Article by Erik Smith. Published on Friday, January 07, 2012 EST.

GOP Leaders Say Issue Will Distract Lawmakers From Enormously Difficult Budget Decisions, Delay Session When No Time to Spare

Left to right, House Speaker Frank Chopp, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, and Rachel LaCorte of the Associated Press.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Jan. 6.—Republican leaders are warning that a push for same-sex marriage legislation will bollix up the already difficult legislative session that begins next week, but Gov. Christine Gregoire says she isn’t going to let potential turmoil stand in her way.

            “I’m going to do everything to make sure it gets done this legislative session,” the governor declared Thursday during the annual Associated Press legislative preview at the state Capitol.

            “We are big boys and girls here. We can accept the responsibility to do what is right. It may be a difficult issue, but it can be discussed thoughtfully and deliberatively and it can be discussed respectfully.”

            Famous last words? That’s the way some people see it. They say all hell’s going to break loose when the Legislature begins debating the measure. Bills haven’t been introduced yet, but the gist is well-understood. The proposal would make Washington the seventh state to allow gays to marry, dispensing with legal terminology under the state’s “domestic partnership” law that grants gay couples all the same rights but gives their unions a separate and distinct legal status.

            Maybe the “M”-word is all that is at stake, but Republican leaders said Thursday the debate is going to cause a bloody ruckus that will make it difficult for anyone to focus on the more-difficult-than-ever budget situation the state faces this year. Lawmakers must find a way to fill a $1.5 billion hole in the state budget, either with tax increases or program cuts. And that follows three years of big budget trouble during which all the easy decisions have already been made.

            Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said the governor is making a big mistake if she believes lawmakers can resolve the crisis during a short 60-day session and deal with gay marriage at the same time. “This is not the session for social reforms,” he said. “We should leave the social agenda off of the Legislature this year. We have 60 days to complete a very, very challenging process, and the last thing we need to do is to be in turmoil down here over social issues.”

             It is an issue that could throw off any timetable for a quick resolution to the session, and Republicans warn that lawmakers could wind up in town well past their scheduled March 9 adjournment.

            A Huge Distraction

            It’s not as if the Legislature has time to spare. Lawmakers already face tight deadlines if they are to reach agreement on a tax package that might be submitted to voters this spring. It takes about 75 days lead time to submit a measure to voters, and making it to the ballot for the already-scheduled April elections would require agreement by the end of January.

Few expect lawmakers to reach agreement that quickly, and for a variety of convoluted political reasons, smart money at the statehouse is that a deal won’t be struck until after the next tax-revenue forecast on Feb. 16. The big question is whether they will reach agreement in time to hold an election in May. They might have to call a costly special election in summer, or wait until the primary or general elections later in the year, meaning that any potential taxes would kick in later and generate less money.

Now add a big debate over gay marriage – one that is sure to bring the Legislature to a standstill and draw busloads of protesters on both sides of the issue to the state Capitol. And suddenly you have a big time-management problem that leaves at least some legislative leaders gulping.

Hewitt says a big debate looms ahead over whether it is even proper for the Legislature to take action, or whether the measure ought to be submitted to the people for a public vote. “I don’t think this is the right time to do this,” he said. “I believe it will cause some turmoil in the caucuses when we are trying to stay focused on a very, very important fiscal issue.”

Hewitt noted that the bill’s biggest advocate in the Senate is Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who earned his stripes at the statehouse as a gay-rights activist before he won election; today he is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

“Sen. Murray, whom I have a lot of respect for; I have the utmost admiration for that gentleman; he is vested in this personally and he is going to be one of the four most important people down here this year, so I really don’t want his attention away from what he really needs to do.”

           Questions Priorities

Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, the House minority leader, said the issue calls into question the Legislature’s priorities. “We have a budget problem but they tell me they have plenty of time to hear this bill,” he said. “I have a list of 10 economic reform bills that we didn’t get hearings on in the House because we didn’t have time, to fund education first and fund the fundamentals, and they didn’t get time [last session] because we didn’t get a hearing slotted. So apparently we have time to hear certain bills but not other bills that actually help our children and move our economy forward.”

But whatever time constraints the Legislature faces this year, Democrats say gay marriage is one measure they will make time for. And since they control the agenda and the schedule, it’s really their call. House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, never one to speak at length, said, “This is the time to move forward on this issue.”

And Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said, “I feel that we certainly would have the time. In my opinion, this is the right time to move forward with marriage equality. I personally believe that the public is on board with it, and in a state like ours, we won’t have to wait long to know that one way or the other.”

Brown said you can be pretty sure that if the Legislature passes a gay-marriage bill, opponents will file a referendum to block it, and the matter is likely to go to the people no matter what the Legislature does.

So if it’s bound to go to a vote anyway, why should the Legislature pass the bill rather than simply referring the matter to the ballot?

Brown said she thinks it’s the right thing to do. “Personally I believe that the public has been moving in the direction of favoring marriage equality, especially as we have gone down the path of creating domestic partnerships, putting out the rights and responsibilities that couples have, and that there should be no distinction between couples in terms of that. So I am hopeful that we can bring that forward and to a successful vote in the Senate.”

            Budget, Bah

Meanwhile, the governor says it’s a civil rights issue, and the budget shouldn’t stand in the way. 

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