. “I think that they deserve a good vacation.”  He also thanked his Senate and House colleagues for the “extraordinary” process.

Rep. Ross Hunter: “It’s a daunting job to try to absorb … tens of billions of dollars of revenue and expenditure that have to balance,” he said. “In the end, the product that we have produced is a responsible approach, it’s a thoughtful approach,” he said. He said this is the most sustainable budget that the Legislature has produced in some time.

Now, for questions. (more…)

Tags: Budget, House, Senate, special session

Gov. Chris Gregoire just held a press conference to discuss the end of the regular legislative session and the timing of the special session. She was joined by the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the House.

The governor said she will call lawmakers back in for a special session beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m., with the purpose of finding agreement on the two budgets (Operating and Capital) and passing the bills necessary to implement their plans.

“They have done it in a way that is responsive to the people of Washington,” said Gregoire. She said that in addition to the budget, they must act on workers’ compensation reform. “I congratulate them on the hard work they have invested thus far.”

“This legislature has come together and it has done so in the toughest of times,” said Gregoire.

Several of the proposals she made at the beginning of the session, she said, were met with bipartisan support and acted on immediately. For example, Gregoire said, lawmakers worked to get extend unemployment benefits, give injured workers better health care and pass the Launch Year Act.

The governor said the TransAlta bill showed the legislature’s commitment to the state’s environment and future.

She congratulated both the House and the Senate for passing the Transportation Budget earlier today.

Total bill count is down from the past, said Gregoire. By the end of the day she will have signed 161 bills. As tempting has it might have been,  the governor said, they did not start new programs that demanded funding.

(more…)

Tags: Governor, special session

With the word from Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown that special session is a likelihood (see post below), I thought I’d post a little reminder about how it all works.

- If two-thirds in the House and Senate vote to do so, the Legislature can call itself into special session. If they go this route, they can limit the scope of the work that they do.

- During a special session called by the Legislature, a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate can add items to the agenda.

- If the governor calls the Legislature into special session, she can suggest what they work on but they are not bound to that suggestion.

- In either case, the special session is limited to 30 days a pop.

- Some recent special sessions include 2001 and 2003 — each had three special sessions.

- Last year, the Legislature had two special sessions — a 30-day session immediately after regular session, and a one-day special session in December to make early-action budget cuts. Both were called by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Most of the information above is from an earlier post — but it never hurts to have a refresher. Just in case. Enjoy.

Tags: special session

The Legislature met today in special session to vote on $588 million in cuts to address the $1.1 billion shortfall the state faces this fiscal year.

Rep. Gary Alexander said this is just the beginning. “We have more to go, but we’ve started down the path,” he said. “I would ask for your support.”

Rep. Pat Sullivan also said he was in support of the bill, and Rep. Kelli Linville, the budget chair who was no re-elected, said she will vote yes and encouraged lawmakers to work together throughout the session to find a budget solution.

The Ways and Means Committee passed the bill unanimously.

Update 1: The House just passed the budget, 86 to 6. It now heads to the Senate. Watch along live at TVW.

Update 2: The Senate has just convened and are getting ready to take up the tax holiday bill.

Sen. Phil Rockefeller: “Under this bill, the Department of Revenue is authorized to waive most penalties and interest” for overdue business taxes “if payment on those overdue taxes is made by May 1 of 2011.” Rockefeller said there are limitations and requirements for taxpayers to prevent serial tax dodgers from participating. The bill passed unanimously.

Update 2: On the child support pass-through bill, they had a brief debate (only Sen. Jim Kastama spoke against the bill) and passed it.

Update 3: Now they’re moving on to the supplemental budget. Sen. Eric Oemig proposed an amendment to prevent damaging cuts to education, but Sen. Ed Murray said the cuts are a necessary evil. “Given the circumstances we’re under, I urge a no vote.” The amendment failed.

Now for final passage.

(more…)

Tags: budget cuts, special session, state budget

We just got word that Gov. Chris Gregoire is calling the Legislature into special session on Saturday at 9 a.m.

See you there!

Tags: special session

So far, there’s no news out of the capitol on when the special session will be held. Gov. Chris Gregoire gave legislative leaders a Thursday afternoon deadline to come up with the date to meet. We’ll keep you posted.

But: The recounts are finished and the elections are now certified. All three Republican challengers kept their leads — Steve Litzow will now represent the 41st District in the Senate, Vincent Buys will represent the 42nd district in the House and Hans Zeiger will join him in the House, representing the 25th district. Go here for more information on those recounts.

For more news on state government, don’t miss The Impact tonight at 7 and 10 p.m. with host Jessica Gao.

Tags: legislative races, recount, special session

Gov. Chris Gregoire told lawmakers today that she will call a special session before Christmas to deal with the $1.1 billion shortfall in the 2009-2011 biennial budget, according to The Seattle Times.

“I made it clear we’re going into special session,” Gregoire said. “I just want to know from them what day they want to come in. I’d like them to come in, get the job done and go home.”

Stay tuned — TVW will cover it. In the meantime, watch live committee days hearings on TVW now.

Tags: special session