Spokane7
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November 29, 2010
Gregoire still waiting for alternative spending plans
OLYMPIA – Warning that every month is critical in solving the state’s looming budget shortfall, Gov. Chris Gregoire tried Monday to prod legislators into suggesting budget cuts more palatable than hers.
Three of the four legislative leadership groups had already signaled they wouldn’t meet her deadline for submitting alternate plans and had asked for more time, Gregoire said. But she plans to meet with House and Senate leaders of both parties by week’s end to discuss a special session that would address a projected $385 million gap between expected revenue and scheduled expenses.
“I showed them a way” to cut that amount, but it can’t be done through larger across-the-board cuts to most state agencies and departments, she said. Instead, it requires deep cuts or even elimination of some state programs that are on the books, including parts of the Basic Health Plan and Disability Lifeline.
Under state law, only the Legislature can make those kinds of cuts to programs it has previously approved. Legislators could return for a short special session some time in December if they can agree on what to cut, or wait until Jan. 10 when a new Legislature convenes with new members chosen in the Nov. 2 election.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, has called Gregoire’s list of cuts “a first step”, but said it removes opportunities for college students and needed services for the poor. Before taking such drastic steps, the state should look at government reforms that could achieve significant savings, she said: “This process won’t be quick and it won’t be easy.”
Gregoire acknowledged the cuts she proposed aren’t easy, but she said the Legislature should act quickly if she calls a special session: “I don’t want them to come in here and sit around; all that does is spend more money.”
Every dollar put off now means money will have to be cut near the end of the budget cycle when options are fewer, Gregoire said. “For every inaction, there is going to have to be a counter action.”
The new push for a special session was triggered earlier this month when state revenue forecasts were below most state officials’ expectations. Last week, Gregoire announced her proposed cuts and said she wanted Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate and House to submit their plans by the end of the day Monday. But by noon Monday, both caucuses in the Senate and House Democrats had said they needed more time, while House Republicans had signaled they were trying to meet the deadline.
Legislators could give her the authority to make the cuts she’s proposing in a special session, then come back in January to “do cleanup and dot the i’s and cross the t’s”.
Some programs can’t be changed or eliminated without at least 30 days of notice to recipients; it’s required by law, and it’s fair, she said.
“We’re taking away people’s livelihood, we’re taking away their entire health care, ” she said. “They’re entitled to legal notice.”
Because of the state’s budget problems, Gregoire announced Monday that state agencies will change the way they issue contracts, to better ensure the state gets what it pays for. The state will require anyone supplying goods or services, from office supplies to social or medical care, to meet more rigorous performance standards.
These performance contracts will provide incentives for jobs done ahead of schedule or with better than expected results, but consequences for being late or below standards. The state Department of Transportation already uses performance contracts, and about three-fourths of its projects are finished early or with less expensive ways of delivering the services, she said.
Supermajority for taxes unconstitutional, judge rules 
Dazzeetrader11 on November 29 at 7:46 p.m.
See how she targets Basic Health? THEE most expensive mess she ever funded. Just mini glimpse of Obama’s plan if it sticks. You all have NO idea how expensive it is providing health care..worse because the plans don’t provide health…just expense.
The Depts will be cut and eliminated. SHould never have been there in the beginning. The kids in Olympia should get their knives out. Thinking that this lame suckers won’t do much. It’s not in their interests. Marr’s trying to fund his new job…with taxpayer money. It just never stops with this little self promoter.
Anyway… cuts and more cuts will be made. Lisa Brown will be silent but she’ll be the hatchet man. If the tax burden can be resolved, then companies will begin coming again. NEVEr to return to this liberal mischief.
schleufer on November 29 at 8:06 p.m.
i was just reading in the book deadly spin how the PR in these companies work like tobacco coal and beverages. it mentioned what just happend here and exactly how they went about it. its pretty amazing how they set up front companies then go forward with little or no concerne for the people or this planet. they got what they wanted and yeah there will be cuts and people will go without healthcare and jobs. its really an amazing inside look at the cold nuts and bolts of what they do and the staggering amounts of money they make doing it.
healinhand on November 29 at 8:24 p.m.
Please Impeach this idiot!!!!!!!!
Dazzeetrader11 on November 29 at 8:26 p.m.
You make it all sound so ruthless Schueff…. Do you think that everyone should be wealthy? Do you think then that they should pay for their health insurance or whould it still be provided? DO you think that if it was provided or they apid for it themselves that this would bring health?
And if everyone in the US had healthcare provided, should the US and those with healthcare see to it that the rest of the world should be given free healthcare too?
