April 3, 2009

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

In one sense, the wait is now over: the House and Senate have released their budgets dealing with our state's projected $9 billion deficit.  In another sense, the waiting has just begun as the majority party will now deliberate among themselves over the coming weeks to rectify the differences in each legislative body's spending proposal.

I want you to know that I have serious reservations about how they go about providing state services and closing our budget shortfall.  I believe the budget proposals are shortsighted, rely too much on one-time money, attempt to lure you into supporting a tax increase, and set us up for budget shortfalls again in the near future.

While Washington families are making do with less, the proposed budgets say state government should still get more.  This next biennium's budget actually spends more money than the last one, even though revenues will be virtually equal to last biennium.  I wonder how many Washington families have more money to spend now than a year ago?  And how many could -- or would -- spend more than they will take in?

Instead of streamlining government and delivering services more efficiently and effectively, the Senate and House propose to use nearly $5 billion in one-time federal and state money to backfill the overspending of the last four years. Because we're not actually making significant, long-term changes to the process, we're going to be right back in the same situation in the following biennium.  This is just delaying the inevitable. The proposed budgets also seek to borrow money for operating expenses by transferring capital budget dollars to the operating budget. The reduction in capital budget money will then be backfilled by more bonding. This just increases the amount we are already borrowing.

Reps. Herrera and Orcutt meet with Pastor Lynn Ford of the Woodland Church of the Nazarene and his family.

Finally, making the most dramatic cuts in K-12 education is, I believe, a way of making the most noise possible with the budget reductions as a way to convince the public that a tax increase is needed for education.  A tax increase is NOT needed, and something we cannot afford.

We can balance the budget, fund education and protect our most vulnerable without raising taxes on hard-working families.

Borrowing against our future, relying upon one-time money, and hoping for a tax increase at the ballot is not the type of leadership our state needs right now.  The leadership we need -- and are trying to provide -- is to make fundamental changes to state government to get us out of this current budget crisis and to keep us out of future ones.

Transportation Budget Last week, the Senate introduced their transportation budget.  This week, the House budget writers introduced their transportation budget.  While I will continue to look through the details of these transportation budgets, my initial reaction is one of disappointment as they contain a "tolling" study on the new I-5 bridge and on the existing I-205 bridge.  Furthermore, the House budget delays important projects in Southwest Washington while funding a mega-project in Seattle. I know this is NOT what the majority of my constituents want so I'll work to make sure the cost of the bridge doesn't take its toll on you.

Fish and Wildlife legislation Another bill that has generated a lot of angst for many of you is Senate Bill 5127 which would change the Fish and Wildlife Commission.
	I have been working to protect citizens from the detrimental changes this bill would have had on public input into fish and wildlife management issues and public use of lands managed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. We were able to kill the bill in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.  I was getting ready to report to you that this bill appeared dead for now, but around Olympia, you never know when a "dead" bill is going to sprout back to life.  Sure enough, I just learned that provisions of Senate Bill 5127 have been quietly tucked into House Bill 1778, another bill that's still very much alive.  Since this bill is now in the Senate, I am working with Sen. Zarelli to strip that language from the bill or to just kill the bill altogether. I'll continue to update you on this bill's lifespan as the session continues.
Again, I appreciate your phone calls and e-mails.  I will continue to read and consider your thoughts as we head into the final weeks of session.  Thank you for being involved and thank you for allowing me to represent you in Olympia. Sincerely, Ed Orcutt State Representative, 18th Legislative District

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