Inslee releases jobs package
Gov. Jay Inslee explains his Working Washington Agenda Wednesday.
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee added some specifics to his campaign themes of generating more jobs in key industries, releasing a package Wednesday of tax breaks and spending projects designed to train workers and cut unemployment.
The bills call for more training for future aerospace workers, money for a new research center in alternative jet fuel at Washington State University, a single location for a business to get all the information on the vast array of regulations it must meet and permits it must obtain, and help for veterans. Others would push to develop "clean energy" and electric cars.
Washington is "the most innovative state in human history," Inslee said, but it needs to be as dynamic in the coming century as it was in the last.
He plans to release more proposals to increase jobs in the near future: "This is the first step."
Republicans in the Legislature said they'd been briefed on some of the governor's proposals, and offered qualified support for those that mesh with theirs, such as faster and easier permits for businesses, and more support for science and technology training. But they said they were waiting for more information on others proposals and suggested the clock was ticking on bills.
"We're extremely close to cut off," Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler of Ritzville said. The last day for hearing a bill in a committee is Feb. 22 if it's not connected to the budget, and March 1 if it is.
"If he's going to run out a 75-point plan, I'd like to see it soon," House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis said. That's a reference to Inslee's statement during last fall's campaign that he had a 75-point plan to increase jobs.
There were some details of Wednesday's package that weren't immediately clear, such as a target for the number of jobs the package of bills would produce for its estimated price tag of $120 million. And there were some clear points of contention, such as Inslee's assertion that the new programs and tax preferences wouldn't make the state's budget worse.
The $120 million is more than covered by the $141 million in projected savings in medical expenses if the state expands Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, Inslee said. That's also a jobs decision, because the state will need an additional 10,000 workers to meet the needs of people with new coverage.
But Republicans aren't yet convinced the state should expand Medicaid under what they usually call "Obamacare." In the House, which has a strong Democratic majority supportive of the expansion, that likely won't matter. But the Senate is controlled by a coalition of 23 Republicans and two Democrats and they aren't sold yet.
Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina, said the coalition was "looking at that very seriously" but members have concerns about future costs and aren't sure yet there are enough protections for the state. And they still believe the state should find ways to help all businesses, not just key industries.
One way to do that, Tom and Republican leaders said, is to make changes to the state's workers compensation system to expand those eligible for voluntary structured settlements. But Inlsee has said he doesn't support making changes at this time to a system that underwent reforms that were negotiated less than two years ago.
Inslee also is calling for increased spending on on transportation projects, to fix or expand roads and bridges and create jobs. To raise the money for those projects, the state would need some kind of a tax increase because "there's no transportation fairy," he said. The state would have to "find the most reasonable way to fund the package."
Once it did, the Legislature should make the hard decisons to pass it rather than sending it to the voters, he added.
But Tom said even if the Legislature passed a transportation package, it would likely face a referendum by opponents. "It's going to the voters. . . one way or another.
