So Many Issues, So Little Time – And Wasn’t it Supposed to be All About the Budget?

Deputy House Minority Leader Joel Kretz, Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, and Rep. Charles Ross meet with reporters Wednesday.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Jan. 19.—Remember the good old days? The simpler, quieter times of, oh, a month ago?

            Way back in the golden past everyone from the governor on down seemed to think there were two big goals for this year’s Legislature – passing a budget and getting people back to work. Those tasks alone looked daunting enough to keep lawmakers busy for 60 days. But now that the 2012 session is in full swing, Republican leaders are saying so many issues have been placed before the Legislature it’s hard to imagine how everything can be can be resolved by March 9. Or whether anyone will have the spare time to think about the state's teeny little $1.5 billion problem.

            At their first media availability of the session Wednesday, minority Republican leaders said big distractions like gay marriage and marijuana threaten to turn this year’s session into a quagmire. “You know, we came to town to work on balancing the budget and get Washington working again,” said deputy minority leader Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda. “We’ve worked pretty hard to keep our members on track and not be going off on a lot of rabbit trails. And it’s kind of disappointing to see all the distractions coming up. I understand why Democrats don’t want to talk about the budget or any of the real issues that we’ve got to deal with. But it is kind of turning into a three-ring circus.”

            Some of those tricky issues, of course, are ones that are inherent in the budget debate – and they’re ones that Republicans themselves want to move to center stage. But it’s clear this isn’t the simple session it was supposed to be.

            A Crowded Agenda

            Republicans don’t control the agenda, of course. They are in the minority in the House and Senate. Nor do they control the governor’s mansion – Gov. Christine Gregoire, of course, is a Democrat. But certainly Republicans are qualified observers of the legislative scene. And they say the agenda seems to have become so crowded during the Legislature’s first 10 days that all talk of discipline must have been forgotten.

            The list of non-budget issues seems to grow every day. There’s same-sex marriage, an issue that became a central matter when the governor herself made it a priority. Then there’s the legalization of marijuana. That one wasn’t any politician’s doing – the issue was placed before the Legislature by a citizens’ initiative. But the way the rules work, lawmakers have the right to disregard I-502 and send it straight to the ballot if they choose. Instead, Democratic legislative leaders promise full debate.

            A half-dozen other issues appear good candidates for big legislative blowups. There’s a proposal from the governor’s office for an oil-barrel tax to pay for transportation projects – and whether it ought to be called a fee or a tax is only the start of the fun. Next comes a proposal being pushed by the state Labor Council and the Association of General Contractors to increase state debt to pay for public construction.

            Then add efforts to promote charter schools and revamped teacher evaluations, non-Indian gambling, a state bank, centralized state collection of city business and occupations taxes, a possible rewrite of a 2006 green-energy initiative, and broad and sweeping powers for the state’s soon-to-be-launched health exchange.

            And finally comes the main event – the issues that are part and parcel of the budget debate, in which lawmakers actually have to think about that $1.5 billion shortfall. Right around the corner is an argument about budget cuts, a tax proposal for the ballot, and a big reform drive. At the very least, there’s going to be a battle over health benefits for teachers and other school-district employees, and an effort to repeal costly education initiatives that the state just can’t afford.

            Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, says there’s no possible way the Legislature will finish on time. “There is a lot on the plate,” he says. “This is the most serious supplemental budget that we’ve seen in the last 50 years.”

            Bipartisan Effort in the Senate

            Hewitt predicts the same sort of bipartisanship in the Senate this year that was exhibited in last year’s session, when Republicans joined Democrats in writing the budget. Although Democrats have a 27-22 advantage in the Senate, a moderate faction among the Democrats – the so-called “Roadkill Caucus” – has brought the Republicans to the table. “I just don’t believe there are enough Democrats in the caucus to pass a budget, so I think we are right back in the situation we were last year, when the moderate Democrats were in play. I think that is exactly what is happening in the Senate.”

            There is no formal agreement that the budget will be written jointly between the two parties, but Hewitt points out that there wasn’t last year, either. Already, however, Republican and Democratic leaders have been meeting to discuss a reform agenda for the Senate. That’s about as clear an indication as possible, Hewitt says.

            Meanwhile in the House, Republicans will play a different role. There Democrats have a 55-43 majority, large and solid enough that they don’t have to cede power. House Republicans say they plan to present an alternate budget proposal, just to show how it can be done.