Budget deal? Apparently yes. Details? Not hardly.
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee and legislative leaders say they have a deal on a two-year state budget that has staved off a partial government shutdown that would have started Wednesday.
"We'll be in business Wednesday morning," said Inslee, who was flanked by Democratic and Republican leaders of both chambers for a press conference.
He called it "a great stride forward," but Inslee and legislators refused to release many details of the deal that had eluded them for the 163 legislative days that covered a regular session and two overtime special session. Some items must still be worked out by the chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees, Inslee said.
The budget covers about $38 billion, but the precise figure isn't known and the numbers beyond the decimal point have been important in recent weeks as House Democrats had a spending plan of $38.2 billion and Senate Republicans of $37.9 billion.
It will have a reduction in tuition at state colleges and universities, but the exact amount wasn't revealed. Senate Republicans had been holding out for tuition cuts of as much as 25 percent, while House Democrats had called for a tuition freeze and said cut beyond 5 percent could play havoc with the state's Guaranteed Education Tuition program.
It invests $1.3 billion in basic education, which the state is under orders from the Supreme Court to improve, with provisions to expandr all-day kindergarten and lower class sizes in kindergarten through Grade 3. But an initiative approved by voters last year calls for reductions in all grades, and to step away from that the Legislature would have to approve any changes with a two-thirds majority.
It closes some tax exemptions or "loopholes", while extending some existing exemptions and approving some new ones. There's a net increase in revenue because of the changes to tax exemptions, but the amount wasn't revealed, nor were the particular exemptions. House Democrats had targeted 10 tax preferences in their most recent budget proposal, Senate Republicans just two. It will expand the state's ability to collect taxes from out-of-state businesses that make sales within Washington.
For months, Senate Republicans had resisted any talk of tax increases, insisting the state was expected to bring in more than $3 billion in revenue above the current two-year budget period, and that should be enough. In recent weeks, however, that had shifted to an absolute resistance to new taxes, like the capital gains tax proposed by Inslee and House Democrats. Senate Ways and Means Chairman Andy Hill, R-Redmond, said closing some tax exemptions was "something we've always talked about" provided the change didn't hurt the economy.
It has cost-of-living raises for state employees and public school workers, with "additional teacher compensation" but the amount for school workers wasn't spelled out.
It increases money for the state's mental health system, another area where the state is under court orders to make changes.
It adds money for state parks. Although the amount isn't known, Inslee made a point of saying anyone who had a reservation next weekend at a state park can rest assured the park would be open. If the budget stalemate had gone past midnight Tuesday, one of the casualties of a partial shutdown would have been state parks, which would have been closed to the public.
Asked why the public should feel confident that a deal that has details to work out can be finalized and passed by Tuesday, Inslee replied that he and the 10 legislative leaders flanking him wouldn't be making the announcement if they didn't think it would happen.
The public might not be able to see those details before Monday. House Appropriations Chairman Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said he hoped to pass the budget on the House floor Monday evening and pass it over to the Senate where it could pass before midnight.
Because Saturday was the final day of the Legislature's second overtime session, Inslee called for a third session to start Sunday at noon. Legislators are expected to be asked to vote on bills connected to parts of the budget, providing the authorization for money the budget plans to spend.
