As chair of Ecology and Parks committee for the Washington State House of Representatives, 33rd District Representative Dave Upthegrove said he, and other committee chairs, are usually asked for their opinion on budgetary matters.<\/p>\n
This year, things have changed. This year, committee chairs are being asked to find \u201cadditional savings in their budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a fun time to be a legislator. We have to play the cards we\u2019re dealt,\u201d Upthegrove said this past week. \u201cIt\u2019s not a fun responsibility to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
For legislators across the state and for those from here in Kent, the session that began Jan. 12 may not be the one they expected when they were elected, but they are moving ahead to tackle the problems brought on by a sour economy and a growing budget gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to be the driving force of this session,\u201d agreed State Sen. Karen Keiser.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the budget, but the budget is everything,\u201d echoed Upthegrove.<\/p>\n
Late last year, it was reported that the gap between expected revenues and expenditures in Washington State would approach $6 billion.<\/p>\n
Since the announcement, Upthegrove said last week, that number has crept closer to $7 billion, forcing legislators to change their focus from new programs and spending to dealing with the shortfall.<\/p>\n
Upthegrove said even the governor\u2019s proposed budget, which makes up the $6 billion difference through cuts around the state as well as hiring and wage freezes, may not be enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to cut deeper than the governor\u2019s budget,\u201d he said, adding that he doesn\u2019t believe the full \u201cdepth of the challenge\u201d has sunk in yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever seen in my eight years of office and seven years on staff,\u201d he said, calling it a \u201cglobal and national economic tsunami.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is not an uncommon sentiment among legislators.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d Keiser said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it compares to anything we\u2019ve had around her in the past 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taken as a whole, it makes for a difficult start for State Rep. Tina Orwall, who was sworn in this past week for her first turn representing the people of Kent in Olympia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a challenging session to come into,\u201d Orwall said Jan. 14.<\/p>\n
Orwall said she too was focused on helping families and businesses through the tough times, including the expansion of training dollars and the crafting of a stimulus package.<\/p>\n
Orwall also spoke of working on a bill to protect renters if the homes in which they lived fall victim to foreclosure, as well as a bill to help stave off foreclosures for those in danger of losing their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat gives me hope is we\u2019re looking at the right priorities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
All three legislators talked about making sure budget priorities were right as they moved forward through the session.<\/p>\n
Keiser said she was working to craft a stimulus package that was \u201csmart\u201d and worked in conjunction with proposals coming from the Obama Administration, but added that she wanted to make sure any package contained long-term results, such as promoting \u201cgreen jobs,\u201d which not only provide a job now, but also promotes an environmentally sustainable approach.<\/p>\n
All of the 33rd District officials said despite the loss of money, health care and education would continue to be priorities, though Upthegrove said he did not expect much movement on basic education funding, which was expected to be a top priority this time around.<\/p>\n
In fact, Upthegrove said further cuts in education might be coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things we\u2019ve started … that are going to have to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upthegrove said his top budget priority for this session was to secure funding for the Pediatric Interim care Center in Kent, which provides health coverage to drug-affected newborns. According to Upthegrove, the center is funded through a line item in the budget, which could mean an attempt to remove it, something he promises to try and prevent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a treasure not just for Kent, but the whole state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Keiser said as chairman of the Senate Healthcare Committee she was also working on healthcare proposals as another way to build for the future, including trying to secure funding for training-in-place programs at Valley Medical Center and Highline Community Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cost effective to have that kind of partnership,\u201d she said, calling it a \u201cgood investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside of budgetary issues, both veteran lawmakers said they hoped to push through a few additional initiatives. Upthegrove said he has proposed a bill that would make possession of a small amount of marijuana by an adult an infraction, meaning a ticket instead of a trial.<\/p>\n
Though he reiterated it would not be legalization, he estimated a saving of more than $10 million per year in court cost.<\/p>\n
He also said he was continuing to work on legislation that would require the state to participate in a carbon-emission cap and trade system. Upthegrove said he expected it to a governor\u2019s request bill, though he was unsure if it would come this session.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not this year, it\u2019s building for the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Keiser said along with the healthcare training, she was working on a bill that would fine concert promoters who promise a legendary band, but do not produce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of unfair advertising would not be allowed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Calling it the \u201ctruth in music act,\u201d Keiser said she was contacted by Bowser of the doo-wop group Sha Na Na, who asked for her support.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could I say no to Bowser?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Keiser is also working on a bill to protect consumers from being stuck with a long-term service contract of a cell phone or other device is died before the end of the contract.<\/p>\n
The 2009 legislative session is expected to run through April 12.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
To contact State Sen. Karen Keiser, call 360-786-7664 or e-mail keiser.karen@leg.wa.gov.<\/p>\n
To contact Rep.Dave Upthegrove call 360-786-7868 or e-mail upthegrove.dave@leg.wa.gov.<\/p>\n
To contact Rep. Tina Orwall call 360-786-7834 or e-mail orwall.tina@leg.wa.gov.<\/p>\n
For scheduling information or to check the status of a bill, visit http:\/\/www.leg.wa.gov\/legislature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As chair of Ecology and Parks committee for the Washington State House of Representatives, 33rd District Representative Dave Upthegrove said he, and other committee chairs, are usually asked for their opinion on budgetary matters. This year, things have changed. This year, committee chairs are being asked to find \u201cadditional savings in their budget.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":18472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-18471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18471"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}