Tag Archives: state legislature

Washington Senate Senate Democrats Finalize Leadership and Committee Make-Up

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This afternoon the Washington Senate Democrats finalized 2011 leadership positions and committee assignments. Committee assignments have yet to be announced for the Senate Republicans and House Democrats and Republicans.

2011 Leadership positions

  • Senate Majority Leader:  Lisa Brown 
  • Senate Majority Caucus Chair: Karen Fraser  
  • Senate Majority Floor Leader: Tracey Eide
  • Majority Whip: Scott White
  • President Pro Tempore: Margarita Prentice 
  • Vice President Pro Tempore: Paull Shin
  • Majority Caucus Vice Chair:  Debbie Regala
  • Majority Assistant Floor Leader: Phil Rockefeller  
  • Majority Assistant Whip: Keven Ranker

Senate Ways & Means

  • Sen. Ed Murray (chair)
  • Sen. Derek Kilmer (vice chair – Capital Budget)
  • Sen.-elect Steve Conway
  • Sen. Brian Hatfield
  • Sen. Karen Fraser
  • Sen. Karen Keiser
  • Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles
  • Sen. Craig Pridemore
  • Sen. Debbie Regala
  • Sen. Phil Rockefeller

Higher Education & Workforce Development

  • Sen. Rodney Tom (chair)
  • Sen. Paull Shin (vice-chair)
  • Sen. Jim Kastama
  • Sen. Derek Kilmer
  • Sen.-elect Scott White

Recounts Go to Republican Candidates

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This week the Washington Secretary of State completed recounts in three state legislative races.

Republican Challenger Steve Litzow (District 41) prevailed by 192 votes in the machine recount of his race against Democratic State Sen. Randy Gordon.

In the 25th Legislative District Republican Hans Zeiger (District 42) defeated Rep. Dawn Morrell, the House Democratic Caucus Chairwoman, by 30 votes.

Finally, Republican Vincent Buys defeated Democrat Representative Kelli Linville.

None of the outcomes change the majorities in either the House or Senate.

Republicans and House Democrats Release Proposals to Balance Budget

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Yesterday, both the House and Senate Republicans and the House Democrats issued their proposals to balance the $1.2 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year.

Both proposals come on the heels of a detailed list issued by the Governor. Senate Democrats have yet to issue a proposal to balance the current budget shortfall.

House Republicans

Rep. Gary Alexander, current Ranking Minority Leader on the House Ways & Means Committee, issued a letter outlining a general framework for balancing the current budget. 

The House Republicans agree with many of the suggestions the Governor put forth in her proposed list of reductions. In addition, the House Republicans suggested items not included on the Governor’s proposed list, including suspension of all-day kindergarten and redefining the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The letter also noted areas of disagreement between the House Republicans and the Governor. Rep. Alexander spoke to concerns regarding retroactive actions on moneys already spent and the use of delaying payments to balance the budget.

Finally, the House Republicans offered a compromise with regard to employee health care benefits, suggesting a graduated ratio based on income. The proposal would begin with 14% and end with 26%, with the median around the 20% mark beginning in January. The Governor proposed a shift from a ratio of 74 state to 26 employees.

Senate Republicans

Senate Republicans issued a much more detailed list of proposals to balance the current budget shortfall.  The list of proposals range from redirecting revenue streams to the General Fund to reductions to all state agency budgets to reductions in state and higher education employee salaries.

With regard to higher education, the Senate Republican proposal:

  • Supports the Maintenance of Effort requirement for higher education
  • Calls for examination of non-state need grant and work study financial assistance programs
  • Reduces tuition waiver authority

House Democrats

Speaker Chopp and Representative Sullivan (Majority Leader-Elect) issued a preliminary 
list of reduction ideas. The list put forth by the  House Democrats does not include some of the proposed reductions put forth by Governor Gregoire, such as elimination of the Basic Health Plan and reductions to Levy Equalization.

With regard to higher education, the House Democrat proposal suggests:

  • Reductions to state financial aid programs, with the intent to minimize impact to students
  • Supports the Maintenance of Effort requirement for higher education

Special Session Still Possible

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Yesterday, Governor Gregoire met with Democrat and Republican leaders from the House and Senate, but did not reach an agreement regarding a special session to deal with the looming $1.2 billion budget deficit in the current fiscal year.

Governor Gregoire would like action this month to balance the 2009-11 budget, but is hesistant to call in legislators without an agreement.  Legislative leadership still needs time to talk with their caucuses about proposals for reductions.

More meetings are planned with the Governor.

Legislative Committee Approves Higher Education Report

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This morning the Washington Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC) adopted the final report, Transparency in Higher Education Data.

In 2009, the Legislature asked JLARC to explore the feasibility of linking expenditure, revenue, and performance information for the state’s public four-year institutions.

The report found that in general comparable revenue, expenditure and performance information is currently available for each of the six public four-year institutions.

The report identifies some gaps and offers suggestions for improvements to fiscal data collected in the state accounting system and performance data collected by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Mike Reilly, Executive Director for the Council of Presidents, testified to the value of considering the adoption and implementation of  the NGA initiative Compete to Complete. Compete to Complete  offers the state the opportunity to consolidate measures for higher education into a single framework.  The University of Washington also testified.

The final report was unanimously approved.

State Legislators Travel to Olympia for Assembly Days

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The first full week in December marks for many the beginning of the legislative session season.

Washington’s representatives and senators will travel to Olympia to discuss the lastest budget figures, proposed policy frameworks for the 2011 session, and to finalize votes for leadership.

Several work sessions and public hearings are scheduled on critical issues that impact higher education. To learn more follow the links below.

This week the focus of the appropriations committees (i.e. Senate Ways & Means and House Ways & Means will be a review of the Governor’s across-the-board reductions, the November revenue and economic forecast, the work of the Governor’s Committee on Transforming Washington’s Budget, and the outlook for the current fiscal year and the 2011-13 biennium.

In addition, the higher education related committees (i.e. House Higher Education and House Education Appropriations, Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development) plans to receive updates and learn the latest regarding the 2011-13 budget outlook, the HECB Master Plan, and teacher education.

Special Session Under Discussion

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A potential special session in December is one of many topics under consideration by Governor Gregoire and legislative leadership.

Gregoire is scheduled to meet with Demoratic and Republican leaders on Wednesday to discuss options for cutting the budget. She had asked leadership for ideas for cutting the budget by Monday but several asked for additional time.

A special session in December would address the state’s need to cut more than $1 billion out of this year’s budget and about $5.7 billion from the next two-year budget.  The more time that passes without a resolution to the budget the greater the impact.

Last week Governor Gregoire identified options to reduce the state’s budget. Many of the items she proposed would require legislative action by December 12.

The Governor wants an agreement on an agenda before calling a special session to avoid lengthy delibrations.

Legislative leadership has expressed concerns regarding the elimination of programs and services without first trying to reduce the costs of these programs and services. In addition, there is some preference for a full supplemental budget versus quick program cuts.

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.