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Setting aside budget surplus
in a rainy day account will protect taxpayers, say Republican lawmakers
Implementing a
constitutional amendment requiring a protected reserve fund is the smart
thing to do for Washington taxpayers, say Reps. Glenn Anderson and
Gary
Alexander, who today announced their legislation proposing the creation
of a constitutional amendment to create a secure reserve account.
The measures, House Bill 1467 and House Joint Resolution 4207, together
will constitutionally require lawmakers to set aside a portion of the
state’s revenue into a secure reserve account, commonly called a “rainy
day” fund.
“Voters must be able to trust that legislators and the governor can and
will live within a realistic budget,” said Anderson, R-Fall City. “The
people of our state won’t tolerate big spending now that squanders their
hard-earned money and leads us from prince to pauper in just two years.
We would be reckless if we don’t protect some of our $2 billion surplus
now and constitutionally require a rainy-day fund that stabilizes our
state budget.”
“Republicans in the Legislature have been promoting the wisdom of a
constitutional rainy day fund for some time, as a cornerstone of our
‘Truth in Budgeting’ plan and as a way to stabilize funding for state
priorities such as K-12 education. The governor recently joined us in
endorsing the idea, but can she convince the legislators from her party
to take this significant step toward getting the state off of the budget
rollercoaster? We’ll know sometime in the next 13 weeks,” said
Alexander, R-Thurston County, who is chief budget negotiator for House
Republicans.
The House Republicans’ proposal:
· Requires that 3 percent of the forecasted General Fund-State revenue
for each year be transferred to the account. The governor’s proposal
calls for a 1 percent deposit annually.
· Allows for fewer excuses to remove the money from the account. The
House Republican proposal makes it clear that only in the event that
revenue forecasts for any fiscal year fall below 1 percent, adjusted for
inflation, can the fund be tapped by a majority vote of the House and
Senate.
· Requires a three-fifths vote of the House and Senate to appropriate
money from the account should a declaration of emergency be authorized
by the governor.
Of concern to Republican legislators are the loopholes in the governor’s
proposed rainy-day account. The ability to move funds out of the
account, said Anderson, is too easy. If the public takes a close look at
the governor’s proposal, they would see a litany of reasons and
rationale to spend the reserve for events that qualify as a “partly
cloudy day” not a true “rainy day.”
“We believe we’ve put some solid safeguards up in our proposals,” said
Anderson. “The public expects the Legislature to be good stewards of
their tax dollars.”
The 105-day 2007 legislative session began Jan. 8 and is scheduled to
end April 22 # # #
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