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March 23, 2009
Dear friends and neighbors,
Last Thursday, the state's Economic and Revenue Forecast
Council released the latest revenue forecast for the
state. The news was not good. There is another reduction
of incoming revenue to Washington, and that puts our
latest state budget deficit at a record $8.8 billion.
Although that's a very large figure, I believe we can
and must balance the state's budget without increasing
taxes. More than 330,000 people are out of work in
Washington. We should not be asking them to bail out
state government when many can't even afford to put
groceries on the table.
I tend to agree with the comments of Sen. Joe
Zarelli, a member of the Forecast Council who said:
“While this
forecast certainly widens what is already a record
budget gap, we must remember state government still
expects to take in as much revenue in 2009-11 as it will
receive in this biennium. Think of all the families and
job creators in our state who would be happy to be in
that position. Today’s revenue projection really doesn’t
change the choice facing the majority party. Its members
can roll up their sleeves, balance the current budget,
reduce discretionary spending in favor of funding
essential government services, and quit talking about
tax increases. Or, they can throw their hands in the
air, slash funding for what should be the priorities of
government and try frightening the voters into approving
a bailout. One of these approaches is leadership, one is
not."
At the same time we're working to address the budget
crisis, we also need to be thinking of ways to prevent
it from happening in the future. I've listed several
ideas below in this newsletter which we need to
implement now to protect taxpayers.
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Thank you for the honor of allowing me
to serve you!
Sincerely,
P.S. - When e-mailing me, please do not hit
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you!
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Getting our state budget in check for the future
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Washington got
into this budget mess primarily because the
Legislature spent more money than it took in...
even though revenue has steadily increased over
the past several years.
To prevent this
from happening again, several bills have been
proposed that would hold the Legislature
accountable and protect taxpayers.
They include:
House Bill 1654 (co-sponsored by Rep.
Armstrong) would establish a period of public
and legislative review for the state's major
appropriations bills. Dubbed "The Budget
Sunshine Act," it would require a five-day
waiting period before either legislative body
could vote on the operating, capital or
transportation budgets.
House Bill 1655 (co-sponsored by Rep.
Armstrong) would require the Legislature to
adopt a balanced budget. While the governor is
statutorily obligated to propose a
balanced budget, there is currently no
requirement for the Legislature to adopt one.
This could lead to the practice of
borrowing or issuing bonds in order to pay for
daily, ongoing expenses. |
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House Bill 1657 (co-sponsored by Rep.
Armstrong) would establish that the paramount
duty and first priority of the Legislature is to
fund education. The bill would require a
separate education budget be enacted before any
other general spending plan could be adopted.
House Bill 1902 would simplify the budget
language for the public by eliminating all of
the dedicated accounts contained in the near
general fund. These accounts, such as the health
services account, the water quality account, and
the education trust legacy account would be
rolled into the general fund.
House Bill 2228, would prohibit the governor
or the Legislature from proposing an operating
budget deemed unsustainable in the ensuing
biennium, or the following biennium after that
one.
House Joint Resolution 4207 would establish
a state spending limit for the fiscal year
beginning July 1, 2010. The fiscal limit
mirrors the original language found in the
voter-approved Initiative 601 by limiting
expenditures to an increase in the state's
population and inflation growth over the
previous three years.
House Joint Resolution 4209 would require
exceptional state revenue to be deposited into
the state's "rainy day fund" during good
economic times.
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Limiting prisoners' access to public records
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Earlier last week, the
House voted on a bill I successfully amended
that would limit prisoners' access to public
records. During the committee hearing on
Senate Bill 5130, two correctional officers
from the Clallam Bay Correctional Institution on
the Olympic Peninsula discussed major problems
created by about a half dozen inmates. The
prisoners were using the Public Records Act to
obtain personal information about the
correctional officers and their families as a
way to intimidate them.
Clallam Bay
also had to add a full-time staff person to meet
the 350 thousand request forms. That's a
horrible abuse of the system.
SB 5130, which passed the House 94-2,
limits the ability
of inmates in state penitentiaries from making
frivolous and excessive public records requests.
It was signed into law late last week by the
governor. |
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Anti-styrofoam
bill is dead
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| One of the larger
employers in Wenatchee is Dolco Packaging, which
is is a nationwide supplier of polystyrene foam
products. A bill in Olympia took direct aim at
this company and I fought hard against it.
House Bill 2089 would have prohibits food
service businesses from selling or providing
food for
consumption in polystyrene packages, beginning
January 1, 2010. This would have been a major
hit against our local manufacturer, not to
mention the difficulties it would have caused
for restaurants and other food service
organizations throughout Washington.
I'm pleased to report we have killed this
bill. Although the measure passed out of
committee, we were able to stop it from coming
to the House floor for a vote before the cutoff
deadline. |
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Although the legislation is dead this year, we
need to remain vigilant next year to keep this
job killer measure from advancing. |
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House
approves tax break for farmers using propane
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Great news for
farmers who use propane! The House of
Representatives has approved
House Bill 2275, which I co-sponsored, that
would provide a sales and use tax exemption for
the non-highway use of propane by farmers.
Many orchardists use propane to fuel their wind
machines that protect young fruit from freezing.
While other fuels used by farmers have had
tax exemptions, propane has apparently been
overlooked, even though it is a clean fuel. If
this measure becomes law, it will give farmers a
needed tax break. |
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