Harder than it needed to be
Published 3:38 pm Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The depth of this year’s state budget problem was well known even before this year’s Legislature convened. Yet majority Democrats put off the toughest decisions, taking an extra month beyond the scheduled session to address them. With hours left before the final deadline, their leaders were still scrambling behind closed doors to hammer out deals.
And still, most members of the Legislature had too little time even to skim the details, let alone think them over, before voting on them.
What they came up with was a combination of tax increases, spending cuts, fund transfers and hope for more federal aid to close a $2.8 billion shortfall. With all due deference to the tough choices they faced, the process legislative leaders engaged in seemed so secretive and haphazard that it couldn’t have inspired much confidence among voters — not a happy outcome for the party in power in an election year.
The final product should keep the state in the black through the middle of next year, assuming revenues come in as anticipated. But if you think this session was a struggle, just wait. When lawmakers begin work on a new two-year budget in January, they’ll be in about as deep a hole as they started in this year. And with the rainy-day fund dry and other accounts already raided, they’ll have fewer tricks left in their bag.
Raising taxes again could be a lot harder, too. The smart money says Tim Eyman’s initiative restoring the two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes — after lawmakers suspended the existing one — will pass easily. With 123 of 147 legislative seats on the ballot, it’s going to be an interesting campaign season.
Democratic candidates who supported this budget must do more than defend it to voters. They’ll have to articulate how they plan to deal with the next shortfall, and whether they have any ideas for putting the state budget on a more sustainable path.
Republicans inclined to feel smug about their chances should think again. The independent voters they need to win in many districts can’t be taken for granted. They’ll want to know what real reform — a term GOP leaders have pushed hard the past few years — looks like, and how Republicans plan to achieve it. If less government is a goal, say what the state can do without.
Leading is about setting priorities, in good times and bad. It’s not supposed to be easy, but this year’s Legislature made it harder than it had to be.
