Thursday at 7 p.m. TVW’s Inside Olympia will look back at the last time the budget was this bad.

Host Austin Jenkins will talk with then-Gov. John Spellman as well as Republican House Speaker Bill Polk and House Minority (Democratic) Leader Wayne Ehlers. It ought to be a very interesting conversation.

Background: In Nov. 1979, Washington voters approved a Constitutional amendment to require the Legislature to meet annually. (Before then, it was a once-per-two-years affair.) According to the official legislative history, the following session, in Jan. 1980, was virtually a non-event.

In Nov. 1980, Republicans took control of the House, Democrats had a 25-24 lead in the Senate and Gov. Dixy Lee Ray was defeated.

And then: The state suddenly faced a budget shortfall of $1 billion.

If session this year has been stressful for you, reading this could give you heartburn (speaking from experience): In the middle of budget negotiations, a scale-tipping Senate Democrat switched parties, (more…)

Tags: Budget, Democrats, Inside Olympia, Republicans, taxes

At noon, I’ll be watching the Governor’s inaugural address to the House and Senate. Join me — and feel free to e-mail in any questions you have about what she’s saying: nikis@tvw.org.

At 7 p.m., you should plan on watching The Impact. This week’s show will feature an interview with Gov. Chris Gregoire, a profile on the big issues lawmakers plan to tackle this session, and a segment with top legislators in the House and Senate answering your questions on the budget.

And when you’re done at the Inaugural Ball, come back home and tune into the 11 p.m. Legislative Review show. Today, I’ll recap the Governor’s address, cover her economic development proposals and drop in on the House Ways & Means committee’s continued public hearings on the proposed budget. I also have my eye on the 1:30 p.m. Higher Education Committee, where they will discuss federal and state actions in higher eduction.

Tags: Governor, Higher Education, The Impact, TVW

I just got back from a press conference with Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and a half dozen other Democrats in the Senate. They were announcing a package of bills aimed at creating jobs across the state in high-demand areas, like healthcare and “green” jobs.

How do they plan to do it, particularly in a tough budget year? Many of the measures focus on using programs that already exist in a different way. For example: There is currently a program that helps low-income households pay their utility bills. One of the proposals would free up that money for home energy audits, which would help identify and correct energy inefficient areas throughout the home. The idea is that jobs and a long-term drop in utility payments are achieved simultaneously.

Another example, courtesy of Sen. Karen Keiser: There are currently 12,000 vacancies in healthcare-related jobs across the state. By partnering with community colleges, she said, and using some of the $4 billion of state unemployment insurance money for workforce training (Note: $4 billion, not $400 million, which was the figure cited at the press conference), more workers could be trained for those jobs — either current healthcare workers moving up the chain (LPN to RN, for example) or new workers moving into the field.

They estimated the efforts could produce 24,000 jobs, though there wasn’t an estimate on what time frame it would take to get there.

Tags: Democrats, Jobs, Senate

- The Alaskan Way Viaduct: Governor Gregoire announced this morning that she — and a coalition of local lawmakers — are recommending that a deep-bore tunnel will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Cost: $4.24 billion. The Legislature will have to approve the option.

- These hearings.

- The Senate will unroll a “middle class jobs package” today at 12:45.

- All this and more. Look for a Viaduct update soon. (And watch TVW at 7 p.m. for the full press conference.)

Tags: Alaskan Way, Governor, Viaduct

Tonight at 11 p.m., Legislative Review will offer a complete recap of the day’s news and events. If you’re already in bed, you can watch tomorrow morning at 7:45 a.m. Or, as usual, anytime on the Web.

Here’s a preview:

- Office of Financial Management Director Victor Moore told the House Ways & Means Committee about the dire state of the budget.

- During floor session, House Speaker Frank Chopp remembered now-deceased House colleagues Reps. Steve Hailey and Bill Grant. He then told lawmakers that now is not the time to lose sight of the state’s goals.

- Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown told the Senate that this difficult budget time offers an opportunity to take a close look at how government works.

In other news, two women dressed as suffragists (not suffragettes) were in the Senate to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of women having the right to vote in this state.

Tags: Budget, House, Legislature, OFM, Senate

The 2009 Washington state Legislature starts on Monday. In the 105 days that follow, state lawmakers will need to put together a budget that addresses a projected $5.7 billion deficit.

Here’s Inside Olympia host Austin Jenkins talking to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt:

And here’s the City Club of Tacoma’s annual legislative preview, which was earlier this week:

Now go get some rest and get ready for Monday.

Tags: Democrats, House, Legislature, Lisa Brown, Republicans, Richard DeBolt, Senate, Washington

During Tuesday’s legislative forum, a few officials alluded to the budget picture getting worse. They won’t know until the next forecast in March, but Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Legislative Director, Marty Brown, put it this way: “I don’t think anyone in the room expects the Revenue Forecast to be up in March.”

Here’s the full AP Forum:

How bad could it be? Sen. Joe Zarelli, a Republican budget writer, predicted the deficit would be closer to $7 billion.

How could the budget picture get worse?

- During Legislative Assembly Days in early December, Arun Raha, executive director of the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, told members of the Ways & Means committees that the council predicted zero growth in holiday retail sales. A decline in sales, he said, would mean lower-than-predicted revenues.

And then: Late December storms hit, unemployment increased, and reports indicate that people didn’t spend as much as last year. That means holiday retail sales declined. We won’t know by how much until February.

During the budget-writers panel discussion at the legislative forum on Tuesday, here’s what lawmakers had to say:
(more…)

Tags: Budget, Governor, House, Senate

Yesterday, lawmakers gathered in Olympia with dozens of reporters and editors from around the state for the annual Associated Press legislative forum. Their message: The budget will dominate this 105-day session.

Another message: This session will end in 105 days. To paraphrase Marty Brown, Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Legislative director: Budget decisions won’t get easier with more time. There’s no way to predict whether Legislators will be able to agree on a budget by the end of regular session, but several said it was an important goal.

Watch the entire forum here:

On the budget:
(more…)

Tags: Budget, Democrats, Governor, House, Public Policy, Republicans, Senate, Ways & Means