The spendy nature of the Washington State Legislature will be reined this year, based on revenue forecasts for the state.
“The budget will be front and center in Olympia this year,” Sen. Chris Gildon said. He represents Pierce County in the 25th District and is the ranking Republican on the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
When lawmakers last left the capital, projections for how much expenditures would exceed expected revenue was around $5 billion over four years. The latest estimate from the Department of Commerce pegs the shortfall now at $10-$12 billion. More recently, outgoing Governor Jay Inslee’s offices estimated it at around $16 billion.
“The three things we’re talking about: major cuts, prolonging policies that we’ve require have invested in and require a large investment for, or raising revenue,” said Rep. Mia Gregerson, a Democrat representing the 33rd District in South King County and Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Already, state departments have had to implement spending and hiring freezes in some areas. It comes as the pressure to address the addiction and homelessness crisis.
Gregerson says it’s clear that without additional revenue, cuts to programs and state spending is inevitable. Lawmakers will weigh that reality as cities and communities clamor for financial help addressing the housing, homelessness, and addiction crises riddling Washington.
There’s also pressure from schools as the State Superintendent has requested an additional $2.9 Billion in funding, namely, to fully fund special education programs. Districts have looked to taxpayers to fund programs where state funding falls short.
“$3 Billion seems like a bit of a stretch,” Sen. Gildon said, “However, funding K-12 basic education is our paramount duty, according to the [state] constitution.”
Gregerson isn’t ruling anything out until the 105-day session gets rolling.
“Nothing is off the table right now,” she said, “We’ve been looking at different requests and the budget situation since summer. As we go into the session we will be looking at special education [and] transportation, all kinds of things.”
If there’s an appetite for tax increases, Gildon and Gregerson agree that who the state relies on for revenue should change. Washington has one of the most regressive tax codes in the nation, relying on lower- and middle-income people paying a larger proportion of their income than higher earners.
“It really hurts people at the lower rung of the economic ladder so much more than people at the upper,” Gildon said.
“If we continue to tax people in that same regard, we’re going to continue to hurt people who the government is trying to help,” Gregerson said.
Outgoing governor Jay Inslee set the tone in addressing the tax code and the projected deficit, by proposing a wealth tax. It would add an additional tax on people making over $100 million dollars, affecting 3,400 Washingtonians according to Inslee’s office, and will raise around $10.3 Billion.
Gildon says that, while he won’t support taxes on lower- and middle-income people, he believes the wealth tax is “a non-starter.” He says his caucus prefers looking at spending cuts, saying cutting the expansion of preschool assistance in the early childhood education program could save around $300 million and saving more than $8 million by cutting state Medicaid benefits to people who have moved to another state and receive benefits from both states.
“We will be putting forward a slate of real no-nonsense saving options that the majority party can choose to adopt if they would like,” Gildon said.
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