House Democrats unveiled a new budget proposal Wednesday that brings them closer to Senate Republicans as lawmakers try to reach a deal before the special legislative session ends next week.
The plan includes eliminating some early retirement benefits for state employees hired after July 1, a move that both Republicans and Gov. Chris Gregoire are in favor of. It also includes a two-year balanced budget measure that would require an outlook for a four-year budget. Republicans had wanted a four-year requirement in statute, not just an outlook.
House Democrats abandoned their initial proposal that would have largely balanced the budget by delaying a payment to schools into the next budget cycle. Instead, they are adopting an alternative accounting maneuver in which the state would temporarily claim control of local sales taxes before they are redistributed back to jurisdictions at their usual time — roughly a month after they are collected.
“Someone has to get the ball rolling,” House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington. “That’s why we’re here today.”
The measure also repeals a voter-approved initiative to reduce class sizes. While Initiative 728 has been on the books, lawmakers have either suspended or not fully funded it in past budgets.
Lawmakers are trying to close a roughly half-billion dollar shortfall for the two-year budget cycle ending June 2013.
Democrats hold majorities in both the House and the Senate, but last month, Republicans established a philosophical majority in the Senate after three Democrats stood with them on a GOP-crafted budget plan that then passed the Senate but stalled in the House. That chamber passed an alternate plan agreed to by majority Democrats in the House and Senate.
If lawmakers aren’t able to get a budget deal by the end of special session early next week, it’s possible they could get called back again. If that happens, it would be the third special session for lawmakers to deal with the supplemental budget. They spent nearly three weeks in a special session that ended mid-December, weeks before the regular session started in January.
In addition to the supplemental budget, lawmakers still need to pass a construction budget and several bills tied to the budget.
