OLYMPIA — The state’s budget deficit estimate topped $5.1 billion last week, but North Olympic Peninsula representatives say that’s not enough to get them excited about a push from the gambling industry to allow video slot machines off reservations.
While no legislation has been introduced, the Recreational Gaming Association of Washington is proposing that the state allow nontribal casinos to install the machines as a means to raise revenue, NPR reported last week.
The organization told NPR, formerly National Public Radio, that an additional $190 million a year could be raised through additional gambling tax revenue.
Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, said he isn’t persuaded that it would raise that much.
Hargrove said any increase may be offset by a drop in sales tax revenue as people spend more of their discretionary income at casinos.
“I don’t see that really as a revenue-raiser,” he said.
Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, said he’s not taking anything “off the table,” but added he’s not sure that expanding gambling should be part of the solution to the state’s financial problems.
“I’m not a fan of it,” he said.
Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim, said he didn’t know enough about the gaming association’s proposal to comment.
Other means of raising revenue, other than closing tax loopholes, remain off the table since it requires a two-thirds vote and voters having rejected previous plans to raise or expand taxes, the legislators said.
That leaves cuts as the only other option.
It’s too early to tell how the $700 million increase to the projected deficit, announced Thursday, will be made up, the legislators said.
But one thing remains clear, they said, nothing will be spared.
“At this point, really anything the state provides is going to be in question,” Van De Wege said.
The Legislature has until April 24 to patch the budget hole for the July 2011-July 2013 biennium and balance the state’s finances for the current budget cycle, which is $200 million in the red.
Hargrove, who chairs the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee, said the increased deficit won’t result in the closure of more prisons or institutions.
McNeil Island prison is slated for closure, and so are other state institutions, such as Maple Lane juvenile center. Two institutions for the developmentally disabled are proposed for closure.
Hargrove said he remains in support of releasing prisoners a few months early to save between $10 million to $15 million a biennium.
Van De Wege said his bill to save state parks by imposing a parking fee will likely die, but similar legislation is moving through the Legislature.
“We’ll be using the Senate version,” he said.
Both bills would require a $30 a year annual pass or $10 day-use fee to park a vehicle at state parks or other state-managed land.
The Senate’s version of the bill, introduced by Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-San Juan Island, has been referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Hargrove is a co-sponsor of the bill.
A bill that would remove the statute of limitations for first- and second-degree rape when the victim was younger than 18 years old at the time won’t receive a hearing by the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee, Hargrove said.
The bill, HB 1657, passed the House 98-0 March 1.
Hargrove said it won’t receive a hearing because the issue has been heard before.
When similar legislation was introduced two years ago, the Legislature put the issue before the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, he said. That commission recommended to allow sex offenses beyond the statute of limitations to be prosecuted if there is DNA evidence.
Legislation to accomplish that was passed in 2009, and Hargrove said he thinks that’s enough, and that removing the statute all together could be dangerous.
“It gets very hard to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hargrove said, adding that removing the statue may cause victims to wait longer to report the crime.
“It could put more people at risk to sex offenses if people don’t promptly report cases,” he said.
The statute of limitations for sex offenses is generally 10 years if the victim was older than 14 years old, and up to the victim’s 28th birthday if he or she was younger than 14.
A bill that would legalize medical marijuana dispensaries and protect those who use the drug for medical purposes from arrest may die in committee this week, Van De Wege said.
The Sequim Democrat said the bill has to be passed out of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, which he sits on, by Friday for it to make it to its last floor vote.
“I would give it a 50-percent shot,” he said.
Van De Wege said there are too many concerns over the registry the bill would create and zoning and licensing issues for it to make it out in its present form.
“I think it needs to be amended first,” he said.
The registry would contain a list of authorized users of medical marijuana and be accessible to authorities.
Van De Wege said he would support the bill if amended.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
