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March
20, 2009
Dear Friends and
Neighbors,
This week was another incredibly
hectic one. On Thursday, I was scheduled to be in
committee from 10:00 a.m. to noon, but I was also
supposed to be at the Economic and Revenue Forecast
Council meeting at 10:00 a.m. Plus, two of my
bills were scheduled to be heard in Senate committees
around 11:00 a.m.! I literally had to hurry through
the halls from one meeting to another, speaking with
reporters as I went.
Speaking of the Washington State
Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, a new revenue
forecast was adopted
this week. As a member of the council, I
participated in the meeting and was both concerned and
somewhat encouraged: concerned that the state is now
expected to take in $500 million less than the
last revenue forecast, bringing our projected shortfall
for the 2009-11 budget to around $8.8 billion; but
encouraged that our chief economist,
Dr.
Arun Raha, feels that we may be near the
bottom of our state's economic decline. He stated:
"...it is
easy to miss the first early signs of a recovery.
After a very weak holiday season, retail sales appear to
be stabilizing, housing starts look like they have
bottomed out, bond spreads have tightened, used car
prices have firmed up, some of the larger banks have
indicated that they have been profitable in the first
two months of the year, and investors appear to be
returning to equity markets.
We have taken note
of these positive signs, but it is still too early to
tell if they will be sustained."
I sincerely hope this new revenue forecast is an
indication that our economy is beginning to stabilize.
We may see some small downward trends in upcoming
forecasts, but I'm hoping the sharp drop in revenue
collections is coming to an end.
The most important thing to remember about our economy and our revenue
collections is this: We are in the midst of a consumer-led recession --
consumers will be the ones to lead us out, not more government spending.
We need to put all talk of tax increases to rest. We can -- and we
must -- balance the budget without raising taxes on hard-working
families.
We're almost two-thirds of the way through this session yet don't have
a true supplemental budget nor an official, published plan of closing
our state's multi-billion dollar budget shortfall. Now that we've
seen the official March revenue forecast, I hope we can get to work
putting our state budget on the path of sustainability, accountability
and transparency.
Thank you for staying involved and continuing to
contact my office with your questions and concerns.
It is a privilege to serve you in Olympia.
Sincerely,
Ed Orcutt
State Representative,
18th District |
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Rep. Orcutt speaks to colleagues
last week during House floor debate |
My bills still
alive...
House Bill
1038 – Specialized Forest Products.
House Bill 1474
– Border County Higher Education Project (may
be passed out of committee on Friday).
House Bill 1475 –
Agency
Rulemaking Information (passed committee
immediately after testimony).
House Bill 1478 –
Deployed Military Personnel License Renewals.
House Bill 1838 –
Spirit Lake Fishery.
Each one of my bills has
already received a
public hearing in the Senate. This gives me great
hope that several, if not all, of my bills may pass to
the Senate floor for consideration by the full Senate.
Town
Halls - thanks for being there!
It
was great to see so many of you at our 18th District
Town Hall Meetings this past weekend. Sen. Joe
Zarelli, Rep. Jaime Herrera and I visited the Oak Tree
Restaurant in Woodland and then later, Battle Ground
City Hall.
Those of you that were
there provided some great feedback, ideas and opinions.
Now, we get to take these ideas and opinions back to
Olympia and try to implement them.
I always enjoy
participating at town hall meetings and other community
events. Visiting with constituents to gather your input
is important to me, as it helps me to represent your
needs and your values in the Legislature.
For
those of you who weren't able to make it, TVW attended
our Battle Ground town hall and has posted some coverage
of that event, along with citizen comments. To
view TVW's coverage,
Click here. The 18th District town hall
segments starts at about the 22 minute, 48 second mark.
Cap and Trade update:
While the House version
of Gov. Gregoire's cap and trade proposal didn't make it past last
week's cutoff and is therefore considered "dead" for the rest of this
session, the Senate's version of the bill,
Senate Bill 5735, is still alive. The governor came and
testified in front of the House Ecology and Parks Committee this week
and said the Senate version has been watered down too much. She
wants a definite cap put in place, not just a study of the cap, as the
amended Senate bill would require.
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During her testimony, I drew
her attention, and the attention of my colleagues, to page 2, line 20 of
the bill. The text in the bill says the state shall adhere to the
following principles, and then lists "(5) Assuring the protection of
low and moderate income households."
My point was - and
continues to be - there are increased costs to consumers, especially
low- and middle-income households, with this type of legislation. Our families
are going to see higher energy, utility, and goods and services bills.
The legislation's own language verifies and justifies my concern of
higher costs to everyone!
And to reiterate a point I mentioned earlier, we're in the midst of a
consumer-led recession. Anything that takes more money out of
consumers' pockets, be it an increase in taxes or an increase in energy
and utility bills, hurts both our hard-working families and our state's
economy in general. |
State
agencies being held to a lesser environmental standard
than the private sector?
Another
environmental bill that is currently in the House
Ecology and Parks Committee is
Senate Bill 5560. This legislation requires
state agencies to meet statewide greenhouse gas emission
reduction limits, similar to what is being proposed in
the cap and trade legislation. However, the
private sector's reduction limits are based on 1990
emission levels while state agency reductions are based
on 2005 emission levels.
During the public
hearing in committee I asked the prime sponsor about the
two different sets of standards. Why are we asking
businesses and employers around the state to adhere to a
stricter standard than state agencies? I wasn't
satisfied with the answer I received and will continue
to press this issue if the bill passes the committee and
reaches the House floor.
Visit my Website for further information and
news
For more
information on these and other issues, please visit my
Web site.
You can also contact me via
e-mail or sign-up for my E-newsletter. |
