Budget Writers Play Chicken As Session Nears End, Three Powerful Legislators Refuse To Blink

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Wednesday, March 8, 2000): Correction District misidentified: The caption of an Associated Press photograph in Friday’s Region section incorrectly identified the legislative district of Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla.

With less than a week remaining in the 2000 legislative session, lawmakers are trapped in a bizarre three-way tug-of-war over the $750 million hole left by last fall’s car-tax cut.

In the balance rests highway funding, property tax cuts, the size of state budget reserves and proposals to pump more money into education.

And gripping the rope are three of the state’s most resolute lawmakers: Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, a watchful 27-year legislator, so quiet and clipped she rarely speaks five words when two will do; Rep. Tom Huff, R-Gig Harbor, an animated, brusque conservative and retired Sears executive used to negotiating labor agreements - from the management side; and Sen. Valoria Loveland, D-Pasco, a former county treasurer with an admittedly short fuse and a no-bull style.

As their time winds down, the trio is engaged in a flurry of meetings and letter exchanges - attempts, at least, to bargain through their differences.

But Democrats and Republicans are evenly split in the House, and the three chief negotiators are driven by decidedly divergent passions.

Further complicating matters is the cumbersome way budgets come together in Olympia. The three budget writers have to answer to their colleagues, their political leaders, the governor and, of course, their constituents.

And each of the three negotiators faces baggage from last year, when two House Republicans joined with Democrats to pass a budget almost entirely designed by the Senate.

As a result, assessing the state’s response to Initiative 695 - the Legislature’s biggest job of the year - is nearly as difficult today as it was last month.

“It’s supposed to be about give and take,” said Huff, just minutes after yet another negotiating session with Sommers. “Well I need to see a bit more give.” Told of Huff’s response later, Sommers slowly closed then re-opened her eyes. “I’m very disappointed to hear that,” she said. As of Thursday afternoon, the three lawmakers remained stymied over what all concede are big issues, including polar interpretations of how they should access the state’s emergency reserves - and how that would affect the state’s spending cap, Initiative 601.

While Huff proposed long-term backfilling for cities, counties and health districts that lost money through I-695, he insists the state make targeted spending cuts, as local governments have to do. And he’s adamant that lawmakers not dip into emergency reserves, without a two-thirds vote.

“I’m not going to go beyond the spending limit; that’s a true fact of life,” he said.

Sommers proposed shorter-term spending fixes for cities and counties, and would dip heavily into the state’s emergency reserve, arguing that’s what voters called for in passing I-695. She maintained that House Democrats can transfer money from emergency reserves with a simple majority, but would consider Huff’s call for a corresponding lowering of the state’s spending cap - provided this year’s actions were exempted.

And Loveland was more opaque.

“I’m obviously going to change 601 to get surplus money for transportation,” she said. “But I’m not circumventing anything.”

Meanwhile, the Senate already passed a $200 property tax cut for all homeowners. House Democrats pitched a cut only for seniors, the disabled and veterans. Republicans and the governor want an across-the-board cut, which would include cuts for business, but disagree on the amount.

The future of the tax cut dictates how much money is available to spend - money for which the governor, too, has other plans. He’s still pushing for sales tax credits to be used by school districts for extended learning and lower classroom sizes.

The two House budget writers already have produced very dissimilar budget documents. Both are planning changes.

Huff proposed cutting spending at Washington State University in the Tri-Cities, which he now says he wouldn’t support in a final document.

Sommers cut spending for school levy equalization, which hits Spokane and other small, rural tax-poor school districts but not Seattle. She’s since said she would restore that funding.

Loveland said she’s delayed unveiling her budget so House members have a shot at producing their own. After last year, she’s sensitive to “jamming the House.”

But Huff said that by holding off, Loveland does jam the House, which may be forced by lack of time to accept her proposal, details of which they haven’t seen. And Sommers has said all year that she wants to produce a budget that her fellow Democrats in the House have a say in. Still, Loveland contends political reality suggests Sommers and Huff won’t produce a joint document, so she’s trying to incorporate some of their thoughts into hers.

“We’re in a delicate position,” she said. “The House has pride in ownership. But I just don’t know how they can do it.”

Meanwhile, House transportation leaders maintain they can quickly reach agreement - as soon as they know precisely how much they have to spend. Until that’s resolved, it’s impossible to know how balanced the budget will be between highway construction, public transit and bailing out a troubled ferry system.