Zarelli urges quick spending cuts

State Senator Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield. (File/The Columbian)

State Sen. Joe Zarelli R-Ridgefield

Sen. Joe Zarelli is pressing for quick action by the governor and the Legislature to trim current spending — including spending for ongoing programs — shortly after lawmakers convene next week.

Speaking Tuesday in Olympia at a legislative forum sponsored by The Associated Press, the Ridgefield Republican said that cutting spending now will give the state leverage as lawmakers prepare to tackle a $6 billion-and-counting budget gap.

“We want to enact a supplemental budget as early as possible,” said Zarelli, who is the ranking Republican on the budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed about $600 million in one-time spending cuts in the current two-year budget, which expires June 30. But Zarelli and Senate Republican leader Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla argue that cutting ongoing programs now could result in up to $2.5 billion in savings in the 2009-11 budget cycle.

Programs approved by the Legislature but not yet implemented, including a paid family leave benefit and a working-class tax credit, should be among the first to go, Zarelli said. Cutting programs now would reduce the amount lawmakers will have to slash from the 2009-11 budget, he said.

Those cuts are sure to be painful. In her $33.5 billion budget proposal, Gregoire proposes cutting at least $3.5 billion from health care, social services, higher education, pensions, parks, and corrections to help balance the budget in the two-year period that begins July 1, 2009. The governor’s budget would defer $682 million in scheduled raises for state employees and teachers, a proposal that already has drawn lawsuits from two big unions that backed Gregoire’s re-election.

The governor’s budget keeps her campaign pledge to propose no new taxes, but not every Democrat will go along with what many consider Draconian spending cuts, and Democratic leaders have not ruled out raising new revenue as part of the balancing act.

“Some of the cuts in the governor’s budget we feel are not wise,” said Senate Democratic Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. One example, she said, is the proposed elimination of the adult day health program, which serves 1,900 adults with developmental disabilities, allowing them to remain in their homes.

On Dec. 19, Zarelli and Hewitt asked for a meeting with Democratic leaders this week — in advance of the 2009 session — to work out details of spending cuts in the current budget that could be agreed to quickly by both political parties. Democrats hold large majorities in both the House and Senate.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Brown agreed to meet — but not until next Monday.

Gregoire has blamed the state’s deteriorating revenue picture on the nation’s rapid financial meltdown over the past few months.

But Zarelli argued at Tuesday’s forum that unsustainable spending over the past four years accounts for “about 60 percent of our problem now.” The issue, he said, is that spending increased two and a half times as fast as revenue increased in Gregoire’s first term.

“We need a constitutional amendment forcing us to save exceptional revenue rather than spend it,” Zarelli said. Putting a lid on spending in prosperous times, combined with maintaining the state’s rainy day reserve fund, could forestall future budget crises, he said.

Leaders from both parties tried to put a positive face on what promises to be a grim session, saying it will force them to prioritize and find ways to deliver state services more efficiently.

“I don’t think this is a session of platitudes and catchy slogans,” said Rep. Richard DeBolt of Chehalis, the House Republican leader. “I think that this can be a session of solutions.”

Lawmakers and members of the governor’s budget staff expressed guarded optimism that the new Obama administration will deliver a federal stimulus package in time to rescue some state programs from the budget ax. But they admitted that there are no guarantees.

“We can’t balance the budget on hope,” Brown said. “We have to see the dollars.”

Brown, who traditionally chooses a theme for each session taken from popular culture, revealed her true sentiments with this year’s choice: Bob Dylan’s 1997 hit, “Everything Is Broken.”

Kathie Durbin: 360-735-4523; kathie.durbin@columbian.com.