Villains are everywhere…crooked rich, crooked poor, crooked people in general. The poor people steal things. Rich people do too.
it’s not the money Schueff…it’s the people…wealthy or not, some people are just plain crooked. Next up you’ll be trying to convince us that it’s the evil rich who make people steal rob and murder. That if they had money, they wouldn’t do those things. Just ain’t so! Corps or not…some folks are just not right in the head. They don’t follow rules……
lowtechmaster on November 29 at 9:08 p.m.
Those who oppose health care subsidies for the indigent, and those who oppose requiring about everyone to purchase health, have to deal with a very real issue. Anyone without health insurance can walk into any emergency room in the country and receive health care free. That free care costs Spokane hospitals alone many tens of millions of dollars annually. Those costs are ultimately passed on to those of us who do have health insurance, in the form of higher premiums, and to others via increased hospital costs for services. Are those who oppose such help ready to say that those without health insurance, or those too poor to afford it, should not receive treatment? And, if you do say they should not receive treatment, what if it was a relative who came upon hard times…or even you?
hawken on November 29 at 9:26 p.m.
lowtechmaster
I’ll take passed on costs, by Sacred Heart, et al: every day over the absurdity of nationalized health care as passed by Obama.
Scoutster on November 29 at 9:39 p.m.
lowtech…
I completely agree. We need to have the discussion about the values and principles we can agree on, then build a rational system. Daisy actually asks the right question: where are the boundaries? If she wasn’t so abrasive and annoying about it, it might be interesting to have a real discussion with a real conservative about this issue. Unfortunately, all we ever get is “liberal is evil” and “I got mine, you go get yours and _______ (fill in the blank) is an idiot”. Not exactly a, shall we say, “evolved” point of view.
Anyway, the question will be answered in the marketplace because the new health finance law will force us to be more explicit about what the boundaries are for folks. (I find it amusing when people talk about death panels and rationing, as if insurance companies haven’t been coming “between you and your doctor” since Kaiser rolled out the first health ins.)
I would love to see the bright minds of the GOP come out with a complete repeal measure—and defend it. That’s what they promised. Let’s have a vote!
hawken on November 29 at 9:42 p.m.
“Anyway, the question will be answered in the marketplace …”
What a novel idea!
Scoutster on November 29 at 9:49 p.m.
I really don’t know why folks are so resentful of Gregoire in this situation. She didn’t make this happen, she didn’t cause the loss in taxes (she shares the blame with lots of others).
Her job is to balance the budget. She’s telling the people who have to make that happen, the Leg, to get with the program. She is 100% absolutely right: every day that action isn’t taken will mean larger cuts before June 30.
She’s doing her job.
Of course we are down to health care: that’s the next logical place to cut around the edges. There is no more “waste, fraud and duplication”. (There are always efficiencies to be had, but I mean in any serious, budget balancing way.)
The unicorn is dead.
Dazzeetrader11 on November 29 at 9:51 p.m.
Lowtech says..”That free care costs Spokane hospitals alone many tens of millions of dollars annually. Those costs are ultimately passed on to those of us who do have health insurance, in the form of higher premiums, and to others via increased hospital costs for services. ”
Only for a while. New plans are tiered. Low health plans include low services. And it’ll split up by some hosptials.
The higher plans do cost more but the companies don’t have to allocated the payments to the nonpayers or charity cases.
It’s not ideal but for those who wants basic, they get basic and they only pay basic. The days of cost shifting by the hospitals are fading.
They have to. Redistribution days as lowtech describes in present healthcare won’t be around much longer…and they shouldn’t be. Hospitals aren’t happy with this idea as they get paid no matter. They don’t care about socialism…they just want the money..no matter where it comes from.
hawken on November 29 at 10:19 p.m.
It’s all about economic fundamentals… Supply and Demand…. Cost and profit… competition…
As much as many would like to change that,,,,
These fundamentals rule the economy. Only Socialism will invalidate the fundamentals… at a much greater cost.
That’s not to say the fundamentals cannot be tweaked, or regulated in some small degree. But, the fundamentals will always provide the best product/service at the lowest price.
Dazzeetrader11 on November 29 at 11:05 p.m.
Well kids, one thing not subject to debate: As my Daddy says…”when you’re out of dough, you’re out of dough.” Gregoire is…and so are you…she just hasn’t told you directly yet. She spent it…and she doesn’t want you to know it.
She’s reducing services she should never have put in place. Because she’s spent your money it’s her reduction that’s her admission that she’s out of money.
She should just come out and say it…I spend on Unions and benefits (which are outrageous)…in the hundreds of thousands of union people in the state of Wa alone, she put in crazy health care programs, she taxed, gas, pop, water, coffee, food, and cigs…..and there is more to come. She even tried and supported 1098 which would have nailed income tax. She’s raised property tax and tried to do more!! She’s even raised taxes on companies wanting to relocae to the State!
