$1.5 Billion Problem Looms Over Legislature -- Gregoire Expected to Advance Transportation Plan to Center Stage Today

It was a striped flag, not a checkered one, that marked the opening of the session -- but it signaled the start of 60-plus days of intense debate.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Jan. 10.—Washington lawmakers kicked off their 2012 session Monday, and if the opening-day speeches in the House are any indication, it’s going to be a stormy 60 days. Or more. Many, many more.

            In an opening-day speech on the House floor, House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, ripped Democratic leaders for a game plan he said “holds our kids hostage for a tax increase,” and will do about as much good as “another Band-aid on a severed arm.”

            And with that blessing the state’s 147 lawmakers launched a wild session in which they have to plug a $1.5 billion hole in the state budget, devise a tax increase they can sell to a skeptical public, debate a marijuana-legalization initiative, and deal with a raft of issues that all seem to have been thrust upon them within the last month. Among them is a same-sex marriage proposal advanced by the governor last week, and then comes a biggie she is expected to tout in her State of the State address today – a proposal for a gas-tax increase.

            No way will lawmakers finish on time, said an already weary state Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum. “We’re out of here in April – 30 days [overtime] anyway.”

            Ceremonies Mark Start of Battle

            Lawmakers got a headstart last month with a short special session that managed mainly to trim their budget problem by about a half-billion dollars. But Monday marked the start of the main event, with ceremonies in the House and Senate to mark the opening of the regular session.

            As has become custom on opening day, the House offered the best show. In recent years the speaker and minority leader have begun offering opening-day addresses that not only set the stage for the battles to come, but offer spectators the rare opportunity to witness an appearance of House Speaker Frank Chopp at the rostrum. Unlike other speakers of recent decades, the longtime presiding officer of the House generally remains in his office during floor sessions and leaves the presiding to others.

            In his speech, Chopp urged his fellow lawmakers to “rededicate ourselves as representatives of the people to work for the best interests and highest ideals of our people as we confront the most challenging economic situation since the Great Depression.”

            Then he got down to business.

            Endorses Bonding Proposal

            Chopp made a pitch for a proposal being pushed by labor interests and the Association of General Contractors to issue somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion in bonds to finance public construction projects. “Right now there is a draft proposal being circulated that would create 25,000 jobs in the construction industry, now, this year, putting our people to work by renovating schools, doing public works, creating housing, cleaning up the environment and meeting a number of other needs in concrete, tangible projects.

            “By the way, for those who say government doesn’t create jobs, let me remind you that this idea continues in the tradition of the hydropower or irrigation projects in Eastern Washington which have provided decades of benefit to people all across the state. Now, when you consider this proposal, just remember a few things. A few people, actually a lot of people, because so many are unemployed – remember the veteran returning home and returning home from war looking for a job, remember the young apprentice learning a skilled craft, remember the unemployed parents that will now be able to bring home a paycheck.

            “With the House and Senate working together, and business and labor support, we can enact this proposal and everyone will benefit across the state. Jobs, now let’s get it done.”

            Chopp repeated the latter phrase several times during his remarks.

            A Curious Omission

            Among other things, Chopp called for better “financial education” in K-12 schools, and appeared to link it to the central problem of the session – the ailing economy that is failing to generate enough tax revenue to keep state government growing at its previous rate. “The overwhelming cause of the great recession was abject greed on Wall Street and in banks that jettisoned the time-honored principles of responsible banking," he said. "But had we done a better job of financial education and consumer protection, some of the damage could have been averted.”

            And with a singular choice of wording, Chopp managed to plug gay marriage without actually using the term. Instead, he described it as “marriage equality,” and drew comparisons with the civil rights battles of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Chopp said, “Equality is one of our most fundamental ideals. And as we consider the next goal for equality, just ask my daughter’s generation about marriage equality and you will see the future. [My daughter] Ellie’s middle name is Rosa, for Rosa Parks. By taking a seat on a bus, Rosa Parks stood up for the cause of civil rights and equality. On that day there were people who said it wasn’t a great time to act, but for Rosa Parks it was the time.

“As was the case more than 50 years ago, some will say this isn’t the year to consider this issue; that there are more important concerns. I respect that there are strong views on both sides of this issue, but this is the right time to be fair to people and to choose equality.”

            Rips the Dems

Then it was the Republicans' turn, and DeBolt came out swinging. He ripped the Dems for their plan this session to pass a budget that makes deep cuts to popular programs, and then ask voters to approve a tax increase to restore perhaps a third of them. The Democratic governor has proposed a half-cent increase in the state sales tax – perhaps the easiest sort of tax proposal to get through the Legislature, because it doesn’t hit any particular interest group.

“All we seem to do in our plan is to take the most regressive tax we can and increase it on everybody,” he said. “Mr. Speaker, that is not a plan. That’s another Band-Aid on a severed arm. We have got to come up with a way to reshape our government, refocus our government and make our government accountable to the people that pay for it.

“When we talk about jobs and innovation in Washington state, the one thing that we have learned is that an overtaxed industry stifles innovation. You cannot tax your way out of recession. We want jobs, too. We want jobs now. We want public jobs and private jobs. We think there are opportunities for us to work together, to find solutions but if you think we can create more bloated bureaucracy and get jobs out of that, we cannot do that, Mr. Speaker.