With two weeks left in the 2016 Legislative Session, attentions are focused on the supplemental budget. There is the usual back and forth–Senate Republicans call the House budget a spending wish list, while House Democrats say that the Senate is skimping on much needed spending.

The House and Senate passed supplemental budgets last Thursday and Friday. The House proposal would increase 2015–17 general fund spending by $478.4 million. Major items include $99.0 million for recruiting and retaining teachers, a tax increase of $123.8 million and an appropriation of nearly half a billion dollars from the Budget Stabilization Account (also known as the rainy day fund).

Similar to last session, Senate Republicans complain that the House budget relies on hypothetical tax increases that they themselves refuse to vote on. They are also opposed to such a large withdrawal from the rainy day fund and favor waiting for next year’s levy fix to address the issue of teacher shortage. Keep in mind that it takes a three-fifths vote of the Legislature to use money from the rainy day fund.

The Senate’s supplemental budget that would increase general fund spending for 2015-17 by $33.6 million. Priorities include funding for new classrooms, mental-health and replenishing the Model Toxics Control Act account. The budget also provides $6.6 million for charter schools out of the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account.

One thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on: reducing congestion on I-405. Both supplemental transportation budgets fund a northbound I-405 hard running shoulder from SR 527 to I-5 and expansion of the auxiliary lane from SR-520 to NE 70th Street. These are projects that Governor Inslee recommended following the firing of former Department of Transportation head, Lynn Peterson, and a report showing that I-405 traffic has worsened overall since tolling began five months ago. One thing that could stop these projects from moving forward is the debate over tolling on I-405. 

On Thursday afternoon, a draft of a new carbon tax proposal, a possible alternative to Carbon Washington’s Initiative 732, was sent out to legislators. The proposal was authored by the Washington Business Alliance, a relatively new and more moderate business group. Their carbon tax would begin at $8 in 2017 and gradually go up to $35 by 2035. Aside from a lower carbon tax, WaBA’s proposal differs in a few key ways from the original 732, including the following:

• It contains a phase in for natural gas, allowing it to work as an untaxed transition fuel for a period of time.
• It does not apply to coal­-fired power that is being phased out of use.
• It assumes that unspecified power is natural gas, thereby exempting it for the same period as natural gas.
• It offers “Alternative Compliance Agreements” for energy intensive trade exposed businesses”

You can read more about the draft and Carbon WA’s disposition towards supporting a 732 B here.

Following the dissemination of the new carbon tax proposal, the Department of Ecology announced that it is redacting its Clean Air Rule. In an email the agency said this: “Some of the updates and refinements now being considered for the draft rule are significant enough that we have withdrawn the proposed rule. This is an opportunity for us to continue working with stakeholders and will allow more time to integrate suggestions before holding public hearings.” The rule resulted from a directive from Governor Jay Inslee. It’s suspension could further increase the likelihood of carbon tax negotiations moving forward.

Other big news: the Voting Rights Act is still in play. An amended version of the Voting Rights Act may finally make it to the Senate floor after stalling in Republican-controlled body for the past two years. House Bill 1745 passed out of Senator Pam Roach’s, R-Auburn, Committee on Government Operations & Security last Friday. There is still some resistance to the legislation. Senator Mark Miloscia, R-Federal Way, who has an active alternative to the Voting Rights Act that received its first public hearing on the 24th, said that the House version still “skews in favor of litigation and the plaintiff making it easier for local redistricting to be controlled by partisan groups.”

A few affordable housing bills are still alive as well, including the Preservation Tax Exemption bill, which would exempt property owners from paying property taxes if they agree to make 25% of their units affordable for people earning 60% of AMI. There doesn’t seem to be much pushback on these bills. The Rental Housing Association openly supports them, as they are voluntary.

Charter schools demonstration on February 25.

The legislature officially kicked the can down the road on McCleary funding, passing Senate Bill 6195. That leaves a few unresolved issues in education. A huge rally on charter schools took place last Thursday at the capitol in response to the House’s refusal to vote on Senator Steve Litzow’s, R-Mercer Island, bill to fund charter schools from the Opportunity Pathways Account. Additionally, Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos’, D-Seattle, bill addressing the opportunity gap between students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds is slowly making its way through the Senate.

Quotes:

“A supplemental budget should be used for small, minor adjustments to our two-year spending plan and for emergency spending, not as an opportunity to grow the size and scope of state government. Our revenue forecast just showed the first downward trend in revenue collections for the first time in two years. This should remind us of the unknown nature of our state and national economies. We’re seeing other states experience recession-like economic activity. Instead of spending every dollar in the bank and dipping into our emergency reserves, we should be prudent so as not to put essential state services at risk in the future,” said Representative Bruce Chandler, R-Granger. 

Senator Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, expressed disapproval of the Senate supplemental budget, saying, “Traditional bipartisan negotiations on the budget were suspended last week, when the tally was still in the red, so final cuts were decided without Democrats in the room. While the budget my Republican colleagues passed today does many things I agree with and helped shape before bipartisan negotiations broke down, it fails to address critical needs in several areas.”

“This is not only about people. This is about a system that set them up for error,” said Governor Jay Inslee following the conclusion of his administration’s investigation of the Department of Corrections.

Calendar:

Fiscal committee agendas are full to the brim with measures awaiting executive action. Hearings begin Monday morning and will carry into the week.Technically the cutoff for passage of bills out of fiscal committees is Monday, February 29, but given all the exceptions for budget related bills, the only cutoffs that matter at this point are passage out of the opposite house by Friday, March 4, and the end of the Regular Session on March 10.

Public hearings for the Senate’s investigation of the Department of Corrections continue this week, beginning on Monday at 8:00 AM in the Senate Law & Justice Committee. Last week one of the investigators was dismissed by Senator Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, for sending what he deemed to be an inappropriate email.

HB 1541, the bill addressing Washington’s opportunity gap, is Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 12:30 PM on Monday.
On Wednesday at 9:00 AM, the House Committee on Commerce & Gaming will hear HB 2998, which would reduce the tax on marijuana in Washington State.

Your support matters.

Public service journalism is important today as ever. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. Thanks for reading our stuff.