Babystepping to a State Budget

Andrew Garber's Seattle Times report on yesterday's session sums it up nicely.

The first day of the Legislature's special session started Monday much like the last one ended -- with Democrats still far apart on how to close a projected $2.8 billion budget shortfall.

He writes that budget negotiators are getting closer to agreement on the overall budget level and a tax hike of about $800 million. But the sticking point remains the sales tax.

The question is: Who will blink first?

Gov. Gregoire and House leaders don't want a sales tax. Gregoire should be the tie breaker, but ...

For now though, "I don't think there's enough votes in the Senate without one (a sales tax) and I don't think there are enough votes in the House with one," she said.

Rachel La Corte's AP story has additional insight.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said negotiators have general agreement on about $400 million worth of taxes, but need to find accord on another $400 million to fill out their package. The Senate’s plan for a temporary sales-tax increase is projected to net about $315 million through June 2011, when paired with a state rebate intended for poorer taxpayers.

Kessler said the House and Senate are getting closer to agreement on the spending plan, but remain farther apart on the increased taxes needed to help pay for it.

When they get a deal, expect it to move quickly. As we mentioned yesterday, transparency has repeatedly been sacrificed on the altar of expedience in this session. A new case in point. The Washington Policy Center reports that the Senate has adopted a rule change to speed up votes.

The impact of this change is a bill that is adopted by a committee can be voted on by the full Senate on the same day instead of having to wait until the next day.

This change is the antithesis of efforts to create a "time out" period to allow lawmakers adequate time to review proposed changes in law or budget details prior to voting.

Republicans went along with the change, as Austin Jenkins reports.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said "We're down here after regular session at a cost of about 20-thousand dollars per day so we don't plan on being an obstructionist."