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Democrat budget blows chance
at fiscal stability
With signs that
Washington’s economy may be on the mend, the House of Representatives
adopted a Democrat budget plan that will put Washington taxpayers back
into a $1 billion budget hole, according to Reps. Barry Sehlin and
Barbara Bailey. The House Wednesday approved a supplemental budget on a
straight party-line vote, 51-45. The supplemental budget is intended to
make mid-course adjustments in the existing two-year budget that was
adopted last year.
The 10th District legislators said the Democrat budget puts taxpayers at
risk by spending reserves down to dangerous levels. The budget proposal
leaves just $199 million in the ending fund balance, which represents
less than 1 percent of biennial revenues.
“No one believes with any degree of certainty that the money left in
reserves is sufficient to address emergencies and unforeseen needs over
the 16 months left in the budget period,” said Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor.
“The crystal ball can’t be that clear. We have another season of fires
and floods, school enrollment changes and health care cost increases.
The margin in this budget is too small. It is a recipe for tax increases
and cuts to core services. We are fully aware that we lack the revenue
to support this budget in the next
biennium. Instead of using this supplemental budget as an opportunity to
begin correcting the expected shortfall, they’ve develop a plan that
makes the situation worse and puts taxpayers at risk.”
If passed into law, the
House Democrat budget would leave the state with a projected shortfall
of $1 billion in the next biennium. The supplemental spending plan
includes $261 million in new spending for expanded programs, offset by
just $17 million in proposed cuts. Bailey and Sehlin said the lack of
fiscal discipline marks an important contrast with a budget proposal
passed by the Senate Wednesday.
“The House budget strays from the fiscally responsible, bipartisan
approach that we agreed to less than a year ago,” said Bailey, R-Oak
Harbor. “There are expenditures in this budget that are unnecessary if,
for example, we committed ourselves to real tort reform.
There is $17 million included to subsidize rising medical malpractice
insurance premiums for health care providers. That amounts to ‘defensive
budgeting’ by feeding an existing problem rather than solving it. If we
pass real tort reform, than these subsidies become unnecessary and we
will have done something much more meaningful to address this crisis in
health care.”
The 2004 legislative session is scheduled to end March 11. Lawmakers
from the House and Senate will negotiate in the remaining to work out
differences in the competing budget proposals.
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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