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House Republicans bring
measure of 'sunshine' to budget process
GOP's refusal to suspend voting rules means extra
time for public scrutiny
House Republicans today
derailed the plan by House Democrats to bring their 2007-09 operating
budget proposal for a floor vote Friday, and instead managed to get the
vote rescheduled for Monday.
For
Rep. Gary Alexander, whose "budget sunshine" legislation (House
Bill 1834) was recently sidelined by House Democrats, the postponed
vote represents a partial victory that means at least two more days to
review the $33.4 billion spending plan before it is adopted.
"The Democrats announced
yesterday that the budget would be voted off the floor Friday, without
asking us if we would agree to skip one of the steps in bringing
legislation to a final vote. My Republican colleagues and I saw an
opportunity to bring more openness to the budget process, and we
succeeded," said Alexander, Republican leader on the House
Appropriations Committee and chief budget negotiator for House
Republicans.
"The people of Washington
will now have all weekend to look at the budget information that's
posted online and in news reports, and to e-mail or leave phone messages
for their state representatives. The news media will have extra time to
scrutinize the budget bill and report their findings to their readers
and viewers. That's all good. The more light we can put on what the
Democrats are doing, the more taxpayers can see how and why this budget
would wipe out the state's multibillion-dollar surplus in one shot."
The operating budget
proposal (House
Bill 1128) before the appropriations committee will be moved forward
tonight on a party-line vote, Alexander said. For House Democrat leaders
to bring it before the entire House on Friday, as they had announced,
Republicans would have to agree to suspend the rule requiring a floor
vote the day after amendments are made on the floor. Suspending the rule
is called a "bump."
"We bump bills all the
time, but it made no sense to allow a bump on a budget bill that is
already moving way too fast for people to get a good look," said
Alexander, R-Thurston County. "We said no, we'll wait and vote on the
budget Saturday. That would give citizens and the media an extra day to
see how a huge surplus would be turned into a serious deficit."
House Democrat leaders
chose to avoid a Saturday vote by accepting a Republican offer to bring
not only the operating budget proposal but also the proposed House
capital and transportation budgets to the floor Monday.
"I'm glad we succeeded
this time in giving people additional time to see how their tax dollars
would be spent, and I hope we can someday change the rules to bring some
transparency to the process. The five-day waiting period proposed in my
bill would be a good start," said Alexander.
There's still another
operating budget to go, he noted -- the compromise between the House and
the Senate expected to emerge in about a month, as the session winds
down to its scheduled conclusion April 22.
"If the compromise budget
is as irresponsible and unsustainable as the House proposal, don't
expect the Democrats to hold it up to the light any longer than the
rules allow. But that's exactly when the taxpayers deserve transparency
the most," Alexander said.
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Contact: Rep. Alexander (360) 786-7990
Eric Campbell, House Republican Communications (360) 786-7720
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