— by John Stang for Crosscut.com —
Republican and Democratic budget negotiators met for five minutes Tuesday [June 16] morning in Gov. Jay Inslee’s conference room, and then left tight-lipped, declining to talk with reporters. Inslee spokesman David Postman said the governor is optimistic that the deadlocked negations will be resolved prior to June 30. “He does not believe the government will be shut down. The consequences are too great. We have history on our side,” Postman said.
Today’s situation echoes what happened in 2013 when both sides butted heads on the 2013-2015 budget. Back then, they did not reach an agreement until June 27 — three days before the final deadline. This year, the most recent public stances of the Republicans and Democrats had the GOP proposing a $37.9 billion two-year budget with lots of borrowing and budget shifts, and the Democrats proposing a $38.4 billion budget bolstered by a 5 percent capital gains tax on Washington’s highest investment earners.
The state government has identified what will be shut down on July 1 if no 2015-2017 budget agreement is reached by June 30. In fact, officials mostly dusted off its 2013 partial shutdown plan and tweaked it. The broad stokers are outlined on the Washington Office of Financial Management’s Web site. Warning notices will go to the affected state employees next Tuesday. Here are some highlights of what a partial shutdown would set into motion.
(To read the full article, go to crosscut.com/2015/06/clock-ticking-on-partial-state-shutdown/ )
