It didn’t dominate the headlines. No, those were reserved for the passage of the home-rule charter in Clark County. Or for Republicans winning control of the U.S. Senate. Or for Washington residents saying yes to increased background checks on gun sales.
But while the makeup of the Washington Legislature for the next two years didn’t contain the glitz or glamour or boldness of those stories, it was crucial to the lasting impact of Election 2014. The result? Republicans maintained control of the state Senate and made gains in the state House of Representatives, in which Democrats hold a majority. Locally, none of the senators from the 17th, 18th, or 49th districts were up for re-election, while five of the six representatives were re-elected; incumbent Monica Stonier appears to have lost to Lynda Wilson in the 17th District, which would add one more Republican seat to the House.
And while state legislatures often fall into the category of afterthought when it comes to elections, Tuesday’s results will alter the way the remainder of Gov. Jay Inslee’s term plays out.
The Senate — in which Republicans held sway the past two years with the help of two Democrats who joined their caucus — will see a 26-23 GOP majority in the upcoming session, and the practical impact will be to limit Inslee’s ambitions regarding climate-change legislation. Not that the governor is conceding anything — “I’ve talked to a few Republicans who have even said the words ‘climate change,’ so that’s a start,” he quipped Tuesday night as election results were coming in. On Wednesday, Inslee floated the idea of reaching a “grand bargain” with Republicans, suggesting the possibility of a cap-and-trade plan that would charge carbon polluters and direct some of the money toward school financing.
By mentioning climate change and school financing in the same sentence, Inslee invoked the elephant in the room of Washington politics. The Legislature will enter its 2015 session facing a mandate from the state Supreme Court to adequately fund K-12 public education. Using lawmakers’ own numbers for what that will require under the McCleary v. Washington ruling, the court has tasked legislators with unearthing roughly $3 billion in state financing for schools.
Many a Republican lawmaker has suggested that the money can be found by looking under the seat cushions or sifting through coat pockets, but suggestions thus far have been woefully inadequate. The state Supreme Court, which has retained jurisdiction in the McCleary case, in September found legislators in contempt of court for not making enough progress toward full education funding, but justices declined to hand down any sanctions. The next time lawmakers fail to adequately address school funding, however, a sanction-less rebuke will not be the result. The court conceivably could take over the state budgeting process or could revoke corporate tax breaks approved by the Legislature. Because of that, Inslee’s vision for give-and-take climate-change politics might carry some weight in a year when the biennial state budget is due.
Having Republicans retain control of the Senate will limit the governor’s grandest hopes for next year’s legislative session, but the division of power it provides will be beneficial to Washington residents. A divided Legislature will demand that solutions be hammered out through compromise and thoughtfulness rather than ideological pandering. Lawmakers must come up with billions in funding for public schools, but everything else — including where that funding comes from — is negotiable. And that is certain to generate plenty of headlines.
