| |
13th District
representatives co-sponsor
bills that encourage fiscal responsibility
Reps.
Bill Hinkle and Janéa Holmquist are co-sponsoring legislation
that forces state government to spend wisely and save for the future.
The 13th District representatives are co-sponsoring a series of bills,
some of which would require a “rainy day” fund, a super majority vote on
raising taxes, and placing limits on government spending. The package of
four bills and two joint resolutions was introduced Wednesday.
House Bill 3006 would implement a proposed constitutional amendment
creating a reserve fund.
The bill would direct the state treasurer to transfer one percent of the
projected state revenue for that fiscal year to this reserve fund each
quarter.
“The money would automatically be transferred to the reserve fund when
revenue projections are good,” said Hinkle, R-Cle Elum. “Then that money
from the reserve fund would be available when times are bad. This is the
way most families manage their money and it’s a prudent way to manage
state money.”
HB 3008 would place limits on state spending, such as those found in
Initiative 601, the voter-approved spending limit law that was repealed
last session. There would also be safeguards to prevent evasion of the
limit through cost and revenue shifts.
“The majority party has repeatedly exploited a loophole in the I-601
statute to raise the spending limit by hundreds of millions of dollars,”
said Holmquist, R-Moses Lake. “They’ve done this through transfers of
cash to and from other accounts. I want to stop that kind of
exploitation and these bills would do just that.
“Statutory limits are only as good as the will of the governor and the
Legislature to abide by them,” Holmquist added. “This governor and the
majority have shown little will to abide by limits at all.”
HB 3007 would require a 60 percent vote of both houses of the
Legislature for any tax increases.
“The majority party has amended the I-601 statute to allow taxes to be
raised without the two-thirds vote of each chamber as mandated by the
voters,” Hinkle said. “It’s clear that only constitutional limits, free
of political manipulation, will provide the budget stability and voter
protection the people intended when they passed Initiative 601.”
The remainder of the package includes the following:
-
HB 3005 requiring a
priorities of government approach to developing the state’s
operating budget;
-
HJR 4219 proposing the
actual constitutional amendment to place limits on expenditures; and
-
HJR 4220 proposing the
actual constitutional amendment creating the reserve fund.
House Bills 3005, 3006,
3008 and House Joint Resolutions 4219 and 4220 have been referred to the
House Appropriations Committee and HB 3007 has been referred to the
House Finance Committee.
# # #
For more information, contact:
John Handy, Assistant
Communications Director - (360) 786-5758
|
|