Zarelli's budget-transparency bill wins Senate committee approval

March 23, 2009

OLYMPIA… The Senate Ways and Means Committee this afternoon unanimously backed Sen. Joseph Zarelli’s effort to make the state operating budget easier to understand. Substitute Senate Bill 5073 would consolidate into the state’s general fund all but two of the separate budget-related accounts that have proliferated in recent years. 

“Transparency in government is always a worthwhile goal – but it is particularly important this year in light of the attention that will be paid to the next operating budget,” said Zarelli, R-Ridgefield. “This would bring clarity to how revenue and spending relate, and how tax dollars are being spent, so taxpayers can better see things for themselves.” 

The original version of Zarelli’s bill would have moved the state back to having only the general fund. The substitute adopted by the committee would leave the education legacy account, created in 2005 with the adoption of Washington’s death tax, and pension funding stabilization account outside (or “near”) the general fund. 

Accounts designated for public safety education; health services; violence reduction and drug enforcement; student achievement; and water quality, plus an equal justice sub-account, would be folded into the general fund.  

Making the general fund larger would increase the state’s deposit to the rainy-day fund and the state’s capacity to issue revenue bonds.  

SSB 5073, the first bill Zarelli introduced in this legislative session, came before the committee for a public hearing on Feb. 3. Because the legislation is considered necessary to implement the budget it was exempt from the deadlines for Senate action on Senate bills. 

“In my mind this bill goes hand in hand with Senate Joint Resolution 8209, the constitutional amendment that would move exceptional revenue into the rainy-day fund,” Zarelli said. “What the committee passed today is about budget transparency, the amendment is about budget stability.” 

SJR 8209, introduced by Zarelli on Jan. 22, cleared the Senate overwhelmingly March 12; it is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday afternoon before the House Ways and Means Committee and a vote by the committee Wednesday afternoon. 

Zarelli represents the 18^th Legislative District, which spans Clark and Cowlitz counties, and is Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which addresses tax and spending matters that include development of the biennial operating budget.  

—30— 

For more information contact Eric Campbell
at (360) 786-7503 or campbell.eric@leg.wa.gov