Author Archives: garverj

Governor Releases Series of Proposals to Balance the Current Biennial Budget

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Today Governor Gregoire released to legislative leadership a series of proposals to solve the current fiscal year’s deficit of $1.14 billion. 

The proposals include across-the-boards cuts already imposed but does not include the recent decision to reopen collective bargaining agreements.

The proposals listed include the estimated savings, effective date of the change needed to secure the savings, notice requirements to meet the effective date and whether legislative action is needed

Among the proposals are the across-the-board cuts taken by institutions of higher education, including Evergreen’s reduction of $800,000. The reduction does not reflect the full 6.3% initially required but is closer to 4.5% to reflect the federal maintenance effort requirement.

In addition, the proposal includes other higher education related measures including:

  • Delaying State Need Grant funding to FY2012 
  • Requirement to make whole shortfalls in the Opportunity Pathways Account and Education Legacy Account

Many of the proposals would require legislative action by Dec. 12, but it’s not clear yet if the governor will call a special session. The Governor wants to make sure legislative leaders agree on a solution before deciding whether to call lawmakers back.

She has given lawmakers until Monday to submit their own budget ideas.

Washington House Leadership Elected

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On Friday, the Washington House of Representatives elected the leadership team for the 2011-13 legislative cycle.

Frank Chopp was unanimously elected as Speaker-designate for 2011-13.  In addition, the House elected Rep. Sullivan as Majority Leader, Rep. Morrell as Caucus Chair, and Rep. Van De Wege as Majority Whip.

On the Republican side, Rep. DeBolt was re-elected as House minority leader.

The rest of the House leadership team will be elected December 8.

State Revenue Declines: Another $1.2 Billion Gap

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Washington’s state budget took a large hit this morning. The November Economic & Revenue Forecast, released today, shows an additional $1.2 billion decline in revenue between now and 2013.

The Forecast will require Washington to further reduce the budget for the current fiscal year by $385 million. This is in addition to the $520 million across-the-board cuts the Governor ordered earlier this fall.

State Chief Economist Arun Raha stated that the additional decline in state revenues for the current biennium is due to the repeal of the soda, candy, and bottle water tax in November and weaker future revenue growth than was assumed in September.

According to Raha, credit to small business remains tight, recovery in the commercial construction sector is not expected until 2012, and single-family housing remains weak. In addition though some signs show positive movement with regard to multifamily housing and auto sales, neither can be assumed to be sustainable or substantial.

In addition, the budget shortfall for 2011-13 increased by $800 million, increasing the total budget gap for the upcoming biennium to $5.7 billion. The increase in the 2011-13 biennium is also related to the reduction in revenue as a result of the repeal of the candy, bottled water, and soda tax combined with a weaker outlook for revenue growth.

The forecast caught many by surprise, including the Governor and policymakers since revenues had been closely tracking to the September forecast.

The Governor has stated that further across-the-board cuts are not feasible.

“I have been working with legislative leadership in both parties to collect ideas on how to address our current shortfall. This forecast has added even more urgency to those discussions, and I’ve asked them to provide their options to me by November 29. Quite frankly we can’t cut any deeper without ending significant programs. Extremely difficult choices must be made, and given this sharp revenue decline, they must be made now,” Gregoire said.

The only positive note in all of this. According to Raha, Washington’s strong aerospace and software industries combined with important exports to Pacific Rim nations may mean that Washington could perform better than other U.S. states in the economic recovery.

Governor Gregoire Elected Chair of National Governors Association

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Governor Gregoire was elected to chair the National Governor Association, a bipartisan organization, through July 2011.

Gregoire is only the second woman to chair the association, and replaces W.V. Gov. Joe Manchin, who was elected to the U.S. Senate, according to an NGA press release.

The governor announced she will continue Manchin’s “Complete to Compete” initiative, which seeks to increase the number of American students who complete college degrees and improve the productivity of U.S. high education institutions.

Leadership Emerging in Washington Senate

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Leadership in the Washington Senate is emerging. This week the Senate Caucus Committee on Committees made several recommendations for leadership positions and committee chairs to the full Senate.

Among the recommendations is Senator Ed Murray for Chair of Ways & Means and Senator Margarita Prentice as President Pro Tempore.

In addition, several other senators were also recommended for new positions in the new Legislature.

  • Sen. Karen Fraser, who represents The Evergreen State College, as Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
  • Sen. Derek Kilmer as Vice Chair of Ways & Means, which would put him in charge of the Capital budget for the Senate.
  • Sen. Rodney Tom, Chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Committee
  • Sen. Craig Pridemore, Chair of the Government Operations, Tribal Relations, and Elections Committee
  • Sen. Kevin Ranker, Chair of Natural Resources and Marine Waters Committee
  • Sen. Steve Hobbs, Chair of Financial Institutions, Housing and Insurance Committee
  • Sen. Scott, White, Vice Chair of Transportation

The recommendations by the Committee still must be approved by the 27-member Senate Democratic Caucus when it meets in Olympia in early December.

Both chambers in the Washington House plan reorganizations on Friday.

Long-Time Chair of Washington Budget Committee Expected to Leave Position

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Things they are a changing in Washington. Long-time serving Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, Senator  Margarita Prentice, is expected to leave her current position to become president pro tempore of the Senate.

The president pro tempore is the backup to the Senate president, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen. Owen presides over the Senate, and in his absence the pro-tem takes the gavel. Former state Sen. Rosa Franklin held the post before she retired last session.

Speculation suggests that Senator Ed Murray will likely take her position as Chair of the Senate appropriations committee.

