OLYMPIA — It didn’t make it to a floor vote before the deadline last month, but a tax-raising bill from a North Olympic Peninsula state legislator may still see the light of the day.
Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, said Friday his bill to allow counties to raise a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax to fund criminal justice programs without a public vote may be added as an amendment to other legislation before this year’s session ends in two weeks.
State law allows such a tax to be raised, but Hargrove’s Senate Bill 6680 would remove the requirement that it be approved by voters.
Hargrove said the bill is needed to allow cash-strapped counties to maintain public safety without the cost of a ballot measure.
He also defended the removal of the public vote requirement by saying decision-makers would be held accountable the next time they are up for re-election.
“It’s not that the public doesn’t have a say in any of this,” Hargrove said. “We all have to stand for election at some point in time.”
Such a move would not be unique during a session in which other barriers to raising taxes have been the focal point of discussion.
The state is facing a $2.8 billion deficit for the rest of the biennium, which ends July 2011, and a couple of budget proposals that include cuts and new taxes are being considered.
The deficit comes a year after the Legislature closed a then-projected $9 billion deficit for the biennium with cuts, reserves and federal assistance.
To streamline the passing of tax-raising bills this year, the Legislature suspended Initiative 960 — which requires new taxes to be approved by a two-thirds vote — for the rest of the biennium last week.
The action included an amendment introduced by Hargrove that also suspended the requirement that a nonbinding public vote be held the following November.
The amendment initially also suspended the requirement that special public notices be made, but that was removed before the House and the Senate concurred with the change Feb. 22.
Hargrove said the modification of the amendment was a nonissue for him.
He maintained that he introduced the amendment to gain enough support for a temporary suspension from the Senate Democrats, who wanted to suspend the initiative permanently.
Budget plans
The Senate and House both released their budget plans last week.
In terms of new revenue — which could mean increasing the sales tax, extending it to items such as bottled water and closing tax breaks — the House is proposing to raise $857 million while the Senate is shooting for $918 million.
The Senate is proposing a three-tenths of a percent sales tax increase, which Hargrove and another Peninsula representative, House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, support.
The Peninsula’s other representative in Olympia, Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, said he prefers taxes on “discretionary” items rather than an across-the-board sales tax increase.
“I’m putting my foot down and won’t vote for any general sales tax increase,” he said.
Hargrove said the Senate’s budget includes roughly $300 million in cuts to education, $200 million in cuts to human services and the rest in cuts to health care.
He said some of the proposed cuts would mean students would have to pay more for their tuition, foster parents would get less in financial compensation and there will be less for low-income health care assistance.
Effects on incarceration
Included in the Senate’s budget are closures of McNeil Island prison in Pierce County and the Maple Lane juvenile detention facility in Lewis County, both proposed by Hargrove, who chairs the Human Services and Corrections committee.
Hargrove said the closure of McNeil, which houses about 1,200 inmates, would mean another prison would have to be built. Hargrove explained McNeil Island is the state’s most “inefficient” and costly prison, and replacing it with a less costly facility, would save money, he said.
“Instead of piling that money in an old facility on an island that is expensive, it makes sense” to close it and build a more efficient facility when the ability of other prisons to absorb prisoners is exhausted in about four to six years, Hargrove said.
The juveniles at Maple Lane could be absorbed by other facilities, he said.
Last week, Hargrove introduced Senate Bill 6871, which would add a $2-a-year charge to auto insurance policies.
The fee would pay for law enforcement programs to prevent auto theft, he said.
Last week, one of Van De Wege’s bills passed the House.
House Bill 2935 would reduce the number of Growth Management Hearing Boards from five to three.
It passed 89-7 vote Friday.
The bill also must be passed by the Senate and signed by the governor to become law.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
