Hurry-Up-And-Wait Is Name Of Olympia Game

Washington lawmakers are working at warp speed on hundreds of bills, but the ones that really count are on hold until the state’s new revenue forecast comes out on Thursday.

Those bills include transportation funding, tax cuts, the state budget and just about any other piece of legislation that costs money.

It’s not that the state is broke or even hurting. Going into the Thursday revenue update, the treasury has a projected surplus of more than $860 million.

Lawmakers know they easily can pass a balanced budget and still have cash left over for tax cuts and for a “rainy day” reserve fund.

But transportation, tax cuts and some budget decisions have long-term implications and can’t be made confidently if state economists fear the spending and tax relief can’t be sustained in the coming decade.

Gov. Gary Locke and the minority Democrats, for instance, worry about “pitting schools against roads.”

That’s shorthand for their concern that the Republicans’ transportation plan eventually will begin eating into education and other general government programs.

Republicans are sure that won’t happen but are waiting for the new forecast before they put the finishing touches on the legislation and try to prove the skeptics wrong.

Here is a quick look at what’s going on:

The forecast

A bipartisan panel of legislators, plus the state budget and revenue directors, will hear a revenue update from the independent state forecaster, Chang Mook Sohn.

In recent comments, Sohn has expressed concerns about the effects of Asian economic problems, Boeing layoffs, lower consumer spending and other issues.

Most lawmakers don’t expect Sohn to forecast much change in the current biennium, which ends June 30 of next year, the forecast council’s chairman, Sen. Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, says. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Jim West, R-Spokane, says December tax receipts were up about $62 million over projections, erasing the $51 million downturn of the previous two months.

But some legislators say the early forecast for the 1999-2001 biennium will be $400 million to $500 million below the number lawmakers and the Locke administration have been assuming.

Tax cuts

West and his House counterpart, Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Huff, R-Gig Harbor, say they’re making contingency plans to scale back their original intent to give $75 million in assorted tax breaks. Over time, that would make up $300 million, West said.

House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee, says the Republicans’ plan to reduce auto taxes by at least $40 per vehicle would be the next proposal to be scaled back. “Even cutting it by $5 per car saves a lot of money,” he said.

State budget director Dick Thompson says lawmakers need to be cautious in making big tax give-aways.

The current package will cost about $650 million in the next biennium, and if Sohn’s forecast drops $400 million, the revenue decline would be more than $1 billion, he said.

“We’re prepared to reduce our own proposals,” Thompson said.

Budget

West plans to release his budget plans next week. He and Huff have agreed to spend no more than the current level of $19.085 billion.

But savings and lower caseloads, including a $70 million savings in lower-than-expected school enrollment, will allow new spending for adult services, developmentally disabled programs, salmon restoration, a reading bill and crime legislation, West said.

If Sohn’s forecast is down because inflation is down, state spending under Initiative 601 limits also would fall, preserving a sizable reserve, West said. Thompson says he agrees - but only if consumer spending doesn’t lag.

Transportation

Moderate Republican Sens. Eugene Prince, Shirley Winsley and Jim Horn have held up a Senate vote on the House-passed GOP funding package until after Thursday’s forecast. Each is skeptical that the proposal is adequate and fear it would affect schools negatively.

West says he’s convinced the measure will make it through the Legislature and onto the statewide ballot. Both West and Ballard say the proposal should weather Sohn’s Thursday forecast.

As lawmakers await that forecast, they continue pressing ahead with hundreds of lesser bills. Tuesday is the deadline for most bills to clear their house of origin. The House worked late Friday night, and the Senate had its first Saturday session.

Today - Presidents Day - won’t be celebrated as a day off for legislators in the state named for George Washington. In addition to heavy floor action, lawmakers also will be visited by teachers and students from more than 20 districts.

State schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson calls it “a celebration of what’s working in Washington’s public schools.”

Community college faculty members also will come to the Capitol today to seek better salaries for part-time instructors, who make up the bulk of the faculties.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., will join Ballard and Senate Majority Leader Dan McDonald, R-Bellevue, at a news conference to tout Gorton’s plan to send more federal education dollars directly to local schools.