Commentary: Legislators should feel the weight of the decisions in special session

When legislators gather in Olympia for a special session on Saturday, they’ll deal with the mammoth undertaking of trying to preserve state services in the midst of continued global economic troubles. With revenues having shrunk considerably over the last two years and Washingtonian’s need for help having increased, the special session is also a prelude to the more difficult decisions to come in the regular session that begins in January.

We acknowledge the task is a daunting one. These decisions are troubling and legislators should find the process of making them excruciating. What’s before legislators today and in the months to come involve not simply a budget that needs balancing or a shortfall that needs closing. It’s much more than that.

We hope that legislators will understand the full force of any cuts they make. As painful as the responsibility to manage our state may be, it pales to the pain the cuts would cause.

Some like those being considered in college financial aid – the means for many in a generation to find opportunity – will forever alter the course of lives. It will alter the lives of their children. The decision whether to cut services for seniors will determine whether those of the Greatest Generation will spend their final days with dignity. Others like the proposal to further limit the health insurance for lower wage workers will alter lives, and quite literally end some prematurely.

Legislators should judge their actions based on (at least) the following criteria. They should not:

• Disproportionately impact people of color and low- and moderate income people;
• Damage our values, whether it be educating our children, making sure people have basic health care, or protecting the priceless beauty of the environment we are honor bound to pass along;
• Damage our long-term economic prosperity through cuts in such areas as education.

While it’s true they have avoided for the most part the worst of the proposals – those that would have completely eliminated programs -- these cuts still fundamentally fail the test.

Legislators need to redouble their commitment to a balanced approach – one that considers revenue. At a time when resetting government seems to be the buzzword of the moment, one idea for long-term reform is to examine the billions in tax breaks we hand out to corporate interests with little scrutiny. Shouldn’t we have some scrutiny when we are seriously considering dropping thousands of medical coverage and taking away the opportunity for college?

Take voters seriously in their desire for change and accountability: start by focusing on the never ending tax breaks that are often never examined to see if they accomplish anything.

What will the voters want next fall? This we know. Through all the wild swings of partisan politics, we will still be Washingtonians and we will continue to be Washingtonians, who believe in being caretakers of our environment, who want the best education for all of our children, who think  medical and dental coverage should not be available only to those who can afford it. The manifestations of our values are the systems we’ve built together over the years. Any talk of destroying them should be excruciating indeed – so excruciating that we have no choice to find another way.