Voters Likely to be Shut Out of Special Budget/Tax/Jobs Session

The Senate passed an operating budget today, the same one it had passed previously. This one, again, had only 25 yes votes. One change, Sen. Chris Marr, a reluctant yes the first time, voted no, with Sen. Brian Hatfield providing the 25th yes. Hatfield had been excused the day of the first vote. From this vote, we can't discern any information about how the two chambers will come together. Another vehicle might have provided some clues.

This Sunshine Week promises to be dark in Olympia, as The Daily News editorializes. The Olympian also takes the majority to task for disregarding transparency and public input.

In the waning days of the regular legislative session, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, a Democrat from Spokane, claimed the Legislature is much more transparent than it was when she entered the Legislature.

Brown is wrong.

The hurry-up income tax hearing and title-only tax bills are the prime examples from the regular session. Expect more of the same on the tax and spending bills this special session.

Earlier, I posted on the budget and jobs agenda, without mentioning the jobs portion. It was an oversight on my part, but there's really little to say. The SeattlePI.com has a good explanation for how jobs came to share billing with the budget this week.

Democrats, most of whom up for re-election, know they're going to get lambasted by Republicans in November for summoning the Taxman. That's why during the special session they'll try to come up with a jobs plan, as well.

If that sounds cynical, try this explanation from The Olympian.

To leave behind something that will be remembered more fondly than their budget work come Election Day, Democrats have given themselves a second mission for the overtime period: Create jobs in Washington.

According to a political scientist the paper interviewed, the strategy faces one big problem.

... jobs efforts are unlikely to catch the public’s attention as much as the extra taxes they will pay, especially broad-based ones like the sales tax, said Todd Donovan, a professor at Western Washington University.

Don Brunell writes that Idaho's governor is paying attentionto the Washington tax and jobs trade-off.

With Washington’s Legislature about to raise business taxes to balance its $2.8 billion revenue hole, [Idaho Gov. Butch] Otter upped the ante by openly encouraging employers in both Oregon and Washington to move to Idaho. 

...Faced with ever higher costs and regulatory hurdles in a down economy, many employers are looking for help. If they don’t find it from the Washington Legislature, they may look elsewhere.

The risks are real. Let your lawmakers know that preserving jobs begins with minimizing new taxes on employers.