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A quick note before we begin today's report.
WSSDA has posted two podcast interviews, one with
Tom Ahearne (the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in
the NEWS lawsuit), and the other with
WSSDA FRN Chair Patty Wood regarding the FRN
delegation's recent work in Washington, D.C. Each
podcast is 15 minutes long. Just click on the links to
access the interviews, or visit our
podcast index.
The 2010 Legislature just passed the half-way point
(yesterday was Day 30 of the scheduled 60-day session)
and the activity shows no signs of subsiding. With
yesterday’s fiscal committee cut-off most of the action
is occurring in the House and Senate chambers, as both
bodies move through lengthy floor calendars in an
attempt to quickly adopt priority legislation.
Race To The Top and Education Reform
Last night the Senate Ways & Means Committee adopted
SB 6696, the “omnibus” bill from the governor, OSPI
and the State Board which is intended to enhance
Washington’s application for federal Race To The Top
funds. It awaits action by the full Senate. The House
opted to break up this bill into three pieces and
introduced three separate bills:
HB 3035 (educator performance),
HB 3038 (education accountability) and
HB 3059 (educator preparation). HB 3035 and HB 3038
were both heard in the House Ways & Means Committee, but
failed to move before yesterday’s cut-off and appear
dead. HB 3059, however, was adopted by the House
Education Appropriations Committee and awaits action by
the full House. These four bills were certainly
considered a high priority by many, so it was
interesting to see two of the bills get left behind.
Budget, Taxes and “Revenue”
The first piece of a 2010 Supplemental Operating
Budget was passed by the full Legislature yesterday.
HB 2921 is an “early action” budget bill that would
reduce the current 2009-11 Operating Budget by about $55
million. As part of this bill, state agencies would
generally be prohibited for the remainder of the
biennium from: hiring new employees or filling
vacancies; making major equipment purchases; and paying
for out-of-state travel. HB 2921 awaits action by the
governor.
Yesterday, the Senate also concurred in House
amendments to
SB 6382, regarding state employee compensation. Last
year, the Legislature adopted a 12-month “freeze” on
salary and wage increases for most exempt state
employees. That freeze, set to expire this month, is
extended by SB 6382 through the end of the biennium. SB
6382 has been sent to the governor for her final action.
Discussions of potential tax packages are starting to
heat up in Olympia. The Senate took action yesterday to
amend Initiative 960, jump-starting the tax talk.
Remember, I-960 requires any tax or fee increases to be
approved by either a 2/3rds vote of both the House and
Senate or to be approved on a statewide ballot.
Following several hours of intense debate, the Senate
yesterday adopted a bill to amend I-960.
SB 6843 would temporarily (through the end of the
biennium) lift these restrictions and allow taxes and
fees to be enacted or increased by a simple majority
vote of the House and Senate. As painful as it was for
many legislators to have this debate and take this vote,
it appears they are going to have to do it all again.
Apparently, the Senate adopted a bill they did not
intend to move and Senate Leadership has indicated they
will run another bill soon to further amend I-960.
In other budget news, it appears that Washington’s
economy is beginning to stabilize. Official numbers will
not be released until the Economic and Revenue Forecast
Council meets this Friday, Feb. 12; however, early
indications are that revenues will be slightly up (about
$50 million) from previous projections. This certainly
isn’t a big increase, but it is much better than the
drastic reductions we’ve seen in the last several
Forecast updates. This means the current projection of a
$2.6 billion shortfall for the remainder of the biennium
probably won’t change much.
Levy Issues
We have been closely watching five levy bills this
session and wanted to provide an update on each of those
bills:
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SB 6502 |
HB 2670 are the levy base restoration bills.
Both bills have passed their respective policy and
fiscal committees and await action in the
Senate/House Rules Committee.
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SB 6518 |
HB 2893 are the bills to increase the levy lid
by four percent and increase Local Effort Assistance
from 12 percent to 14 percent. SB 6518 was adopted
by the Senate Ed Committee and was heard by the
Senate Ways & Means Committee, but failed to move
further. HB 2893 was adopted by both the House
Education Appropriations Committee and the House
Ways & Means Committee. Prior to being adopted, it
was amended to specifically declare that if LEA is
not fully funded in the budget, the bill is void.
The bill now awaits action by the full House.
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SB 6488 is the governor’s proposal to increase
the levy lid to 36 percent and increase LEA, but
only for a portion of our school districts. The bill
was adopted by the Senate Ed Committee and heard by
the Senate Ways & Means Committee, but failed to
move any further.
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