The legislative session in Olympia finally closed up shop after 135 days at about 10:30 p.m. May 25 and a tired group of lawmakers made their way home following one of the most difficult biennial budget sessions in state history.
Democrat Sen. Karen Keiser, of Des Moines, representing the 33rd District said by phone Tuesday, “I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I had. It was awful.”
Keiser said in the operating budget “everyone took cuts. There were no winners.”
Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, has been in Olympia seven years as a legislator for the 47th and he was serving as the House Democratic Caucus majority leader for the first time.
“Last year was bad, but this was the most difficult by a long shot,” Sullivan said. “We knew going in it was all about the budget.”
Sullivan said the legislators had to cut about $4.5 billion from a state budget that had been sheared last year.
“It was painful,” Sullivan said. “But given the circumstances it was the best we could produce.”
One of the victories for Keiser was keeping the “infrastructure for health care.”
The senator noted at the opening of the session three key health care safety net programs were threatened: Washington Basic Health, childrens’ health and disability programs.
“All three were very much on the bubble,” Keiser said. “They came out reduced but still functioning.”
Keiser said prior to the Great Recession there were more than 100,000 signed up for the basic health program and it has been reduced through cuts to 34,000 today.
Sullivan noted despite the cuts, “We kept a lot of critical programs for people including basic health and child health. The majority of the kids in the state will have health care.”
The representative said a number of local projects were funded in the capital budget including money for parks in Kent and Covington and funds for the M Street project in Auburn.
First-term senator Republican Joe Fain, of Auburn, representing the 47th stated he voted against the operating budget mainly because of the “proposed cuts in K-12 dollars.”
Fain said he was fearful with the cuts to teachers’ compensation some school districts could be facing the task of trying to renegotiate labor contracts.
“There is so much uncertainty what this is going to look like,” Fain said. “This was ugly, hurtful budget, but it is more sustainable than in the past.”
Fain said the total cuts to K-12 teacher, administration and classified employee compensation added up to nearly $180 million in savings. The senator noted each school would have to decide how to make the cuts.
“Some (teachers or administrators) may get a pink slip and then be hired back,” Fain said. “That is not a good system for K-12.”
He also noted it is possible in some districts teachers won’t see much of a change.
Despite his disagreement with the operating budget and the cuts to K-12, Fain said “there was a great effort to bring about a process never seen before…. I think most folks are serving with a good heart and trying to come to a conclusion that fits into their values.”
Rep. Mark Hargrove, R-Covington, from the 47th, said he knew going in “we had been kicking the barrel down the road and what we ended up with was awful.”
Hargrove said he believes because the budget problems have been growing and had not been addressed in earlier sessions, this budget became much more difficult to balance.
“It didn’t need to be this way,” Hargrove said.
Hargrove voted against the budget stating the “money needs to be kept in the classroom.”
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