Gov. Chris Gregoire vigorously defended the combination of budget cuts and tax increases the Legislature approved early Tuesday morning, saying the alternative — an all-cuts budget she presented and immediately disavowed back in December — would have been far worse.
Lawmakers stood up for children, seniors and the most vulnerable, Gregoire said at a late morning news conference 10 hours after the special session adjourned.
The winners, she said, are preschoolers who would have lost early learning opportunities, college students who would have lost state tuition grants, 69,000 Washington residents who would have lost Basic Health Plan coverage, patients in hospice care.
The governor made a point of contrasting how much consumers will pay out of pocket in new taxes on soda, candy, beer and bottled water with the value of programs that will be saved from the budget ax.
For example, she said, the average Washington resident drinks 345 cans of carbonated beverages in a year. The new 2 cents-per-12-ounce-can tax on soda the average person will pay “amounts to $7 to help people who need hospice or meals on wheels,” she said.
(Actually, the average person would pay an additional $5 a year more under the soda tax increase, according to the Department of Revenue.)
In all, the package of 20 separate tax increases is expected to generate $794 million in the next 15 months and nearly $1.7 billion during the 2011-13 biennium, for a total of almost $2.5 billion. The Legislature also cut more than $750 million from state programs, transferred money among state funds and penciled in an expected infusion of federal Medicaid dollars to bridge a $2.8 billion budget deficit.
Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Ed Murray, D-Seattle, noted that the Legislature has now cut more than $5 billion in services and public compensation over the past two years to deal with a yawning budget deficit that at one time last year reached $9 billion.
“For every dollar we have raised, we have cut $5,” he said.
Republican criticism
But Republican leaders kept up a drumbeat of criticism, saying Democrats have done nothing to resolve the state’s long-term budget deficit — and warning that they would pay a price in November for raising taxes while the state’s economy still struggles to recover from the recession.
Not a single Republican voted for the tax bill or the revised budget.
“This should have been the year for the majority party to show foresight and leadership and put state government on a smarter and more stable course,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield, the Senate Republican budget leader. “Instead, the taxpayers are going to be pinched for hundreds of millions more in the name of ‘Washington values.’”
“I think the Legislature has lost its credibility, and I think you’re going to see that reflected in the elections coming up,” said Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver. He is running for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat.
In the final hours of the session, the Legislature voted to submit a measure to voters in November asking them to approve a package of energy-efficiency upgrades at public universities and K-12 schools.
The ballot measure would authorize the sale of about $500 million in bonds, with the money dedicated to retrofitting and renovating aging school buildings and creating jobs. The temporary sales tax on bottled water purchases would be extended to help finance the projects.
Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, sponsored the bill. He said the bonds would end up costing about $900 million, with interest, over 25 years, but the energy savings to schools would amount to about $130 million per year.
Minority Republicans were skeptical of the promised energy savings and said they worried about adding more to the state’s debt load.
Larch unit saved
Locally, Larch Corrections Center officials could breathe a sign of relief Tuesday. The minimum-security prison near Yacolt was rescued from closure in the final budget deal. One unit will stay open with 240 beds.
Larch Camp, based at the prison, will continue to deploy eight 10-inmate crews to fight fires and undertake environmental restoration projects, said Geoff Aschoff, who oversees the work crews for the Department of Natural Resources.
“We will stay here and Larch will be basically a DNR work camp,” Aschoff said. “The DNR will maintain those contractual obligations” to other state agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, Clark Public Utilities and other public landowners, he said.
“It’s a win for the taxpayer,” Aschoff said. “We’ve always been a great deal, but no one else knew about us.”
The operating budget for the Washington State University system will lose another $13.5 million for 2010-11, on top of the $54 million in cuts it sustained for 2009-10.
But WSU President Elson S. Floyd said he expects no reductions in financial aid to WSU students because nearly all the funding for state need grants was preserved. The Legislature also preserved about two-thirds of the state work-study funding that was cut in the governor’s preliminary budget, Floyd said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
