This week: Senate Democrat Leader Lisa Brown and House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt share their views on the state budget, possible tax hikes, and other key issues facing the 2012 State Legislature. Enjoy.

Tags: Budget, House, Inside Olympia, Reform, Senate, taxes

Washington’s chief economist Arun Raha announced today in a press conference that he is resigning Jan. 31 to take a new job in the private sector.

Since taking office three years ago amid the Great Recession, Raha’s quarterly economic forecast reports haven’t exactly been rosy. “It was a challenge and any job I have after this will be a piece of cake,” said Raha, who is taking a position as an economist for manufacturing firm Eaton Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Two good things come from me leaving. One, I’m getting an out-of-state company to buy my house, ” Raha joked. “The second is that we’ve been on target since September, and I get to quit while I’m ahead.”

Raha is executive director of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, and the announcement comes weeks before he is due to give the state’s February revenue forecast. As forecaster, Raha is responsible for predicting how much money the state will bring in, as well as painting a picture of the overall economy. The state Legislature uses his forecasts as a blueprint for writing the budget.

Rep. Ed Orcutt, Chair of the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, said that Steve Lerch will take over as interim forecaster and will deliver the February forecast. Raha has promised to be available to Lerch so that the transition is “seamless” as possible, Orcutt said.

The council will launch a national search for Raha’s replacement, which could take as long as six or seven months, Orcutt said. In 2010, the most recent year for which data has been released, Raha earned $140,833 in salary.

Raha said that he feels comfortable leaving before February’s forecast because he doesn’t see much changing from his November projections. Revenue updates will be published today, he said, and the forecast is .03 percent off, or about $9 million dollars below projections. “I don’t see any reason to change it upward or downward from November,” Raha said, adding there is plenty of time for things to change before the February forecast.

Tags: Arun Raha, Budget, economic forecast

The Senate just took up House Bill 2058, which makes about $480 million in fund transfers and cuts.

To kick off debate, Sen. Ed Murray said the state’s unemployment rate has just dropped to 8.7 percent, as reported by the Associated Press. “It’s not low enough, but it’s definitely movement,” he said. Murray said the budget is responsible because lawmakers took time to hear from people around the state. “We are making a significant down payment on the crisis we face,” he said, and it will allow lawmakers to move more quickly during regular session to work on a budget and a jobs package.

 ”I’m happy we’re getting something done,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli. “We’re making a good start on what is a huge problem … I just want to encourage all the members here today,” to vote for the bill, he said. He agreed with Murray that this early action gives the Legislature a jump start on regular session business.

Sen. Jim Hargrove thanked the budget writers, but said it’s too soon to start looking at revenue. He said there’s more work to be done on waste, fraud and abuse. He said over the next few weeks, he and others will be working on finding efficiencies where more cuts can be made.

The bill passed 42 to 6. It has already passed in the House.

Tags: Budget, cuts, Senate, special session

The House is now on the floor, taking up HB 2058, the $480 million in cuts and fund transfers negotiated over special session. You can watch live on TVW.

Rep. Charles Ross brought up an amendment (that had previously failed in committee) to cut funding to Commute Trip Reduction (also here). The program provides incentives for state employees who carpool to work.

Rep. Ross Hunter said he urged members to vote against the amendment because it was not part of cuts negotiated with the Senate.

But Republican lawmakers argued that the program is unnecessary, especially as the state considers cutting social service programs.

That amendment — the only one — failed. Now, onto debate over the main bill.

“This has been the beginning of our budget process and I think we’re far from the end,” said Rep. Ross Hunter, chairman of the budget writing committee. He called the $480 million in cuts and transfers an “initial, partial down payment” on the state’s $1.4 billion budget problem.

“Yes, a very partial down payment,” said Rep. Gary Alexander, the lead Republican on the Ways and Means committee. “We have a lot left ahead of us,” he said, but urged Republican support. “Hopefully when we come back in January, we can take a quick step forward.”

