House releases budget that is unsustainable for our future

Update April 11, 2011

On Saturday, the House passed its budget by a 53-43 vote. Since the budget was introduced last week (see original post below), several changes have been made in committee and on the floor which resulted in a net change of approximately $3.2 million in additional spending. This brings the ending fund balance to $791 million.

Compared to the budget introduced by the House, the passed budget makes the following funding restorations/ additions:

• $4.7 million to the Higher Education Coordinating Board, which provides strategic planning and coordination for higher education and administers state and federal financial aid;

• $2 million in slightly increased health benefits for agency home care providers;
• $100,000 for arts programs for students at Fort Worden State Park (Centrum);

• $1.9 million for the Conservation Commission;

• $2 million for a Microsoft IT Academy, which will provide IT software and staff support at high schools;

• $1.1 million for Courts;

• $7 million for Agriculture fees and Fair Funds;

• $170,000 for the Youth Suicide Prevention program.

Attention now turns to the Senate which is expected to release its budget this week.

Update April 6, 2011:

House Republicans propose budget that places burden of deficit on low-income and vulnerable people

Today the House Republicans released their counter proposal to the House budget released Monday (see original post below), which proposes $4.7 billion in cuts to address the budget shortfall.

The House Republicans propose to cut $430 million more from core health and human services, when compared to the House budget released earlier this week. The Republican proposal would also:

• Eliminate state-subsidies in the Basic Health Plan, which provides affordable health care for low-income working adults;

• Eliminate funding for reproductive health (Family Planning);

• Cut more from intervention services that help families in crisis;

• Eliminate food assistance for legal immigrants; and

• Eliminate the Disability Lifeline program for people who cannot work due to a disability.
  

This approach would shatter investments in our shared values of economic security, healthy people and environment, thriving communities, and education and opportunity. The cuts would inevitably increase the ranks of the unemployed, homeless, and children in unsafe environments as people lose access to health care, food, income support, and crisis intervention services.

Original post: April 4, 2011

In an attempt to balance a $5.1 billion shortfall for the next budget cycle, the House has released its much anticipated budget. The cuts which total more than $4.4 billion target essential public services and programs. While these cuts would balance the 2011-2013 budget, they are short-sighted and will end up costing our state more in the long-run. 

The House proposal does include some improvements over Governor Gregoire’s proposed budget such as maintaining the Basic Health Plan (although it restricts enrollment to those who meet Medicaid requirements), maintains the Apple Health for Kids program, retains funds for early learning, levy equalization for less affluent school districts, K-3 class size reduction for low-income schools, and increases eligibility for Family Planning assistance.

However, the House makes deep cuts to services for children and young adults, people with disabilities and older adults. For example, cuts of $482 million are proposed in higher education, often a pathway to economic prosperity. Our state’s higher education institutions will need to increase tuition by 11 to 13 percent to make up the shortfall. This will price many low and moderate income families out of educational attainment.  

K-12 education, while constitutionally protected, takes its share of cuts as well. The House budget cuts $1.2 billion from K-12 education by suspending voter-approved Initiative 728 for class size reductions and Initiative 732 for cost-of-living increases for teachers. 

Older adults and people with disabilities will have less hours of in-home care service available to them, through a $97 million reduction.

Click here or on the chart below for more detail on the House and Governor's budget proposals.

These cuts are on top of $5 billion that has already been cut from the state budget over the past two years. In addition to the cuts, the House budget includes $214 million in funds transfers, and $124 million in revenue modifications.

Instead of looking at closing the bevy of tax breaks for a balanced approach, the House’s only revenue option is a proposal to privatize the state’s liquor distribution, which would bring in an estimated $300 million for the biennium.  The House budget projects an ending fund balance of $795 million. 

The Senate is expected to release its proposal within the next week, and then the House and Senate must come to agreement on a final budget to send to Governor Gregoire.  The regular 2011 Legislative Session is scheduled to end on April 24th.

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