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Clark County lawmakers wary of governor’s budget plan

Gregoire proposal addresses $4.6 billion deficit

By Kathie Durbin
Published: December 16, 2010, 12:00am

Clark County lawmakers reacted cautiously to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed 2011-13 budget Wednesday — some said its cuts are too Draconian, others that it doesn’t cut deeply enough — but the governor said in an interview that it’s long past time for “Monday morning quarterbacking” as the state confronts a $4.6 billion budget deficit over the next 30 months.

“Now is not the time for partisanship, now is not the time for politics,” Gregoire said. “The election is over, our people are struggling. We have to step up to the leadership role. That means taking votes they hate.”

State Sen. Joe Zarelli, whom the governor praised as a constructive voice on the budget, said in a statement that Gregoire “has given the Legislature a good place to start.”

But Zarelli, the Senate Republican leader on the budget, added, “Once we get into the details, I expect we will disagree with some of her choices, especially considering the commitment Senate Republicans have made to protect the most vulnerable residents of our state.”

The governor proposes eliminating the Basic Health Program, which covers about 66,000 low-income adults, as well as health coverage for the children of illegal immigrants and cash grants and medical care for unemployable adults. Her budget would also cut some Medicaid-funded services to the disabled as early as next month.

Gregoire said it’s unrealistic to think the state can patch a $4.6 billion budget hole without hurting the poor.

“The largest budget in state government is social services and health care,” the governor said. “If you’re not going to go there, you have to go to education or public safety,” and programs in those areas can’t sustain further cuts, she said.

State Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, questioned whether the governor’s proposed $3 billion in cuts would be enough to address the state’s nearly $5 billion budget problem over the long term. Gregoire’s budget “would be fine if we had a short-term budget problem, if we were going to get economic recovery in the next two years,” he said. “But I don’t think we are going to see an economic recovery of that magnitude in the next two years.”

Gregoire said Pridemore misunderstands the full impact of her budget. “It’s $3 billion in cuts, it’s $1.1 billion in not funding two (education) initiatives, and it’s $700 million in transfers, including from the rainy day fund,” she said.

The Senate Democratic caucus was silent after the budget rollout. House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, issued a noncommittal response, saying, “We will be carefully considering this proposal in the days and weeks to come. But any of the choices we make will have a serious negative impact on the social structure of our state, the education of our children, and the future of our economy. … It is important to remember that our enemy is the recession, not the people of our state. The steps we take must reflect the kind of state we want Washington to be in the future.”

Asked whether she could win her own party’s support for the budget, Gregoire said that after she and her budget director, Marty Brown, briefed the legislative leadership on the proposal, “there was a deafening silence in the room. I think people are stunned at the gravity of the cuts that have to be made. There will be a dramatic learning curve, there’s no doubt about that.”

What makes this year different, she added, is that new revenue is off the table after voters in November repealed temporary taxes on soda and candy and reinstated a measure that requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber to raise taxes.

“I’ve heard the voters, and I’m going to honor their wishes, and this is the budget,” she said.

State Rep. Tim Probst, D-Vancouver, said he could not support the governor’s budget because it reduces levy equalization for local school districts. Sixty House members, including all members and members-elect in the Clark County delegation, signed a letter to the governor asking her not to cut levy equalization at all.

“It’s an equity issue,” he said. “You’re hurting students based on where they live.”

Still, Probst said his No. 1 issue remains economic recovery and job creation.

“The budget and the economy are two separate issues for me,” he said. “Access to credit for small businesses, cutting our high school dropout rate and increasing high-demand training for the unemployed, that’s the economy. That’s creating jobs.”

Where the governor’s budget most directly affects the economy is in its cuts to education, Probst said. “Deep cuts to education are not good for the economy.”

Probst predicted a hard session. “What’s going to be different this biennium compared to last biennium is that we have cut most of the fat and we are cutting muscle and bone now, and people are going to feel it,” he said.

“It’s going to hurt vulnerable populations, it’s going to hurt students in our schools, it’s going to hurt higher education, and it will hurt our economy in the long term. When we cut education, we’re hurting our economic competitiveness.”

Local school leaders trying to sift out details were hesitant to grade the governor’s plan. They know legislators will have the final say on where, and just how heavily, the cuts ultimately will land.

“I fully understand and empathize with the governor’s statement that she is proposing to ‘cut the unthinkable to prevent the unbearable,’” said Shonny Bria, Battle Ground district superintendent, in a written statement. But she also sees Gregoire’s plan is a proposal only, sure to be split open and reshaped by House and Senate factions and both political parties.

“We simply don’t know how it will shake out,” Bria said.

Howard Buck of The Columbian contributed to this report.

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