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Capital budget changes include misguided policies
Revisions to the state
capital construction budget proposed by House Democrats and passed by
the House of Representatives today include some worthy projects but
would also enact bad policy changes that could hurt funding for schools,
according to
Rep. Gary
Alexander, R-Olympia. Alexander, ranking
Republican on the House Capital Budget Committee, said he opposes the
way in which projects are funded and the attempts to dictate policy,
such as the management of the state’s trust lands.
“This budget is a bit too far-reaching, taking on too many new projects
and breaching agreements in the existing two-year budget about the level
of spending and the amount of debt we should be taking on,” said
Alexander. “While there are projects worth considering, we need to be
careful not to burden taxpayers with dangerous levels of long-term debt.
At least one bond-rating company has already served notice by lowering
our state’s bond rating. This budget goes too far, leaving little or no
wiggle room under the state’s debt limit and saddling the taxpayers with
too much debt.”
The House Democrat budget adds $204 million in new projects to the
two-year $2.6 billion construction budget adopted less than a year ago.
More importantly, it adds another $130 million in new bonds to the $1.34
billion in bonds already authorized in the 2003-05 capital budget. That
is a 10 percent increase in bond-financed expenditures over the original
budget.
Alexander said he is also
concerned with the language in the bill that attempts to affect state
operating policy. For example, the Democrat capital budget proposal
attempts to override the commissioner of public lands’ timber management
policies by stopping timber harvests that help fund local school
construction.
“It’s not the Legislature’s job to make land management decisions and
micromanage our trust lands. That’s why we have a commissioner of public
lands elected by the people,” said Alexander. “It gets a bit dangerous
to use the construction budget as a tool for affecting policy in this
way. It begins to smack of politics instead of focusing on our state’s
true capital construction needs and the needs of local school
districts.”
The Democrat supplemental capital budget passed the House 61-36, and
negotiations will begin with the Senate to attempts to work out an
agreement. Alexander said he is confident that the Senate will support
better budget principles that will make the construction budget more
acceptable.
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For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Public
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
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