Editorial: Principles should guide final strokes on state budget

A British study shows that profanity is a worthwhile prescription for pain. That could come in handy as lawmakers hammer out the final budget cuts in a special session that starts Tuesday in Olympia.

House Democrats passed a partisan budget by shutting Republicans out of the process. The Senate passed a bipartisan one after bringing Republican leaders to the table to help work out the details. That’s a refreshing change.

The cuts in both budgets are deep and painful, but that was inevitable when trying to close a $5.1 billion budget gap in the wake of an economic collapse and a stubbornly slow recovery. Practically every area of state government, including the workers themselves, will be yelping. Both budgets mirror the governor’s in that they raise no new taxes. Legislators tried that last year and got slapped down by voters.

Commendably, the budget writers have refrained from relying on failed accounting tricks that avoid red ink now by back-ordering it for future bienniums.

As lawmakers attempt to reconcile the budgets, they will also have to pass 60 to 70 bills that authorize the various ways the cuts are achieved. This raises the importance of cooperation. As legislators slog through the days and, quite possibly, weeks, we hope they keep these general principles in mind:

• No new taxes. This isn’t the time to blink and look for taxpayer bailouts.

• Make real cuts and avoid gimmicks. The House budget “saves” $300 million through a liquor privatization plan. While we’ve supported the state dumping this role, the voters did not. Furthermore, the projected savings have been questioned as too optimistic. Don’t count on this money.

• Spread the pain. State workers are facing 3 percent pay cuts on top of extensive layoffs, but the House budget excludes teachers from salary slashing. They should be included.

• Make it sustainable. Avoid one-time cuts or the kind that leave back doors to expanding government at a later date. The economy could be in the doldrums for years to come. The stronger the Legislature is now, the easier their task in coming years.

• Reach across the aisle. The Senate has done this. The reconciliation process should, too. Whatever the outcome, this will be an unpopular budget. Both parties should have to defend it.

Finally, a note to the public. The final budget will be easy to criticize, because it represents a fundamental change in the size and scope of state government. This is a reflection of how much citizens have said they want to pay in taxes and the difficulty in raising them, given the new supermajority requirements that voters approved. While this process was accelerated by the Great Recession, this day of reckoning was inevitable, given the expanded obligations the state had taken on over the years.

If that doesn’t make you feel better, there’s always cursing to ease the pain.