PORT ANGELES — The most arduous and time-consuming part of the 2010 legislative session will be more budget cuts, said Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim.
Van De Wege, who spoke to an audience of about 75 at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce Monday lunch, said budget problems “will be the largest portion of what we’re dealing with for the next several biennium.”
The 2010 session is scheduled to begin on Jan. 11, and Van De Wege said the legislators are anticipating making about $2.6 billion in cuts.
The cuts come a year after the budget was cut by about $9 billion in the 2009 legislative session.
Uphill battle
Although he wasn’t sure what programs or areas would be sliced first, he said it would be an uphill battle for many years to come.
In addition to juggling cuts, Van De Wege said the Legislature will work on drawing in more income by going after tax-avoidance situations and tax loopholes.
In order to do so, the lawmakers will have to suspend or modify voter Initiative 690, which makes it more difficult for the Legislature to raise taxes — including in tax-avoidance situations, Van De Wege said.
To help explain tax avoidance, he used the example of oil and gas.
A tax per gallon of oil brought into the state by boat through the Strait of Juan de Fuca is imposed on all of the product that will be used in the state of Washington.
Oil loophole
So a company that needs to make a stop in Washington might ship all of the oil products that will be used in Oregon and California by boat but use a pipeline to bring in the products that will be used in Washington.
“In that way, they could avoid paying taxes,” he said.
“And they are doubling their chances of spilling oil in the Strait by bringing it both in and out.
“So some things like that we would like to see fixed.”
Van De Wege said he didn’t know whether higher taxes were on the horizon.
Wildlife bill
Beyond budgetary issues, Van De Wege said he remains committed to passing a bill prohibiting feeding of wildlife.
“It didn’t seem like a big deal, but to some people in some areas this is a huge problem,” he said.
“It becomes a problem when people feed a species to the point that it becomes overpopulated.”
He said the Legislature was also looking at some bills that would protect those who are going through the foreclosure process.
“It never occurred to me that people would prey on people who are going through foreclosure to gain money from.”
He also said that some money in the state’s unemployment fund would likely be allocated this session for worker retraining.
“We were somewhat lucky because we had a healthy fund, and now we can make use of it in this economic time,” he said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
