Feb. 27, 2009

Bills that would kill jobs, hurt consumers should be shelved,
Hinkle says
Two measures before the House would impose higher costs on consumers, businesses

With Washington's economy reflecting poor state budgeting and the national slump, Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, today suggested the Legislature shelve House Bills 1490 and 1819.

Both measures are dubbed "climate change" bills, but together create a maze of land use regulations, restrict local government control as well as raise the price of government operations, energy, food and fuel.

"These are major job killers among other things," Hinkle said. "The real issue here is how the Legislature can impose the kinds of costs these bills will create on employers and consumers in this economic slump. Is the majority that out of touch with the struggles of main street Americans?"

House Bill 1819, the so-called "cap and trade" legislation, would create a system to “cap” the amount of carbon emitted in the state from businesses producing over a certain amount by taxing businesses, through emission allowance purchases, in order to emit. If a business could not afford the emissions permits, it would be charged up to $10,000 per day.

Companies with more emissions allowances than they need could sell them on the open market to the highest bidder, wherever that bidder is located.

"This sets up a costly system that spends public tax dollars and increasingly-scarce business resources without the ability to measure the correlation between the amount of money we spend and any change in climate, just doesn't pass the straight-face test," Hinkle said. "Now is the wrong time to be spending money on things we don't need, and can't afford."

Washington emits an estimated three-tenths of one percent of all global greenhouse gasses, making the state one of the cleanest in the nation and the world, Hinkle noted.

Hinkle added that House Bill 1490 would add to the burden on local governments by removing their discretion to do what is appropriate for their jurisdiction.

House Bill 1490 would require local governments that plan under the Growth Management Act to make greenhouse gas emissions reductions by modifying the environmental goal and providing for costly transit-oriented development and government subsidized housing.

"It may not make sense for Quincy, or any other small town, to include transit-oriented development in their growth planning," Hinkle said. "The fact is, many towns required to submit Growth Management Plans may not have the population to support mass transit and other costly requirements in the bill."

Local government officials testified in opposition to House Bill 1490. They said they view the bill as another unfunded state mandate. In addition, fulfilling the requirements in the legislation would be difficult because local governments, facing the same budget crunch as the state, are laying off planning department staff, they said.

"We need to take a step back and look at these proposals long and hard," Hinkle said. "Washington's economy is extremely fragile right now, and the last thing Olympia should be doing it dropping expensive ideas on our state's families, employers and local governments."

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