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March 24, 2010 in City
Gregoire warns of 20 percent cuts if budget stalls
OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire warned Wednesday that she could be forced to make across-the-board cuts of 20 percent if the Legislature doesn’t come up with a budget-balancing agreement.
Gregoire expressed frustration about the continued stalemate between the House and Senate over a tax package.
“They were here too long as of Monday morning,” said Gregoire, who had initially called for lawmakers to finish the overtime legislative session by last Sunday.
She said that if lawmakers aren’t wrapped up with their work to patch a $2.8 billion budget deficit by the time the special session ends next month, she won’t call them back to town unless they have a firm deal. If they don’t, she says, she’ll have no choice but to make drastic cuts to state agencies and programs.
“Every day we don’t get a solution is costing us more cuts, there’s no question about that,” she said. But, “calling it a day and doing 20-percent cuts, I don’t know when that would occur.”
Most lawmakers were away from the Capitol on Wednesday, with only budget negotiators left behind to continue working toward agreement on a tax package and a spending plan.
The two chambers have been unable to agree on which taxes to raise to help balance the budget. The Senate’s tax proposal is centered on a temporary two-tenths of a cent sales-tax increase, while the House’s package, based on a compromise proposal from Gregoire, focuses on closing tax exemptions and collecting more money from service businesses.
House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said her caucus doesn’t have the 50 votes needed to pass a sales tax.
“I don’t know what we do,” she said. “We’re all frustrated.”
Also Wednesday, Gregoire said she’s open to the idea of blocking Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna from using public money to a federal health care overhaul. Democratic majority lawmakers have raised the idea of adding such a ban to whatever budget proposal they ultimately agree to.
McKenna has added Washington to a multistate lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care bill signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Gregoire said that she believes in the independence of the attorney general, but that using public money to pursue litigation that she and other Democratic leaders are opposed to is “a different question for me,” she said.
Gregoire said she hasn’t been presented with any proposed state-funding bans targeting the lawsuit, so “I’ll wait and see.” But when asked if she’s open to the idea, she responded: “I am.”
Kessler said that since lawmakers are still hammering out the budget, they’re still weighing what such budget language would look like.
“I think we’re all concerned about how our money is being spent,” she said. “And this is certainly nothing we agree with. Why is he doing it? He doesn’t need to do this.”
McKenna said that he thought it was important to join Florida’s lawsuit because “health care reform is too important to be based on an unconstitutional foundation.”
“This is not a policy brief that we’re filing,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a legal brief. We’re challenging some specific provisions of the bill.
McKenna spokesman Dan Sytman said the costs to Washington state are “minimal” because Florida is the lead state on the lawsuit, claims Congress doesn’t have the constitutional right to force people to get health coverage. It also says the federal government is violating the Constitution by forcing a mandate on the states without providing resources to pay for it.
In another swipe at McKenna, Gregoire’s budget director has informed McKenna that his agency was no longer exempt from having to get individual approval for costs on things like litigation consultants or expert witnesses.
Under a cost-savings bill signed into law by Gregoire last month, agencies are prohibited from entering into personal contracts, or filling vacancies, unless they apply for individual exemptions. McKenna’s office was granted the blanket exemption on Friday, and it was withdrawn on Tuesday, the same day the lawsuit was filed.
Gregoire said that it was withdrawn after lawmakers raised concerns about it.
“There’s a level of frustration that they were not consulted” about the lawsuit, she said.
Sytman said that the move “puts us in a very difficult situation.”
“We work on dependency cases where there are children in dangerous situations. We’re defending multimillion dollar lawsuits against the state,” he said. “It presents a roadblock in our effort to achieve a positive outcome in those kind of cases.”
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Man dies following early Saturday accident 
Not_woriking on March 24 at 8:20 p.m.
I’m all for reducing state employees pay 20 percent.
pacnw on March 24 at 9:00 p.m.
So why do the people that are responsible and paying for the Government employees have to pay more, cut their spending and alter their lives, but the Government does not?
One more reason all incumbents will not be getting my vote come next election(s). If you are that unintelligent to think I am stupid and do not see that I am getting screwed, you are wrong!!
ginniet on March 24 at 9:10 p.m.