The Senate Democratic caucus Committee on Committees — which decides committee assignments — was scheduled to meet Monday. Their recommendations will go to the caucus as a whole for consideration in December.

Changes Proposed to Federal Post-9/11 GI Bill

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Fall 2010 marked the second anniversary of the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The bill was passed on June 30, 2008 and went into effect on Augsut 1, 2009. The bill greatly expanded higher education benefits to veterans who served since September 11, 2001.

Earlier this year, both the U.S. House and Senate introduced legislation to improve and clarify the legislation. The Post-9/11 Veteran’s Education Improvement Act of 2010 (S. 3447 and H.R. 5933) offers changes to current law in response to criticisms and implementation problems as well as the need to ensure the bill is relevant to the needs of today’s veteran students.

The bills introduced in 2010 do not dramatically change the funding of public education for veterans, but instead focus on changes to the contribution to private education. Students attending public institutions would have their tuition and fees fully covered, effectively the same as current law .

The Senate version however would require a cap at private institutions to be a national average of the tuition and fees for both public and private programs, rather than the highest public program in a student’s state.  The House version would require a $20,000 cap.

Both changes differ from current law. Current law allows the state to set the base benefit; the maximum benefit equates to the most expensive in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at a public institution of higher education in the state’s system. Veterans who attend a public institution as an out-of-state student or who attend a private institution may apply the maximum base benefit toward the out-of-state tuition public or private institution tuition and fees.  To cover any remaining expenses for veterans the Yellow Ribbon Program matches institutuional dollars put forth to reduce the remaining expenses with dollars from the federal government to eliminate the funding gap.

The changes proposed in the new legislation have both challenges and strengths. The challenge emerges the inclusion of caps, which would likely result in a lower amount that veterans would receive at private instituitons and would necessitate that institutions contribute more funds towards the Yellow Ribbon Program. The strengths the changes offer include the creation of a national standard and a level playing field for all veterans across all states.

In addition to a cap, both bills provide additional changes. Among these changes are an eligibility extension to those who have served full-time in the National Guard and Reserve and an expansion of the types of institutions at which veterans can receive benefits.  Finally, both bills call for an increase in the adminstrative cost allowance to accomodate the procedures involved in implementation.

Latest on Congress

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This week the U.S. Congress returned to Washington, D.C. after recessing for the 2010 midterm elections.

There is tremendous debate regarding the level of action and the issues that will be acted on  during the final session of the 111th Congress.

One issue where there is no debate is the need to address the status of the FY 2011 budget. On September 30, Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund federal programs through December 3.

Therefore, before Congress departs action will need to be taken on all 12 appropriations bills by the current resolution’s deadline, pass an ominbus spending bill (which combines several appropriations bills into one), or pass an additional continuing resolution.

The 112th Congress will be officially sworn in and begin the first week in January.

Washington Legislature’s Make-Up Almost Determined

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The make-up of the 2011-13 Washington State Legislature is all but determined. As of Friday it appeared that all legislative races were resolved except for two.

In the Washington House the race fo the 25th District (Pierce County) remains undetermined. Totals released on Friday showed incumbent Democrat  Dawn Morrell trailing Republican challenger Hans Zieger by 18 votes.

The race for the 25th District clearly meets the criteria for an automatic recount, which require the gap between candidates is fewer than 2,000 votes and less than one half of one percentage point.

The final outcome in the Washington State Senate will be determined when the results of the race for the 41st Districk (King County) are known. Currently, Republican Steve Litzow holds a 309 vote lead over Democrat incumbent Randy Gordon.

The gap between the two candidates has decreased since election night. King County still has an estimated 50,000 ballots to be counted, but it is unknown how many are in the 41st District.

Finally, one race that was considered a toss-up last week was determined. Rep. Kelli Linville conceded the race for the 42nd District to Republican challenger Vincent Buys. As of Friday, only 177 votes had separated the two candidates.

If trends continue as they have over the last couple of weeks, it appears that the Senate Democrats will retain the majority in the Senate, 27-22 and the House Democrats will retain their majority with 57 or 56 seats.

What is Next? Determination of Leadership and Committee Chairs

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Some leadership positions and committee chairs may be determined as early as this week when caucuses meet.

Several positions are open, while others are inviting unexpected challenges. Rep. Miloscia (D-Federal Way) announced via a press release that he would seek the position of House Speaker. Though a long shot, it is one of many decisions that legislators will need to make prior to session. 

House
Newly elected and re-elected Democratic representatives face the need to fill several key leadership positions and several more committee chairs.

Among the top leadership positions will be House Majority Leader, Ways & Means Chair and Caucus Chair.

Several members have already thrown their hat in the ring for the position of House Majority Leader. Among the members include Rep. Hudgins the current floor leader, Rep. Morris the current Speaker Pro Tempore, Rep. Sullivan who has been a leader on budget and education issues, Rep. Springer who has been a liaison between the House Democrats and labor groups, Rep. Seaquist a long-time policymaker, and unofficially Rep. Dunshee the current Chair of the House Capital Committee.

On the other side of the aisle, Republican leadership is expected to look much the same as in prior years. Current House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt hopes to keep his position in the new Legislature.

Senate
It appears that much of the top leaders in the Senate will retain their positions in the new Legislature. Senate Democrats have already reinstated Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown for the 2011 session. In addition, Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt is hopeful that he will keep his position.

There is some speculation that a change may be in the works with regard to leadership roles on the Senate Ways & Means Committee. Sen. Prentice has declined to reveal her plans regarding her run again as Chair of the budget committee. In addition, other senators have informally expressed interest in the position.