In Our View: Poor Progress Report

The silence, as they say, has been deafening.

Legislators have been holed up in Olympia, 3½ weeks thus far, in a special session, and little progress has been publicly acknowledged. They have yet to finalize a transportation package, which the Republican-led Senate and the Democrat-controlled House essentially agree upon; they have yet to make progress on a two-year state budget, which the two sides are approaching as though they are the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Ideally, last week’s updated state revenue forecast will break the logjam. That report projects an extra $400 million in tax money for state coffers over the next two years, leading Gov. Jay Inslee to say, “The new forecast should make things easier. We need compromise.” But Inslee’s vision of the budget is much different from that of Republicans’.

With the improved revenue forecast, money from bringing medical marijuana under the state tax system, and some other minor additions on the plus side of the ledger, Republicans are more adamant than ever about their ability to forge a budget without creating new taxes. “We should spend the increase in revenue prudently and get this session done,” said Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville.

Prudent would be good; realistic would be better. The special session expires May 28, and a second session appears likely to be called by the governor. Looming is the deadline of June 30, when the current budget closes and makes a shutdown of state services likely.

While there are issues over the funding of schools and the need to reform the levy system that supports those schools, and while there are arguments over state-negotiated contracts for public employees, much of the intransigence centers around a capital gains tax. Inslee proposed the 5 percent tax on investment income of more than $50,000, and House Democrats have supported it. Senate Republicans, on the other hand, act as though they would rather lose an appendage than support the capital gains tax.

Anyway, those are the issues, and they seemingly have remained intractable since being introduced midway through the regular legislative session. Both sides have spent plenty of time lobbing accusations at the other while saying they don’t negotiate through the media — which, of course, is a way of negotiating through the media. And both have been reluctant to build up their positions in front of the public when they have been so busy tearing down the other party’s negotiating tactics.

Yet while legislators have been largely silent on the progress of the budget-writing process, members of the Senate’s Majority Coalition Caucus have been outspoken in their criticism of a series of one-day teacher strikes throughout the state. Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, said: “What has become clear is they aren’t aware of everything we did in the Senate budget. I feel like there is a lot of misinformation and partial information.” Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlach, who caucuses with the Republicans, introduced a bill seeking to stop teachers from collecting sick-leave benefits during walkouts.

Which brings up the issues of silence and discussion and priorities. Which brings up the fact that good governance involves talking to each other rather than firing salvos through the media or becoming distracted by teachers carrying signs. “I don’t think any of the legislators … ought to be lecturing teachers on hard work,” Inslee said.

Indeed. Rather, lawmakers should have some progress in the negotiations to make some noise about.