State’s Construction Budget Never Nailed Down Lawmakers Never Resolved Impasse, And It Could Cost Taxpayers In Long Run

Typically, the state construction budget is a feel-good, pork-laden spending plan that zips through the Legislature without a peep.

But this year it derailed and threatened to send lawmakers into overtime. Now a stunned Gov. Mike Lowry and his lieutenants are scrambling to find ways to cope.

The construction budget got caught in a squeeze play between the Democratic Senate and Republican House in the final hours of the session that adjourned early Friday. The measure, a rewrite of the two-year, $1.65 billion spending plan adopted last May, ended up on the cutting room floor.

Among the victims are expansion of the state system for juvenile offenders, prison projects, state matching funds for the USS Missouri homeport in Bremerton, the new state Historical Society museum in Tacoma, and the state’s habitat and recreation trust land program.

The Senate had held out for the “Mighty Mo” funds and for $3 million for state purchase of timberlands for the trust land program. The House resisted both, leading to the standoff.

The two houses eventually agreed on an alternative funding source for the $2.25 million Mighty Mo project, but could not break the impasse on the single remaining item of difference. The entire budget then fell victim to the adjournment deadline.

“I held out hope right until two minutes ‘til midnight,” House Capital Budget Chairman Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor, said in an interview Monday.

For a time, Lowry considered calling a special session to handle the construction budget. But he decided against it when he couldn’t get a commitment that other bills wouldn’t be tacked on, including some he didn’t want, such as a big property tax cut.

Sehlin called demise of the budget a major disappointment, but added, “It won’t be a disaster.” Some projects will be financed by shifting funds, others can be delayed by a year, and lawmakers can pass an emergency minibudget in January if need be, he said.

But taxpayers may be hurt in the long run, he and Lowry said. Both gave several examples: The state negotiated a settlement with a contractor at the Tacoma museum for $1.3 million, but failure to pay the claim will likely result in extended litigation. And secondly, the delay in prison and juvenile rehabilitation construction adds to the price tag.

“You don’t just go away without a capital budget without people noticing,” said Craig Bartlett, spokesman for the governor’s budget office. “The Legislature’s failure to approve new funding definitely creates some problems that will likely add costs to the state budget.

“We are looking for ways to meet emergency needs - particularly in juvenile rehabilitation facilities - but other projects will just have to wait until next year.”