Rep. Brad Klippert said he intended to vote for the bill, but can’t support so many of the fund transfers, which he says punish fiscally responsible agencies that have built up reserves, only to see their reserves clawed back by the legislature.

“This legislature is not doing this job. Now, I’m going to vote for this thing because it advances us a little bit,” said Rep. Ed Orcutt. But, he said, “in no way” is this what the citizens of Washington deserve.

Rep. Bill Hinkle said he supports the bill, but “either way, people are going to be mad at all of us, by the way,” he said, because lawmakers will return home without sewing up the entire budget problem.

The bill passed 86 to 8 and now heads to the Senate.

Tags: Budget, cuts

The House Ways and Means committee is getting ready to vote on the bill to make about $480 million in fund transfers and spending reductions.

Before the vote, Rep. Gary Alexander said he was disappointed that lawmakers weren’t doing more. He said the $1.4 billion problem needs to be addressed — and that lawmakers are missing some critical chances to make cuts now.

Rep. Ross Hunter, chairman of the committee, said it has been a difficult process, even for Gov. Chris Gregoire, who only had to worry about one vote — her own — for her proposal.

The bill passed out of committee 24-1 and the House could vote on it as early as this evening. Stay tuned.

Tags: Budget, cuts, House, special session

The Senate Ways and Means committee held a brief hearing on its version of cuts and transfers and has now moved on to public testimony on the Involuntary Treatment Act. The House budget writing committee is now hearing about the Federal Main Street Fairness Act — if Congress passes the bill, it could bring $400 million in additional sales tax to the state.

You can watch both hearings live on our website. Currently, the Senate budget writing committee is live on TVW.

Update: The cuts bill is now up in the House, and the unclaimed property bill is up in the Senate. Click through to the jump to read about the testimony in the House. (more…)

Tags: Budget, cuts

As promised by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown last week, the legislature has released a list of cuts and fund transfers to consider during special session. The grand total? $479 million. The House and Senate drafts should be available online soon. I’ll be sifting through the cuts and transfers and posting more. In the meantime, here’s Brad Shannon and Jordan Schrader’s story.

TVW will cover both the House and Senate Ways and Means committees today at 3:30 p.m. You can watch them on the web right here.

Tags: Budget, cuts, revenue, special session

House and Senate budget writers are close to a compromise on several hundred million dollars in cuts, according to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown. Brown held a press availability this morning.

She said that budget writers are neither ready to adopt Gov. Chris Gregoire’s full package of cuts to bridge the $2 billion spending gap in the budget nor to pass a tax package. But, she said, after hearing from hundreds of citizens on the proposed cuts and negotiating, she’s optimistic that a package of cuts will be announced on Monday.

Brown did not provide details on the cuts: She said she’d leave that to budget negotiators, including sens. Ed Murray and Joe Zarelli.

“We still have a long way to go after that’s over,” she said, referring to more than a billion more in cuts — and possibly a tax package — that would need to be handled during regular session, which starts in January.

Lawmakers are also planning to pass a resolution urging Congress to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would require internet retailers to collect sales tax on their sales. The bill could net the state $400 million in additional revenue if passed, Brown said.

Tags: Budget, Legislature, special session, taxes

On tonight’s edition of The Impact, I talk with Gov. Chris Gregoire about her tax proposal, the state budget, special session, her thoughts on the Occupy protests at the capitol – and much more. We didn’t have time to air the entire interview on the show, so I’m posting the full, unedited version here.

But don’t miss tonigh’ts show: We’ve also got more on the protests, an on-set interview and news from the first week of this 30-day special session. You can watch at 7 and 10 p.m. on TVW.

Tags: Budget, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Governor, Occupy, protests, taxes, The Impact

Several protesters were hit with tasers and others were arrested last night at the capitol. The group — many part of the Occupy movement — had spent the day protesting around the capitol and disrupting legislative hearings to decry budget cuts. As night fell, many camped out in the capitol rotunda, and when the state police started to clear the area, the two groups clashed.

TVW will be live with legislative action today — watch on TV or check out our new website.

Tags: arrests, Budget, Occupy, protests, taser