At last night’s Post-Election Analysis forum sponsored by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Governor Chris Gregoire announced that, unlike last year, she expects there to be at least some new revenue to soften the expected cuts to balance the $2.6 budget deficit. Political operative Nigel Herbig tweeted this from the event:
At Kohl-Welles event, Gov. Gregoire stated that another cuts-only budget would not be acceptable.
This could be the first sign that the Democratic super majority could show some guts and raise revenue to balance the budget. They might not have a choice, since there is so little left to cut:
70% of the state budget is protected through constitutional, federal, contractual and other mandates, which means the Legislature would need to slash 27% from the remaining $9.6 billion in unprotected spending in order to achieve an all-cuts budget. I suppose that could be done, but only at the expense of great human suffering.
If the legislature leans on a cuts-heavy budget in 2010, General Assistance Unemployable (or GAU) could be toast. According to their website, GAU is described as a “state-funded program that provides cash and medical benefits for persons who are physically and/or mentally incapacitated and unemployable.” Since GAU is only available for individuals who don’t qualify for other government assistance, without GAU many of these people would be on the street. It survived elimination in last year’s budget, largely because Speaker Frank Chopp defended the program.
In Florida they’re raising the charge to employers for unemployment insurance from $2 per employee to $200 per employee.
Yes, you heard me.
Employers – start hiring or you’ll have to pay even MORE.
Yeah, this is that “right wing” Frank Chopp you folks are all hot and bothered to vote out of office. Good thinking. That’s what we really need, tons more disabled and/or insane people on the streets.
At the expense of great human suffering. That statement makes a lot of sense.
Fnarf, this is one of few things Chopp has done right, though it’s certainly commendable. There are an overrun of reasons to replace him, so to speak.
@ 4:
You and what army?
The outgoing finance director of California was quoted as saying he looked hard at whether his state could declare bankruptcy, or find some clause of the U.S. Constitution that would allow California to return to territory status.
I wonder if there’s something here, if we can get at it, some new paradigm for stimulus that can help states keep providing services through this nightmare.
Wow, with such a deep cut, we must be talking about dialing back spending to what it was 20 or 40 years ago, when Washington was full of starving people dying in the streets, right?
Let’s see, $2.6B less than $32B is $29.4B, which with a population of 6.5M is $4.5K per capita. Looking back at historical state spending and adjusting for population and inflation, to find that level of real per capita spending, you have to go back to… 2006-2007.
God forbid that the state have to cut back real per capita spending to what it was 4 years ago. God forbid that anything interfere with the God-given right of government to take ~4% more real dollars out of everyone’s pockets every year.
@5 ftw
The GSP (gross state product) of Washington State last year was 324.5 billion. It’s absurd to insist that we can’t raise taxes enough to cover a 2.6 billion dollar shortfall, preferably by instituting an income tax.
“without GAU many of these people would be on the street”
Many – and probably most – of GAU’s 20,000+ recipients are already on the street.
@9, that’s an interesting premise. California GSP last year was $1.8 trillion. Yet their finance people are terrified by that state’s (by your measure puny) $21 billion deficit projection.
I believe they’re freaking because as a practical matter taxes can only get raised or reformed by skittish legislators or drawn-out citizen initiatives. While at some point state legislatures will buckle down to the task they’re stuck with, the question is, will they have many options left if they wait too long?
2010 will bring another big round of mortgage recasts, and not much relief around housing prices or business credit availability. Voters are getting thoroughly sick of being used to being scared of losing their employers and homes.
While that’s not the standard recipe for a political climate friendly to progressive tax reform, maybe in the end only real desperation can force the issue.