Schoesler says Legislature's response to shortfall is falling short
 'Early action' measure heard in Senate committee today is another half-step

February 3, 2009

OLYMPIA…Sen. Mark Schoesler doesn’t often see eye-to-eye with Gov. Christine Gregoire on budget issues, but a comment the governor made Monday made it clear she shared Schoesler’s expectation that lawmakers would be closer to passing a supplemental state budget than they are. 

"The governor said yesterday she had hoped the Legislature would work ‘sooner and faster’ to adopt a supplemental budget. That had been my hope also, because overhauling the budget is the surest way to start downsizing state government to a level the people can afford without tax increases,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “Unfortunately the Legislature has fallen short of what should have been a reasonable hope. 

“For Washington taxpayers, the fact that we’re into the fourth week of the session without a supplemental budget in sight is an expensive letdown. We need to reduce the state’s monthly expenses as much as we can and as soon as we can. Each day that goes by, the state’s ongoing spending commitments consume more dollars that might have been saved.” 

Schoesler and other Senate Ways and Means Committee members had a public hearing today on House Bill 1694, adopted Monday by the House of Representatives. It would save an estimated $283 million over the five months remaining in the 2007-09 fiscal biennium. Last week Schoesler supported Senate Bill 5640, expected to reduce costs by $105 million by June 30. 

“These bills came with the responsible-sounding nicknames of ‘belt-tightening’ and ‘early action.’ But let’s be clear: If the gap in the 2007-09 biennial budget – the budget which is paying for state programs right now – reaches a billion dollars as a result of the state revenue forecast in March, these measures don’t get close to addressing even half,” Schoesler explained.  

The governor’s proposed supplemental budget for the final six months of the 2007-09 biennium would have saved $307 million, $24 million more than HB 1694. 

“I and other Senate Republicans offered in December, shortly after the governor issued her budget proposals, to start working with the Democrats on a supplemental budget that could be adopted a week into the session,” Schoesler explained. “The Legislature can act quickly when it wants to, and you would think this would be one of those times. But although I hear members of the majority party use the word ‘crisis,’ I’m not seeing them act like it’s a crisis. We need to take control of the situation, not pin our hopes on a federal bailout.”

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Additional contact: Eric Campbell
at (360) 786-7503 or campbell.eric@leg.wa.gov