So let’s spend more of the money we don’t have joining in on a lawsuit that we don’t want against the health care reform bill! I’m sure the attorneys are salivating about the money they’ll earn, and McKenna thinks it will benefit his career!
elliottw on March 24 at 9:18 p.m.
I don’t think the govenor really gets it that everyone is dissatisfied with the way state government is handling cuts to the budget..She thinks all that needs to be done is raise our taxes to keep those entilement programs going for the Democrats..They all need to be voted out of office and start all over again so the will of the people is carried out..
Not_woriking on March 24 at 9:46 p.m.
I’m going to buy stock in Tar N Feathers, because that is just what we need. A couple of those and the elected officials might recall just who and why we elected them. Time to take them off their pedestals and put them back into servitude.
Barcroft on March 24 at 10:45 p.m.
If the queen cuts 20% from the budget, I’ll bet that the sun still comes up tomorrow, and that the world will still spin.
Cut, Chrissie!
JBlim on March 24 at 10:50 p.m.
Not_woriking: I worked for a company that thought it was a smart idea to cut everyone’s pay 10% when times got bad. Result, all the best people (including me, of course) left. Moral - cut 10% of the positions, not the pay.
Not_woriking on March 24 at 11:24 p.m.
“Best” people stay in bad times. Thats what makes them “best”. Rats are the first one to leave any sinking ship.
JBlim on March 25 at 5:40 a.m.
Maybe that’s why you’re Not_woriking
Mr_Bloggy on March 25 at 5:50 a.m.
I see the Internet Budget Writers(tm) have convened to apply their awesome state fiscal management skills to Washington.
JBlim on March 25 at 7:02 a.m.
Well, pacnw, I don’t mean to interject actual facts into the conversation but read this:
“…”In general, private-sector pay is higher than in the public sector, and the higher up the occupational hierarchy the job is, the greater the pay advantage for the private sector,” Kearney said….”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011277862_statewages07m.html
clawman on March 25 at 7:25 a.m.
JBlim;
Interesting that because a Seattle Times reporter makes a stmt you perceive it as factual. Numerous studies concluded that pay increases in the public sector have far exceeded the private sector to the point of public employees making more than comparable positions in the private sector.
To the point of the article, it is sad that the only way govt sees the need to accept some pain in this difficult times is when it is absolutely forced to do the right thing for the citizens of the state.
I say we vote the bums OUT.
Coffee on March 25 at 12:08 p.m.
As I understand it the state will have to lay people off unless the unions ok pay reductions. If that is the case then lay state works off and let there unions help them. We could also put all state works on basic health that would help the bottom line. Maybe we could pull a Kaiser and turn all the retirement costs for state workers over to the feds, Maybe if we just voted some new people in (Dem or Rep) just as long as they are alive and kicking, they couldn’t screw it up any worst than it is right now.
deacon46 on March 25 at 4:11 p.m.
From what I read is that the Government has not really looked at cutting costs. How about doing that before raising taxes or laying off folks. Government spending is not all about salaries. There is waste in every aspect of Government operations. From how they buy stuff, to their needless travel, to too many lawyers, to too many committes, to tax relief for companies who move out of state, to being involved in race track ownership (sorry local insanity), etc. Hold some of the managers feet to the fire about their budgets and I bet we cut a lot of dollars out of the budget.
JBlim on March 25 at 5:39 p.m.
Cal Clausen;
Numerous studies? Well let’s have the URL’s. I’m really surprised you didn’t list at least one or two of them. Are they for Washington State? You Republicans, when it suits you, don’t believe in paying the free market rate for anything, especially labor costs, and expect ordinary folks to work for less to save you a few bucks on your taxes.
misjustice on March 25 at 10:23 p.m.
Yeah, what JBlim said!
The same people that deride harding working state employees and their measly salaries don’t bat an eye at the CEO of Avista getting over a cool 2 million per year plus perks.
Coffee on March 26 at 9:37 a.m.
misjustice Well I can not do thing about Avista, but I can help vote in someone willing to fire some of those hard working state employees so can afford to pay my bills. This is a sort of a either me or you thing.
misjustice on March 26 at 2:28 p.m.
Yeah, I get it it’s always about you, you, you, you, you, you….