OLYMPIA — Representatives for the 24th District say they have one goal during the 105-day state Legislature session that begins Monday — protecting the district from budget cuts.
But given a $6 billion deficit projected for the next two years, district lawmakers say there will be cuts and that they will have to prioritize the district’s needs.
“We don’t have any money,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam. “We’re not passing much without any money.”
Said Deputy Majority Whip Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim: “With the operating budget, we will be playing a lot of defense to try to keep programs going on in the district that we fully need.”
Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, agreed.
‘Going to be a tough year’
“It’s going to be a tough year,” he said. “Anything that is almost not life-threatening will be scrutinized heavily.”
The 24th District includes Clallam and Jefferson counties and a portion of Grays Harbor County.
Gov. Christine Gregoire’s proposed budget for 2010 through 2011 includes spending cuts of more than $3 billion over 2¬½ years for public schools and higher education, prisons, social and health services and state parks.
Suspending two voter-backed education initiatives, loans and a $1 billion federal bailout yet to be approved would make up the rest of the deficit.
Funding cuts in the proposed budget include a 12 percent cut to social and health services and a 6 percent cut to higher education.
Transferring state parks such as Old Fort Townsend in Jefferson County and Bogachiel in Clallam County to local governments have also been proposed.
The proposed budget doesn’t include any tax increases, and Hargrove said suspending tax breaks or raising taxes would be difficult since doing both require a two-thirds vote in the state House of Representatives and Senate.
Each lawmaker has identified the programs and construction projects that he or she wants to protect the most. They will be proposing few bills that will require any additional spending.
“It’s daunting,” Kessler said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Funding for replacement of the eastern portion of the Hood Canal bridge that will occur during six weeks in May and June, and a ferry to transport commercial trucks across the canal during the closure is not at risk, she said.
As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Kessler said she will be working on the state’s budget on a daily basis.
Legislation Kessler will propose this session includes:
•âÇRecording of executive sessions held by public entities, which she said would be on a voluntary basis.
•âÇMandatory education on the state Open Public Meetings Act for public entities — which she said can be done through organizations such as the Association of Washington Cities and not require additional funding.
•âÇForming a committee to find an alternative to Superior Court for citizens to file complaints against public entities not responding to their public records requests quickly enough.
•âÇProtection for victims of domestic violence.
Van De Wege will introduce a bill to allow utilities to cut down trees without getting approval from a property owner when the trees are in danger of falling on power lines.
He said a property owner would still have to receive notification.
The intent of that legislation would be to reduce the number of power outages, Van De Wege said.
Hargrove said he is not ready to disclose information on bills that he is working on, since he is still sorting out the details.
But he said his focus for the session is to preserve crime prevention programs.
Those programs are needed, Hargrove said, in order to reduce spending on the criminal and health systems.
Kessler said funding she wants to protect includes levy equalization for rural school districts, a biomass turban project for the Quillayute Valley School District and the U.S Highway 101 Safety Project.
The biomass project would use wood waste to heat the school district’s facilities.
‘Brutal’ proposals
Kessler referred to Gregoire’s proposed cuts on social and health services as “just brutal.”
The cuts include eliminating cash payments and treatment subsidies for disabled people and addicts who can’t work.
“We’re concerned for what happens to them,” she said.
“Will they go to the streets and die? I just don’t know.”
Kessler said it is not likely that funding for a second ferry on the Port Townsend-Keystone route will be approved.
“It’s not necessarily out of the picture,” she said. “But it is certainly going to be difficult.”
The state initially planned to purchase two brand-new ferries for the route, but the sole bid came in $40 million over budget.
It settled for an 18-month, $65.5 million contract for a new 64-car, 750-passenger ferry on Dec. 1.
Kessler said it is possible that a federal stimulus package would free up state money to be used on the ferry system.
The state Department of Transportation is leasing a 50-car ferry from Pierce County to service that route until the new ferry is built.
“The ferries are probably going to see their future decided in this coming session,” Van De Wege said.
This, he said, is due to the state Department of Transportation receiving less gas tax revenue ¬– which it uses to fund transportation projects — caused by commuters restricting their driving habits when gas prices were reaching $4.50 a gallon earlier this year.
Funding Van De Wege said he is most concerned about is for school districts and community colleges and widening of U.S. Highway 101 from Kitchen-Dick and Shore Roads in Clallam County.
“That is a project that has been in the works for a while and is still in the works,” he said.
“I don’t want to see it get cut out because transportation funding is going down.”
In addition to the Ways and Means committee, Kessler sits on the Rules committee, which considers all bills from policy and fiscal committees and considers their consideration in the state House of Representatives.
Van De Wege also sits on the Rules Committee along with the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government and Audit Review; Technology, Energy and Communications; Veterans’ and Military Affairs Joint committees; and is the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee vice chair.
Hargrove sits on the Human Services and Corrections, Judiciary and Natural Resources Ocean and Recreation committees.
Lawmakers’ profiles and contact information can be found at www.leg.wa.gov.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
