The last 4 paragraphs of
this
story, tell a story that will leave
a lasting impression in the
minds of our lawmakers.
Nice job Richard!
Lawmakers pass budget, fear tax revolt
by Dionne Searcey and David Postman
Seattle Times Olympia bureau
OLYMPIA - Lawmakers adjourned the 2000 legislative session yesterday after being forced to rewrite the state budget because of cuts from last year's Initiative 695. The citizens' measure reduced car-tab fees to $30 and meant legislators needed to find ways to get money to local governments and pay for road projects.
While this was largely billed as a year to respond to I-695, lawmakers also went further, boosting education dollars and passing significant measures dealing with health insurance, teacher testing and a telecommunication-law rewrite.
But some fear the things they didn't do could force a replay next year and come back to bite them in this year's elections. They left without approving a homeowner's property-tax cut - possible fuel to tax-cutting initiatives now circulating.
Tim Eyman, sponsor of I-695, believes the Legislature's silence on tax breaks will spur his new measure, which would limit property-tax increases to 2 percent annually, among other things.
"There's no doubt that people get even more frustrated when they hear (lawmakers) saying, `We've heard the message of 695 and we're going to get in front of the train this time when it comes to property taxes,' " Eyman said.
"God, what's it going to take for them to get it?"
Some lawmakers had hoped to avoid a ballot initiative by making property-tax cuts themselves. But this week they concentrated on finishing the budget, which left many with mixed emotions even though they voted for it overwhelmingly.
"There's something in there for everyone to hate and for everyone to like," said Rep. Brian Thomas, R-Renton, co-chairman of the House Tax Committee. "I just had to grit my teeth and vote."
That seemed to the prevailing attitude before lawmakers walked away from the 93-day session. Many were frustrated and tired after a regular, 60-day session and getting called back twice to get their work done.
They had struggled over finding money for local governments, road projects, transit and ferries, which all took major budget hits from I-695. They settled on fixes that offered less money for new roads than Republicans would have liked and fewer dollars for transit that Democrats wanted.
It took legislators nine budget proposals that stacked 9 1/2 inches high before they settled their differences. In the final days, they wrangled over education. They finally compromised on creating a Better Schools Fund, which offers $57.5 million for after-school programs, summer school and new teachers. And they doled out money to build schools.
The logjam broke only after Gov. Gary Locke called lawmakers back into special session this week with tough talk about the need to compromise.
Members of both parties yesterday credited the governor for jump-starting stalled budget talks.
"They dealt with the challenges of Initiative 695 responsibly," Locke said. "They accepted the mandate of the voters that they hated the car tax, and that we had to make do without that car tax."
In the end, the Legislature voted on a proposal that had been crafted two days before adjournment. Most lawmakers didn't even see the document until yesterday morning, and a handful complained they didn't have enough time to study it.
"That's one of the reasons I voted no," said Rep. Phil Fortunato, R-Kent. "I wish I could have gotten it last night so at least I could have read it on the john."
Most lawmakers were pleased with the session's outcome, given that they were dealing with a tax revolt and a House split 49-49 along party lines. But they all agreed that they made just short-term fixes to I-695 and that the real, long-term work will come next year.
"We are far from achieving what we need to achieve to replace the funds that were lost (from I-695)," said House Appropriations Committee co-Chairwoman Helen Sommers, D-Seattle.
"I feel a deep concern that the voters and the general public are not aware of the jeopardy, trouble, dangers in finding the revenue" to make up for the losses.
Many legislators and the governor said they were disappointed that they couldn't agree on a property tax cut.
Of the many tax-cutting options they considered, Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Valoria Loveland, D-Pasco, offered the most for homeowners with a $200 annual break. She pitched her plan on the first day of the session, but business lobbyists opposed it because they said it would unfairly shift tax burden to commercial property.
"People think it's more than their turn," Loveland said yesterday. "How do you get to these people who never share in the prosperity?"
Lawmakers and Locke all fear a rerun of I-695, which sent them into a tailspin.
In addition to not passing a property-tax cut, some lawmakers worry about the political fallout from leaving about $900 million in a state savings account.
Last year, Eyman repeatedly talked about the "$1 billion budget surplus" to counter arguments that his car-tax measure would cripple government.
Loveland said that by this November, when Eyman could have his new property tax-cutting initiative on the ballot, the reserve could easily hit $1 billion again.
Lawmakers pledged to cut property taxes next year. Some said that even if the Legislature had managed to squeeze in a tax break now, initiatives would still be alive.
Thomas, the tax-committee co-chairman, said trying to head off ballot measures "is a fool's journey." Eyman says initiatives are "the loudest blow-horn you've got when lobbying the Legislature."
Measures also have been filed for nearly all of the other major issues lawmakers failed to deal with. They include consumer privacy, charter schools, smaller class sizes, offering huge amounts of money for road construction, and opening car-pool lanes, to name a few.
For now, Washingtonians can count on a new budget that will offer enough money for local governments to shoulder the brunt of budget cuts that threatened to slash police service, public-health programs and transit.
The 2000-2001 budget restores one third of the state's highway-construction budget, including $31 million to complete priority road projects that had been eliminated when I-695 passed, though $500 million was cut from the $2.1 billion highway-improvement budget.
The budget will pay for the King Street maintenance facility, expanding car-pool lanes on some roadways and allowing for major safety repairs to Highway 522, running from Seattle to Monroe and nicknamed the "killer highway" because of the high number of accidents there.
Rest areas will stay open and a second Amtrak train will run between Seattle and Bellingham. And $600,000 will go toward Safety Service Roving Patrols on I-5 to help stranded motorists and quickly clear freeways of stalled vehicles.
The budget cuts $12 million from the $303 million ferry-operations plan, though no immediate fare increases are necessary and the passenger-only ferries the Department of Transportation planned to halt because of I-695 will stay in operation through June of next year.
Weekend and late-night ferry service on some runs will likely be cut. Washington State Ferry officials were expected to announce the service cuts today. Construction of new ferries will also be curtailed with $123 million cut from the $285 million that had been set aside for construction.
Lawmakers also gave $5 million for school-safety programs, and more than $100 million will go toward school construction.
Sound Transit will receive $15 million, and lawmakers earmarked money for a special commitment center for sex offenders to try to head off a federal judge's order to fix the program.
A tobacco-prevention and education program received $15 million - less money than the state's health department and state Attorney General Christine Gregoire had sought. And the budget doesn't give as much money to the state's Basic Health Plan as health-care advocates had wanted.
One citizen showed his displeasure with the budget.
When both chamber doors were opened during ending ceremonies yesterday so House and Senate members could view each other across the hall, Richard Prete, a locked-out Kaiser Aluminum steelworker, stepped in the way.
He stood with his back to the House, partially blocking the views to protest the death of a bill that would have offered unemployment benefits to Kaiser workers.
"This is an object lesson for them," said the 47-year-old from Spokane. "If they can hold up my bill for more than 90 days, I can hold them up for a few minutes."