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POSTED: Monday, Jan. 12, 2009

Legislative session opens with urgency

Legislature must fill $6 billion budget hole, spur state economy

State lawmakers returning to Olympia today face a second big challenge besides filling a $6 billion and growing budget hole – how to leverage any spending to create jobs, avoid layoffs and spur economic growth.

“There really is a sense of urgency that in my experience, from 1985 on, is quite unique,” said longtime state government worker Dick Thompson, whom Gov. Chris Gregoire pulled out of semi-retirement in late December to coordinate the state’s economic stimulus effort.

Thompson’s mission: synchronizing the state stimulus plans with whatever President-elect Barack Obama and the Congress can muster.

A parade of economic-stimulus proposals is expected at the Capitol, starting this week. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and her caucus plan to roll out the first plan Tuesday and Gregoire is likely to follow soon after.

“Our No. 1 focus has to be on jobs, on helping people keep their jobs, and on economic development and creating jobs,” Brown said last week.

Any legislative effort to boost the economy is complicated by the state’s downturn in revenue and a bumping-up against the state’s spending debt limit. This has limited Gregoire’s capital-budget proposal to $3.8 billion for 2009-11, for instance.

There often is little that states can do to turn an economy around, said David Olson, professor emeritus in political science at the University of Washington.

“I can’t argue that state government shouldn’t be doing these kinds of projects, but I hope they are realistic. Their ability to come with a big gun and see big results is very limited,” Olson said, adding that the federal effort by Obama has much more likelihood of helping simply because of its size.

Brown said that she would synchronize the state effort with parts of Obama’s plan that might emphasize roads, infrastructure and energy grids. But the Senate plan also would include small-business assistance and regulatory relief, and it would rely on policies rather than borrowed money to bring about many changes, she said.

Brown additionally is pushing for investments in health care information technology, broadband Internet access for rural areas and a big swell in the number of “green” energy jobs – which typically would include solar and wind projects. Job training is expected to be a part of her effort, although she and others are reluctant to talk in advance about details.

“We want to build the bridge to the next economy, not the bridge to nowhere,” Brown said.

House Speaker Frank Chopp said he hopes for a strong stimulus package, mainly because Obama is going to make the federal government a “partner” with the state. Chopp said he would focus on school construction efforts, helping local residents replace or expand facilities, and would spur low-income housing projects, which have a backlog. Chopp also wants to see money funneled into ready-to-go transportation projects.

The spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has said aid is likely to come to the states via block grants, and Thompson said it’s possible it would be in the form of expanded funding through existing programs that funnel money to transportation or wastewater projects, for instance.

“We have hundreds of millions of projects that have already been submitted by cities and counties, all with a fairly high expectation they have hit the mark” for readiness, Thompson said.

Gregoire’s list to Congress included $132.9 million for transportation projects and $352.7 million in water and sewer projects.

“We must do something to stimulate the economy. It’ll happen in all three budgets” for operations, transportation and construction, said state Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County, who writes the Senate capital budget.

Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla said the GOP hasn’t been included in discussions about a stimulus plan, just as Republicans were ignored in recent years when they warned that overspending would put the state in deep deficits. But he and House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis have been invited to talks this afternoon to go over budget issues with the Democratic leadership.

Hewitt and DeBolt say they prefer that lawmakers avoid tax increases or regulatory changes that put burdens on businesses. Hewitt said they would rather not have a stimulus package based on deficit spending, but if one results, “it should be projects that are not only ready to go, but at the end of the project, they put more people to work … It’s not just a matter of building a road out to someplace or repairing buildings.”

The GOP also wants to see Gregoire’s administration take steps to speed up permit approvals so that so-called ready-to-go projects funded by Obama can truly get started quickly. That’s something Democrats might have rejected a year ago, but Gregoire’s legislative director, Marty Brown, says it already is under way. Gregoire’s office has asked state agencies to look at emergency rules that can be adopted “to see if they can speed things up. There may be some need for legislation,” Brown said.

Recently, the Puget Sound Regional Council of governments refined a list of potential ready-to-go projects in King, Pierce, Kitsap and Snohomish counties that totaled $202 million.

The federal aid still could be a few months away. Thompson said his goal is being prepared once the money is authorized so the governor and Legislature can move quickly to get the projects rolling.

“We’re absolutely guessing at what the federal legislation is going to be,” he said. “Candidly, 50 percent of what we guess turns out to be wrong.”

The 61st Washington Legislature

Its 105-day session runs from today through April 26, although some expect budget problems to force an overtime session in June to approve a spending plan by the July 1 deadline.

Coming up

Today: Three Supreme Court justices will be sworn in for new terms in a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. at the Temple of Justice. The House and the Senate convene separately at noon for opening day and swearing-in ceremonies in each chamber.

Tuesday: Joint House and Senate session is set for 11:30 a.m. for canvass of election results and to honor departing elected officials. Senate Democrats also plan to announce an economic stimulus plan.

Wednesday: Joint House and Senate session is set for 11:30 a.m. for Gov. Chris Gregoire’s State of the State – and inauguration – address and to swear-in newly elected statewide officials. The formal Governor’s Inaugural ball is at 7 p.m.