Treasurer James McIntire.

April 12, 2012 – State Treasurer James McIntire hailed lawmakers today for their hard work and success in negotiating a fiscally responsible solution to a daunting budget shortfall.

“The Legislature and Governor produced a fiscally responsible supplemental budget that makes sure Washington’s bills are paid in full and on time,” McIntire said. “They bridged a budget gap that exceeded $1 billion without postponing payments or pushing this biennium’s costs into the future.”

McIntire said the compromise budget is sustainable and maintains Washington’s strong record of financial management without making further cuts in areas that are vital to our state’s continued growth and prosperity.

“This budget doesn’t cut basic education or higher education, preserves our social safety net, makes appropriate payments into pension funds, and distributes money to our schools on time and in full,” McIntire said. “In addition, the Legislature authorized a capital plan that will create or sustain thousands of family wage jobs and takes advantage of historically lower borrowing and construction costs.”

The Legislature passed a $1 billion construction budget with large bipartisan majorities. This mix of additional GO bonds, cash, and certificates of participation lets the state capitalize on historically low construction costs and puts many unemployed construction workers back to work building schools, higher education facilities, and needed environmental projects throughout the state.

“A new constitutional amendment will go to the voters that will smooth out and restrain debt capacity over time,” McIntire said. “Smoothing the state’s debt capacity over time will keep capacity from growing too fast during good times and prevents sharp declines when times are more difficult, allowing us to sustain our construction industry through good times and bad.”

McIntire said the Legislature should also be complimented for taking steps to strengthen Washington’s financial standing.  New requirements for the Legislature to not only balance the current budget but also look at the impact of today’s decisions four years into the future will help us all better see the longer term implications of their choices.   The Legislature rejected proposals to skip pension fund contributions and improved pension funding by voting to lower expected investment returns and early retirement benefits for future hires.”

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