Practically the End of a Tough Legislative Session - Some Good Competitiveness Outcomes

About 11 hours after the 2009 legislative session adjourned, Gov. Gregoire announced her plans to call lawmakers back for a special session to clean up unfinished business. She'd like it to be short, a day or two, and limited to a handful of items necessary to implement the budget. Not everyone's enthusiastic.

It's important to take time to recognize that in a very difficult year, the Legislature accomplished some noteworthy things, foremost among them: balancing a budget without general tax increases. Critics may point at the heavy reliance on one-time money, including the federal stimulus cash, and the likelihood of another shortfall in the next budget. While that argument has validity, it's more important to note that lawmakers bought themselves - and us - another two years to transition to a sustainable spending level, we hope in a stronger economy. Tax hikes would have further hammered struggling families and businesses, delaying the recovery. Commend lawmakers for making the right budget decisions and avoiding new taxes.

Also, at the eleventh hour (literally), lawmakers adopted a clean unemployment insurance reform bill after the House receded from problematic amendments that would have led to a certain tax hike, particularly on mid-size Main Street businesses. Along with a balanced budget that did not rely on new taxes, UI reform has been a top WashACE priority. Thanks to all who contacted their legislators in the last few weeks!

Some other good things:

• Higher eduction budget cuts, inevitable this year, have been made less challengng (not easy) with tuition flexibility for colleges and universities.
• Progress on two critical transportation projects - the 520 bridge and a bored tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
• A three-year delay in paid family leave. (Better to see it repealed, but we'll take a delay.)
• The Employer Gag Rule (aka Worker Privacy Act) disappeared, at least for a while.

We'll have more on what did and didn't happen this session in the coming weeks. Facing considerable challenges, lawmakers were able to take meaningful steps to improve our economic competitiveness. That's no small accomplishment.