May 24, 2009

A balance of ideas is vital in Olympia
By Jaime Herrera for The Daily News

As one of the newest state lawmakers from Southwest Washington, I’m an outsider to “politics as usual” in Olympia. I don’t see that as a negative though. On the contrary, my fresh perspective and desire to collaborate with anyone on solutions is a benefit for the people I represent. I worked with my Southwest Washington colleagues on ideas that would bring efficiency and effectiveness to state government this year and, despite some progress, there is still a lot to do.

I have learned that “change” is the most overused word on the campaign trail and, ironically, the most feared word in Olympia. At a time when our state desperately needed change, majority leadership opted for the status quo. Rather than say “yes” to new solutions, they sent Washington residents a resounding “no” message.

With a historic budget shortfall of $9 billion, there was an opportunity to change the way state government does business. In this spirit, I worked with the House health care committee to advocate solutions for a better Washington — ideas that would strengthen our state’s health care safety nets, introduce cost-effective health insurance options for middle-income families and small employers, and pave the way for a 21st century health care system. All this could be done without raising your taxes. However, majority leadership decided against these new solutions and denied relief to families and employers in desperate economic times.

The outcome of this “no” mentality was a short-sighted budget that relies heavily on one-time federal dollars. It also raids funds that were designated for specific purposes, and borrows against our children’s future, by taking $777 million from the capital budget. This is money lost for job-creating infrastructure improvements around the state, such as new school construction. Yet many state employees are still on schedule to get a five percent step increase in their pay.

This budgeting approach represents broken promises and big future price tags. It’s simply a deficit deferral. We can do better.

I support a proposal to bring sustainability and transparency to our budget by: setting a state spending limit; requiring that only gimmick-free budgets be passed; putting more money aside in good economic times; and giving the public and state lawmakers more time to review budgets. This proposal was not taken seriously by majority leadership.

Our state government does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. Until we control state spending, restructure state government and focus on the priorities of education, public safety, transportation, and protection of our most vulnerable, we can expect our serious budget problems to continue.

There were success stories this year. A disaster for working families was averted when the minority party unanimously opposed an increase in the state sales tax and a new state income tax. If even a few Republicans had consented, it could have given the majority party the support necessary to demand more from families who are making less.

Our children would have paid the price if House Republicans had not fought against a bill that would have taken $60 million in funding away from poor and rural school districts. It would have cost Southwest Washington students alone more than $7 million. The minority party stood unanimously and so strongly for our schools on the last day of the legislative session that even a few Democrats joined our effort to protect our disadvantaged schools and the bill’s sponsors were forced to abandon the measure.

It’s clear that, more than ever, a balance of ideas is vital in Olympia. I will continue to work with anyone who wants to put forth solutions for our great state.

State Rep. Jaime Herrera, R-Ridgefield, represents the 18th District and is assistant floor leader for the House Republicans.

# # #

For more information, contact: John Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758