OLYMPIA — State lawmakers are in the last scheduled week of the 2010 session, still searching for a political solution to a difficult math equation.
They’re supposed to finish Thursday but won’t be going home until they figure out how to rebalance the ledger of the state budget, which sits $2.8 billion out of whack.
This task confronted 147 lawmakers when they convened Jan. 11 and is in danger of not being completed on time because Democrats, who are the majority in the Legislature, are struggling to agree on how to do it.
There is a divide between House and Senate Democrats on what spending to cut and an even wider one on what taxes to raise. In the Senate, they’re pushing a sales tax increase and in the House they’re pushing back — and until one bloc falls, nobody is going home.
“We’ll get there. We might get there a bit late. To me getting out on time is not as important as getting it right,” said Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish. “I’m not watching the clock.”
Complicating matters is the philosophical shoving among Democrats within each chamber.
Members are coalescing to defend funding for certain programs, promote some taxes and oppose others — primarily the sales tax. These coalitions with names like Working Family, Blue-Green and Roadkill are making it tough on party leaders trying to craft a package that can win passage.
House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, are fighting the clock as they try to construct bridges across the many divides in and between their chambers.
“There is a path but it is like slogging through quicksand,” said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.
So far, the House and the Senate have each approved budgets, and negotiations to iron out the differences are intensifying.
Tax proposals are being handled separately from those spending plans and are progressing slower. The Senate debated its proposal Saturday. Members are expected to vote today.
No House or Senate Republican is expected to vote for either budget or any tax package. Most of them want the majority party to get done.
“The sooner the better. The longer things simmer the more difficult it becomes to eat the soup,” said Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.
Here’s the challenge:
The state expects to collect $29.6 billion in revenues for the budget cycle that began July 1, 2009, and runs through June 30, 2011. The estimated cost of continuing to run state government without change — including funding for public schools and colleges — is $32.4 billion.
That leaves a $2.8 billion gap to cover.
To do it, House and Senate Democrats each propose paring around $800 million in spending, transferring money in from other accounts and tapping reserves. Each also is seeking to raise money through new or higher taxes and the ending of tax exemptions.
They both count on money from a higher cigarette tax and sales tax on bottled water.
Senate Democrats want to increase the state’s portion of the sales tax by three-tenths of one cent, generating $340 million, or about a third of its package. The House, instead, wants to charge sales tax on items such as candy and custom software and boost the business tax rate on professionals such as lawyers and accountants.
“I think it’s going to be extraordinarily difficult” to find agreement by Thursday, said state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island.
If they can’t finish, Gov. Chris Gregoire can call them back for a special session that could run as long as 30 days.
“The tendency here is we set decision points for ourselves and when we reach those points we make them. We’re on track to meet them,” said Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds. “Getting 147 people plus the governor to come to agreement in 60 days on how spend $30 billion is not easy.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623, jcornfield@heraldnet.com
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