Article by Erik Smith. Published on Thursday, December 12, 2010 EST.

Solves 14 Percent of Their Whopping $5.7 Billion Problem – No Word Yet on House Ways and Means Chairman

Left to right, Gov. Christine Gregoire, Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle.

UPDATE 6 a.m. Dec. 10 — Senate Republicans late Thursday night released a more-detailed breakdown of the spending cuts the Legislature will be asked to pass on Saturday.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Dec. 9.—Legislative leaders ended the suspense Thursday when they announced members will remain in Olympia Saturday for a special legislative session and begin whacking away on state spending.

            They emerged from a rare round of hardball with Gov. Christine Gregoire late Thursday afternoon and said they have a deal to cut spending $784 million. It’s a start on the $1.1 billion they must chop to bring the current state budget back into balance.

            And for those keeping score, the deal represents only about 14 percent of the total $5.7 billion that must be cut from state spending plans for the next two-and-a-half years.

            “This isn’t about a bunch of numbers on paper,” the governor said. “This is about human lives. This is about class size. This is about people losing health benefits. This is about people losing jobs. These are painful cuts, no question about it.”

            No More Dilly-Dallying

The governor met for an hour with party leaders from the House and Senate and emerged with all four of them in tow. Democrats and Republicans said they managed to agree at least on a part of the budget-cut plan. Reaching agreement has proven particularly difficult for the Democrats who hold the majority in both houses, because virtually every cut they make will hit hard at one of their allied special-interest groups – public-employee unions, teacher groups, environmental groups, the social-service lobby.

            All that has been known almost a month. And the Democratic governor announced earlier this week she would put up with no more dilly-dallying. If lawmakers couldn’t reach agreement, she said she would call them back anyway. The two Dem leaders looked a bit subdued as they emerged as they faced reporters Thursday.

The longer they wait to make cuts, the deeper the cuts will have to be. They passed a budget last year that counted on an economic recovery that never happened. That’s why they have to cut over a billion dollars immediately to balance the current budget, which runs through June 30.

            Details Sketchy

            Details of the spending-cut plan were sketchy Thursday evening, though the governor’s office promised to issue further information soon.

            Here’s what we know:

            Of the $784 million, about a quarter – $200 million – comes from the across-the-board cuts the governor ordered in state spending last October.

            And of the remaining $583.5 million in new spending reductions:

n      The state will cancel plans to pay for additional staffing in grades K-4. That saves $31.4 million.

n      It will close the McNeil Island prison.

n      And there will be at least some cuts in the state Basic Health Plan.

That’s all any of the lawmakers had to say.

One-Day Session Planned

Leaders said they figure they will be able to get the work done in one day.

“If all goes well and the creek don’t rise, we will go home Saturday night,” the governor said. “I don’t know what time we will go hone, but we will go home. We will show that in Washington state we can get things done if we work together.”

House and Senate Democratic leaders stood by her side. No smiles on their faces.

“I think we’re making real progress,” said House Speaker Frank Chopp, tight-lipped as always.

            Republicans Promise No Games

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said the Republicans will do nothing to hold up passage of the spending reductions. It’s about time the Legislature did something along those lines, he said – the GOP has been urging a tighter ship for years.

“We have an agreement between the four of us that we are going to keep this as clean as possible and get out of here,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, indicated their assent.

            No Word on Ways and Means Chair

In response to a direct question from a reporter, Chopp said the House Democratic Caucus had not decided on a replacement for Ways and Means Chairwoman Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, who was defeated in last month’s election. “We should announce that pretty soon,” he said.

The appointment is the most hotly awaited announcement in the House. Several members have been jockeying for the job. One of them, Eric Pettigrew, was taken out of the running Thursday when he was named House Democratic Caucus chairman.

But Jeannie Darnielle, D-Tacoma, and Ross Hunter, D-Bellevue remain in contention.

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.