RUBBER-STAMPING A TAX hike package wasn’t on this week’s legislative agenda.
Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, enjoyed some family time Tuesday, worked a shift at the Sequim Fire Hall [his regular job] on Wednesday and spoke at a ground-breaking in Port Angeles on Thursday.
Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, spent the week shuffling back and forth between Olympia and Grays Harbor, tracking legislative issues while covering commitments he made as a professional forester when everyone expected the Legislature to adjourn on schedule last month.
Hargrove and Van De Wege were among the many legislators who decreased state expenses and eased personal and family pressures by leaving the capital while the Legislature’s four-person core leadership team tried to hammer out a compromise.
Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, the third legislator representing the North Olympic Peninsula, is the House majority leader, so she was among those doing the hammering.
If the Legislature doesn’t reach agreement by midnight Monday, when the special session ends, Van De Wege doesn’t expect Gov. Chris Gregoire to immediately call a second special session.
Instead, Gregoire will wait until the core leaders devise a tax package that has adequate support, then call the full Legislature back to vote on it, he predicted.
If they can’t arrive at a compromise within two weeks after the close of the special session, the governor could balance the budget by implementing across-the-board cuts.
“I think we will come to agreement this weekend,” Van De Wege said, basing his optimism on daily conference calls he participates in as a member of “big leadership” — the nine-person team that includes his post of deputy majority whip.
Legislators are willing to compromise, but won’t vote for something just to end the session, he said.
For example, on Tuesday the state Senate pitched a compromise tax package featuring a one-tenth of a cent sales tax increase — a much smaller rate hike than earlier Senate proposals.
That compromise didn’t fly.
“I do the vote counts and there aren’t enough votes in the House to pass a general sales tax increase,” said Van De Wege, who is, himself, “absolutely against it.”
“That’s not the type of revenue we need to be raising in a recession,” he said.
“Growing concern we might not finish” was eased Wednesday when the Senate leadership dropped its push to increase the state sales tax rate, he said.
House and Senate leaders moved on to looking at other revenue-raising options, including negotiating the size of a beer tax rate hike.
“Beer is probably an appropriate tax to look at,” Van De Wege said.
Micro-breweries such as Port Townsend Brewing Co. would be exempt, and beer is “discretionary spending,” he said.
As a paramedic, he is also impressed with studies that show that higher alcohol prices reduce consumption — and its negative health and safety consequences, particularly among younger drinkers.
“I prefer not to see alcohol made any more accessible in this state,” he said.
New revenue from a higher beer tax rate would appropriately be used to retain substance abuse prevention programs with only minimal cuts.
Whether in Olympia or away, “everybody is having their voice heard,” Van De Wege said.
When the Legislature was last in regular session on Friday, April 2, “we were on the floor voting and we spent a lot of time in caucus.”
However, “everybody” means all Democrats, he admitted.
“My heart somewhat goes out to the Republicans — they’re deep in the minority and probably feel fairly left out,” he said.
Ongoing negotiations are between Senate Democrats and House Democrats.
“Right now the Republican position is no on everything,” Van De Wege said. “They’ve chosen not to participate.”
That leaves it to the Democratic majority to try to put a wrap on the state Legislature’s special session, he said.
The full Legislature is back in Olympia this morning to consider the latest proposals.
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Martha Ireland was a Clallam County commissioner from 1996 through 1999 and is the secretary of the Republican Women of Clallam County, among other community endeavors.
Her column appears Fridays.
E-mail her at irelands@olypen.com.