When will you people understand that she would continue spending but she’s out of legal avenues for new taxes???. She would if she could. So would Marr and so will Lisa Brown. The only solution is to get rid of these imcompetent politicians with social agendas. She has done a terrible job. Marr’s almost gone. Brown needs to go but the UNIONS will die off before they let their “protector” go. Gregoire is simple..vote her out.
Scoutster on November 30 at 5:46 a.m.
OH, yeah, I forgot one: “Everybody who disagrees with me is a socialist.” I still wait for what the definition of a “socialist” is in 2010. However, I know it’s just a label to set up an us vs. them mentality, so it really doesn’t matter.
Look, Daisy, here’s how it works.
1) We ARE out of money. I think she has been very clear about saying that. What are you hearing that says she wants to do anything other than cut programs?
2) Regardless of how we got here, we have to make cuts. She is saying that.
3) She is telling the only ones with the authority to make surgical cuts (something other than across the board, which is the only authority a governor has to make cuts) to come in and get to work. She had proposed one budget, they have the authority to change that. But someone has to DO something. Those people are the Legislators. They need to come to work and do their jobs.
4) Every day that this doesn’t get dealt with is another day that program cuts will have to be that much deeper BEFORE June 30. It’s just math—not ideology, not Chris Marr, not Brown, not Obama…it’s math.
You have asked for smaller government. Well, this is how you get there. As near as I can tell, your best friend for smaller government today, in what is left of this biennium, is Gregoire.
Dazzeetrader11 on November 30 at 8:31 p.m.
Scout…she is to blame because she is to blame. She was given every bit of money and programs she needed. Spent like Obama is spending except she did worse…she actually pu tin MORE programs and MORE union control.
Now, she’s got bills that have only one thing in common with reality. She spent the money and she can’t pay.
It IS indeed her bad management and her corruption. She’s to blame. It’s not Bush, etc. It’s her. Don’t blame the poor…won’t cut it.
Not every one gets free forever. The money is gone. Only one person did this and it’s Gregoire. The poor and everyone else suffers because her. She , like Verner, should run away and resign. She doesn’t know how to run a state..like Verner doesn’t know how to run Spokane.
Sorry if you can’t discuss things because you say I’m abrasive.
I’m am SOOOOOOOO angry at these government managers!
And when you libs go soft on this level of craziness and make excuse, it drives me mad. You should be furious too! It’s your state and your city…and you have excuses for this incompetence…and YOU pay for it. These people who rob you are supposed to be the “pros” when they’re just thieves and liars.
I’d let Obama, Gregoire and Verner chose their poisons.that’s about as good as it gets when their activites border on treason.
Yo don’t see what I see every day. But it’s not me or the conservatives who cause the underserved trouble. It’s the liberal dems who made promises, spent money not theirs..and then have the nerve to blame us for the trouble! We had nothing to do with it. 4 years of Dem control on nearly everything…and now what?
Scoutster on December 01 at 6:50 a.m.
Daisy,
Your complete inability to deal with the reality of how govt works makes me wonder about your knowledge base.
How, in the frigging world, do you believe ONE PERSON is capable of doing all this damage? Ever hear of balance of powers? Ever hear of power of the purse? Ever hear of one person, one vote? She may have signed the laws, but she didn’t pass them.
And now, regardless of how we got here, she’s doing her job. Cutting the budget.
Look Daisy, she is cutting the budget.
See, she is cutting the budget.
What is she doing? She’s cutting the budget.
Read the Olympian if you don’t believe me. What is she doing? She’s cutting the budget.
And, yes, it is falling on the poor. That’s where states cut. Sorry if you feel guilty about that, but it’s your choice. After all, you made your choice.
If folks with developmental disabilities don’t want good care, they should go to college and get rich like YOU did, right? They make their choices, you made yours.
If dying people need care in their last days and can’t afford it, well, they should just have had better health insurance like Daisy does. They make their choices, you made yours.
If we want to cut the (mostly female) working poor who do most of the heavy lifting to care for people and make them provide for their families on $9.00/hr wages, while taking away every social support from subsidized child care to health subsidies for kids, well, they make their choices, you made yours.
Your rose colored glasses (in your case your hatred for every politician that disagrees with you) may help you feel less guilty for the choices that must be made now, and you might feel some sort of antiseptic distance from it by blaming everyone but voters, but real live people are going to be hurt. But, hey, you made your choices.
And your dear friend, Chris Gregoire, is the one implementing these cuts. I don’t know how you can spin this in the bizarro Faux News world so that she isn’t doing this, but it is the reality that she is making very serious cuts to the most vulnerable people in this state. This is happening.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
Look, Daisy…she is making cuts. And she is begging the Legislature to do their part. But it is easier to just criticize rather than problem solve. They learn that from voters like Daisy, who made her choices.
I don’t see what you see? Gimme a break.