April 10, 2009

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Now that we've seen both the House and Senate budget proposals, much of this next week will be spent ironing out the differences.  After budgets are passed from each chamber, House and Senate budget writers will meet behind closed doors to decide how your tax dollars will be spent.

For the most part, I won't be part of this process in a formal way.  But informally, I will continue to let budget writers know that tax increases should not be part of the equation. I've also heard from a lot of you about proposed cuts to education and health services for our truly needy citizens.  I want you to know that I don't like these cuts either.  In my mind, our priorities should be educating our children, safe guarding the public, and protecting and caring for those in our society that truly need our help. While I believe in – and will continue to push for – a balanced budget, our budget cuts should not endanger our seniors and developmentally disabled citizens. Apart from budget negotiations, much of our time is now spent on the House floor or in caucus where we deliberate and debate over Senate bills that have passed through our House committees. We'll spend the next week or so voting on Senate bills while the Senate votes on House bills.  Then, if there are specific changes to the bills, each legislative body must approve or reject the changes made by the other chamber.

Rep. Orcutt with Legislative Page Brittany Domine from Camas.

If there is agreement that the changes are good, then they get voted on one more time and then get sent to the governor for her signature.  If there is NOT agreement on changes to proposed legislation, the bills go into a conference committee with members from both the House and Senate to work out the differences.

Sometimes the process isn't pretty, but let's hope the end result looks better.

Update on my bills
House Bill 1038 – Specialized Forest Products. (This bill passed the Senate but has to come back to the House for concurrence as it was altered slightly by the Senate.)
House Bill 1474 – Border County Higher Education Project. (Passed the Senate and now awaits action by the governor.)
House Bill 1475 – Agency Rulemaking Information. (Passed the Senate and now awaits action by the governor.)
House Bill 1478 – Deployed Military Personnel License Renewals. (Passed the Senate and now awaits action by the governor.)

Dems to propose sales tax increase
In a blog post on Thursday by Spokesman Review political reporter Rich Roesler, it was revealed that the Speaker of the House, Frank Chopp, believes that there is a better than "50/50" chance that Democrats will send a sales tax increase to voters in November.  As Roesler reports:

"Meeting with reporters today, House Speaker Frank Chopp said that a proposed third-of-a-cent sales tax increase to reduce costs to hospitals, nursing homes and health care programs is 'better than 50/50 to be on the ballot' in November." Roesler also reports:

"Chopp indicates he also supports the idea of asking voters to pay for bonds to fix up schools.  Rep. Hans Dunshee is pushing for a $3 billion package."

"Chopp also indicated that he's supportive of Gregoire's proposal to allow colleges to hike tuition up to 14 percent a year over the next two years."

And, there is increasing talk of an income tax.  First, the talk was about a 1 percent tax on those earning wages of $500,000 or more per year.  Now, they are talking about an income tax on anyone making over $250,000.  The bill hasn't even passed and there is already talk about targeting even more taxpayers – how long will it be before they are targeting your income?  And, how long will it be before the rate increases as well?  Any new tax is unacceptable and this one certainly is no exception.  And, even at the $250,000+ level, an income tax would only raise 0.115 billion – just 1.3 percent of the entire $9 billion deficit we face.  And where would they get the remainder?

It is time to stop the tax talk and balance this budget. Those of you who have been reading my E-newsletter will not find this surprising as I have predicted that budget writers would seek to make cuts that are painful to the public so that they might be convinced to support a tax increase. I can't tell you how frustrated I am that there are still some in Olympia who refuse to prioritize government spending.  So many of you have contacted me to let me know that your wallets can't take another tax increase -- and I agree.  I hope voters send a clear and strong message to the Legislature that government should live within its means instead of asking taxpayers for more. I'll continue to keep you updated as we enter the final stretch of the 2009 session.  Thank you for reading my E-newsletter and staying involved. Sincerely, Ed Orcutt State Representative, 18th District

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