Senator Mike Hewitt's statement on proposed special session

April 27, 2009

Today Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, issued this statement on the proposed legislative special session:

“I am dumbfounded at the mismanagement that brought us to this point. A special session will cost taxpayers at least twenty thousand dollars a day. Democrats had one-hundred-five days to finish their business. They wasted time, then tried to jam everything through in the final two days and failed.

“Republicans called on the Legislature last December to act on our looming budget deficit. Had we done so, we could have avoided many of the cuts made in the budget passed over the weekend. Democrats failed to act before the session, but promised swift action within the first couple weeks. We waited through January…through February…through March and through almost all of April. And after a full regular session, all one-hundred-five days allowed by the state Constitution, they say they’re still not done.  

“While the governor said she would be calling legislators back only to wrap a few ‘last minute details,’ there is no guarantee that we’ll stick to a certain list of bills once we return. As the governor herself admitted this morning, a special session will open a Pandora’s box that could result in the passage of even more tax hikes, like her cap-and-tax measure.

“In fact, one of the bills Democrats say they want would raise property taxes and take money from rural schools. Why would the governor and the Legislature want to charge citizens twenty-thousand dollars a day to hit them with even more taxes?

“During the final two days of the regular session we spent at least twelve hours sitting around while the majority party met behind closed doors. There is absolutely no reason why they should not have finished their business on time. This is an embarrassment for Democrats, and shows their gross mismanagement of time and of running the Legislature.

“The majority party blew it during the regular session, and there’s no reason to think they would do any better during a special session.”  

For more information contact Senate Republican Caucus Communications Director  Rebecca Japhet at (360) 786-7516 or japhet.rebecca@leg.wa.gov.