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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Camden: Disagreement over ‘box’ extends lawmakers’ work

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There is much talk in the capital these days about needing to agree on “the box,” which may be confusing to the general public.

This is not the box which one is often told to think outside of. Nor is it the box, which, full of rocks, someone may be described as being dumber than. It cannot be described as bigger or smaller than one for bread. Legislative budgeteers are jammed up trying to agree on the size of this box, which isn’t really a box at all, but a sum of money that makes up the amount the state will spend on a wide array of programs for two years starting on July 1.

It’s an inapt metaphor for the 21st century, for the state couldn’t keep its money in a box of whatever size, because most of it isn’t in paper currency but digitally represented by 0s and 1s in computers somewhere. But budget writers are no more likely to stop using it than Gov. Jay Inslee is to stop telling them to focus like a laser beam or Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler is to stop saying he’s an optimist who views the glass as half full. While we can only wonder about the strength of the laser or the contents of the glass, it may be helpful to know a bit about the box that’s not really a box.

It is, in round figures, around $38 billion of our tax money. It got a little bigger, in theory, last week when economists peered into their crystal balls and prognosticated how much money the state will collect over the next two years. That educated guess is based on projecting all the state’s current laws, rules and regulations on taxes and fees into the future, adding or subtracting things like housing starts and job growth, car sales and gas prices.

The dispute over the box involves each side of the debate tinkering with those laws, rules and regulations, and a general disagreement on how to arrive at it. House Democrats have proposed adding more taxes; Senate Republicans have proposed moving some money around from other boxes and dumping it into the big general fund box. That gives them different totals.

House Democrats want to start by determining what the state needs, then finding the money to pay for it. Senate Republicans want to start by settling on how much the state has, then figuring how to divvy that up.

So if you can’t agree on some very basic things about how much you have, it’s almost impossible to reach an agreement on how to spend it. That’s why the Legislature finds itself in a box, and will need a second special session, to be declared sometime this week.

Is an extra 30 days enough time to find their way out of the box? Check box A if you think yes, box B for no or box C for maybe.

State worker contracts

On Tuesday, with three days left in the special session, the Senate Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on one of the Majority Coalition’s pet peeves. A bill introduced last Friday would open up contract negotiations between state employees unions and the governor’s office, which are currently closed to them and the public.

Yes, the bill is brought to you by the same people who have been conducting budget talks behind closed doors for more than a month, but as they say, a slavish devotion to consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind.

Don’t expect a big rush to get this to a floor vote before Thursday, the last day of this special session. Anything that passes only one chamber before Thursday goes back to that chamber when the Legislature pushes the reset button for the second special session.

Coming this week

Expect some action on changes to state law needed to pass an operating budget. There’s no budget deal, but there may be a few things that both sides agree need changing. They may also agree how to spend the current gas taxes before the first special session ends sometime Thursday.

Coming Friday: It’s the start of a second special session, which Inslee says he’ll call to start the day after the first one ends.

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