Senator Mike Carrell
28th District, Lakewood

   Dear Friends and Neighbors,

   The 2009 session has ended with bad priorities and bad money management as the headline. Over the last four years the state has increased spending 33-percent, which set us up for the multi-billion dollar shortfall we faced this session. In passing the 2009-11 operating budget, the Legislature has managed to set the state up for another budget crisis two years from now.

   The operating budget cuts billions of dollars from programs and services, and backfills those funds with one-time federal stimulus money and transfers raided from other state accounts. Where will the funds to sustain those programs come from in two years? Some may even come back as early as next year calling for tax increases.

   It’s not that the state doesn’t collect enough of your tax dollars. The Legislature simply has a bad set of priorities. That trend continues to plague us in this budget session. Even assuming 5% average revenue growth and economic recovery, the state could still face a budget shortfall of $2.5 billion or more in the next biennium. Solving this problem is about choices, and unfortunately the 2009 Legislature made the wrong ones.

   I’ll be working to find solutions to this problem, and if you have any ideas I would love to hear from you. Feel free to contact me by phone (at home or in Olympia), fax or e-mail using the contact information on this page. I look forward to meeting with you.

   As always, it is an honor to serve as your senator from the 28th Legislative District.

   Sincerely,