Special session blues: may the best budget finagler win
By John Stang fpr Crosscut.com
The state Legislature begins its 30-day special session today. The question is whether much progress has been made in two weeks of closed-door negotiations.
Gov. Jay Inslee believes some progress has been made, but did not want to publicly discuss the talks last week because that would violate an agreement to keep the negotiations confidential, said Inslee spokesman David Postman.
“We still have a ways to go,” said House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington.
When the legislative session ended May 2, the Republican-oriented Senate and the House-controlled House were far apart on what the 2013-2015 state operating budget should be. Sullivan said the current talks have been focused on budget matters. Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond and the Senate’s lead budget negotiator, could not be reached last week for comment.
Last Thursday, 15 people from Hill’s 45th District — who also belong to the Washington Conservation Voters and Environmental Priorities Coalition — gave him a petition with 5,000 signatures that asked him to eliminate a use tax exemption for extracted fuel, which covers a factory or commercial operation’s byproducts that are used internally as fuel….And an extra $40.8 million would go to the state in 2013-2015. The petitioners want that money to go to education.
The petition is just the beginning. Both sides, not to mention Inslee, have lists of blocked bills that they want passed this session — with everyone expecting eventual horsetrading.
(To read the full article, go to crosscut.com/2013/05/13/olympia-2013/special-session)
