March 11, 2009

OLYMPIA… Calling it potentially “the biggest job-killing bill in state history,” Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, condemned the passage of Senate Bill 5735  today. The measure would move Washington closer to implementing a regional cap-and-trade program, but leaves many of the details to the Department of Ecology to study. 

“This bill takes us one step closer to leveling a huge tax on Washington’s employers,” said Honeyford. “This will lead to job losses and business failures. Companies will go out of business, and no rational company would even consider moving to Washington as long as the threat of cap-and-tax is hanging over their head.” 

Honeyford, who serves as the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment, Water and Energy Committee, also questioned the proposal’s timing.  

“The unemployment rate has jumped to 7.8 percent, there are nearly 304,000 Washingtonians looking for work, and the majority party is choosing now to push us towards a sweeping environmental proposal that will send employers running for the border?” asked Honeyford. “Our state is bleeding jobs; this bill sends the wrong message at the wrong time. Now is not the time for expensive, job-killing environmental plans that have never been proven to reduce energy costs or protect the environment.” 

“Whether it is taxing the size of your engine, the miles you drive, your vehicle’s emissions, or this new cap-and-tax bill, I want my constituents to know that I will not support any of these job-killing measures that punish working families,” said Sen. Janéa Holmquist, R-Moses Lake. “Americans’ number-one concern is the economy and keeping their jobs.”  

A study recently conducted by Management Information Services, Inc., of Washington, D.C. found that the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade plan could “chase away tens of billions of dollars in high technology investment from the West to other regions” and would “further stress the West's already strained electricity grid, increasing the threat of potentially catastrophic power outages.” 

“Washington produces three-tenths of one percent of the global gas emissions – which is about 1.4 percent of total U.S. emissions. That’s infinitesimal,” said Honeyford. “Rather than joining this draconian, economy-killing cap-and-tax scheme, why can’t we give our businesses and citizens incentives to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gases while still keeping the economy healthy?”  

“Cap-and-tax will raise the cost of electricity, natural gas, gasoline, diesel fuel and any related product, including food in the grocery store and automobiles, making them unaffordable,” said Holmquist, who has been a leader on energy innovation. “Low- and middle-income Washingtonians would be disproportionately affected by higher fuel and electricity prices, and pay a higher percentage of their monthly income for food and utilities.” 

The Congressional Budget Office reports that a 15 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions will result in an annual cost increase of $680 for low-income households and $1,160 for middle-income households. 

“At a moment when we have serious issues to address – from failing infrastructure to funding basic education to addressing our 8 billion-dollar deficit – why is the majority party using valuable time to push a bill that kills jobs, increases energy costs, drives up the price of food and does very little, if anything, to actually improve the environment?” asked Holmquist. 

After four years of cap-and-trade, European countries are abandoning it because of massive job losses as companies either go out of business or leave the region. A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that Americans’ number-one concern is the economy and keeping their job.  Climate change was last on a list of 30 issues. According to Honeyford, Republicans advocate balancing those two realities. 

"We support environmental proposals aimed at promoting new technologies to increase energy efficiencies, reducing fuel and heating costs, creating jobs, boosting national security and – most importantly – respecting individual choice and personal freedom,” said Honeyford.  “This bill focuses on the state controlling the lives and choices of citizens and businesses, creating a policy that will inevitably drive businesses to the point of extinction.”

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For more information contact Booker Stallworth
at (360) 786-7536 or stallworth.booker@leg.wa.gov.
Please visit our Senate Republican Caucus Web site at www.src.wa.gov