Southwest Washington lawmakers participated in a panel discussion Tuesday, offering Clark County business and community leaders a review of the 2015 legislative session.
Of course, when the panel was scheduled for the second week in July, the idea was lawmakers would no longer be in session.
“Well, we ain’t done,” Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, said kicking off the discussion.
Washington lawmakers narrowly averted a government shutdown by passing a $38.2 billion operating budget. But an impasse persists in Olympia over the voter-approved Initiative 1351, which would reduce class sizes. In a late-night breakdown, Senate Democrats did not vote for a measure to delay the initiative, effectively blowing a $2 billion hole in the state’s budget.
While commenting on the longest single-year legislative session since 1853, lawmakers told the audience at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver on Tuesday that a lot has been accomplished. The legislative review luncheon was sponsored by the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Committee, Building Industry Association of Clark County and the Building Industry Group.
“All things considered, I think it’s gone well,” said Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida. “Obviously, we’ve gone too long.”
Operating budget
Senate Republicans declared victory, citing a budget that manages to lower tuition for Washington’s public college and university students and not raise any new taxes.
The budget does raise revenue by closing existing tax exemptions.
“We started out with the governor saying, ‘I’m not going to sign anything that doesn’t increase new revenue,'” said Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver.
“Got to have the carbon tax. Got to have the capital gains income tax. Go to have this. Got to have that. All kinds of new taxes and burdens on our citizens,” Benton said. “Guess what they got? None of it.”
Transportation package
Lawmakers have yet to muster the votes necessary to pass a $16 billion statewide transportation package.
Benton called the transportation budget, which a includes an 11.9 cent gas tax increase that would be phased in over two years, a black eye for Southwest Washington.
“I don’t see how anyone can support such a lopsided package,” he said.
The transportation revenue package approved by the Senate would dedicate $50 million in Clark County to replace the antiquated Northeast 179th Street interchange on Interstate 5, and another $98.7 million to rebuild the interchange at Interstate 5 and Mill Plain Boulevard.
Sens. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, and Ann Rivers, R-La Center, voted in favor of the package.
The House has yet to vote on key transportation package bills.
Capital budget
The Washington Legislature approved nearly $4 million to help make a 7.3-acre public park on the Vancouver waterfront a reality.
The governor recently signed the $3.9 billion capital spending budget.
Cleveland said the money for the waterfront park will “certainly spur economic development.”
“I went to Olympia to work hard to make sure this community remains one of opportunity,” Cleveland said.
The money for the waterfront park, Cleveland said, is the type of critical infrastructure she worked to secure in Olympia.
The capital budget also carves out money for new mental health and education facilities across the state.
McCleary
The biggest problem looming over the state Legislature this session was how to adequately fund the state’s public schools.
Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, noted lawmakers funneled $1.3 billion more into education in the most recent operating budget.
“I don’t want to mind-boggle you,” he said, adding that he’s still not sure if the state has “met the obligation of McCleary.”
“We still have disparity,” Harris said.
Rivers, who is part of a group of lawmakers working on ways to better fund public schools, said she believes lawmakers will satisfy the McCleary requirements in the next legislative session.
