Legislature approves budget, but road plan still uncertain

Associated Press and Staff Reports

OLYMPIA — The Legislature gave final approval to the state’s two-year operating budget on Wednesday, a move that has some lawmakers ready to pull the plug today on one of the longest legislative sessions in state history.

One hopeful senator held a sign declaring " The End Is Near."

"It looks very likely that we will adjourn (today)," said Rep. Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor. But that’s only if the current agreements stand, Sehlin was quick to add.

While Senate Bill 6153 earmarks $22.8 billion for schools and colleges, welfare, parks, prisons, health care, the courts and other state services, other crucial bills are still hung up in the evenly divided House.

Some local budget highlights include:

State parks won’t be charging the $5 day-use fee they’d planned to implement on Jan. 1. The Legislature added an extra $3 million to the parks’ maintenance budget and passed an amendment saying they weren’t allowed to charge the fee.

The Lower Skykomish Habitat Conservation Group, which is a group of farmers in the Monroe area, will get $250,000 to work on salmon recovery projects, copying the success of the Haskell Slough. The group also will be working with federal agencies to make sure their farming practices are fish-friendly.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs will get $450,000 for electronic mapping of school facilities. The pilot project is being coordinated by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office to help authorities respond better to critical incidents at schools.

The Department of Ecology is getting $1.5 million to keep cleaning up the Everett smelter site.

The North Snohomish, Island, Skagit Higher Education Consortium will receive $1.8 million for operating costs over the next two years.

Snohomish County and its 20 incorporated cities will receive $9.5 million to replace funds lost when the motor vehicle excise tax was eliminated. Island County and its three incorporated cities will receive $1.7 million. Some of those cities had faced proposed cuts of up to 26 percent of the backfill money, and the House had voted to cut Snohomish County’s share by more than half. The Senate insisted on restoring the funds, which are intended for criminal justice programs.

Three Republicans joined 23 Democrats in voting yes Wednesday, while conservative Democrat Tim Sheldon of Potlatch voted no along with 13 Republicans, who argued that the budget’s level of spending can’t be sustained in future years. The bill now goes to Gov. Gary Locke, who has said he will sign it.

The operating budget is traditionally one of the last bills to pass before the Legislature adjourns. Wednesday’s vote had lawmakers scrambling to push legislation before the final gavel falls.

"When that budget bill passes, this place clears out faster than a house on fire," Sheldon said as he unsuccessfully tried to force through a bill tightening the laws against sex between teachers and students.

But lawmakers could linger in Olympia for several days. The budget taps about $125 million from pension reserves of the Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters Retirement System. But retirees have sued to block use of the money, and a bill to allow its use is all but dead in the House.

Sehlin said the House GOP caucus thinks tapping a pension fund to balance the operating budget is inappropriate. The difference could be made up in the supplemental budget next year, he said.

Aside from the pension money, the budget dips into state reserves, assumes higher earnings for the pension systems and relies on a federal windfall.

Counting various reserve funds, the budget still leaves more than $1.2 billion unspent. But Republicans contend it spends $600 million more than the state expects to collect in the next two years.

Final passage of the budget could doom other priorities as well, most notably an ambitious plan to ease the state’s traffic congestion. Hopes for a transportation package, which would involve increasing the gasoline tax, have dwindled in recent weeks.

Locke has said he would not let the Legislature leave until a transportation plan has passed.

"The governor can call them back again," said Dana Middleton, Locke’s spokeswoman. "We are in the process of considering how to do this."

Legislators also need to finish negotiating a plan to build a halfway house on McNeil Island for the state’s most violent sex offenders, because a federal judge has said they can’t be locked up indefinitely after they’ve completed their sentences.

Lawmakers are fast approaching a record for the longest session. Wednesday was the 152nd day the Legislature spent in session this year. The record, 162 days, was set in 1977.

Herald writer Susanna Ray contributed to this report.