By Susanna Ray
Herald Writer
Slashing 30 state programs, hiking "sin" taxes, making more money off gambling and draining the state’s rainy day fund are some of the ways Gov. Gary Locke wants to plug the new hole in the state’s budget, he announced Tuesday morning.
And that made for plenty of howling Tuesday afternoon.
Locke’s budget revision was in response to the war against terrorism and the recession, which have eaten a $1.25 billion piece of the $22.8 billion budget pie lawmakers cooked up earlier this year.
The state runs on a two-year spending cycle, which lawmakers tweak in the off years to reflect changes in the economy or the state’s needs.
Here are some of the ways the Democratic governor suggested to cut $566 million from the remaining year of the budget and add $573 million in new revenues:
Some of the nickel-and-dime savings may cause more harm than good, activists say.
For example, the state spends $5 million a year on the interpreter services program, which provides interpreters for low-income patients on Medicaid. The money helps those who need to go to the doctor but either can’t hear or can’t speak English well enough to tell a doctor what’s wrong with them.
Doctors are required under civil rights statutes to make sure communication isn’t a barrier to treatment, said Desmond Skubi, executive director of Community Health Center of Snohomish County. So if the state stops picking up the interpreter tab for low-income patients, doctors would have to pay the interpreters themselves, or choose not to treat the poor.
"It won’t just affect people who don’t speak English," Skubi said. "My fear is that it will lead to more private providers simply refusing to see patients on Medicaid, and we already have a problem with that in Snohomish County."
State Rep. Barry Sehlin of Oak Harbor, the House Republicans’ chief budget negotiator, said the proposed cuts reflect a "flawed set of priorities" and fail to make good on the governor’s promise to protect those most vulnerable.
Sehlin said he had just been talking to an Anacortes nursing home operator who would have to lay off several employees if the state reimbursements for low-income residents were slashed, as proposed.
"Who’s more vulnerable than a nursing home patient, for God’s sake?" Sehlin said.
He said he’s also worried about using too much of the state’s reserves.
"That’s saying there’s not gonna be another earthquake, there’s not gonna be another fire, and look outside your window today and tell me there’s not gonna be another flood," he said.
The governor did do a good job of avoiding many cuts human services workers had feared, said Seth Dawson, a local legislative lobbyist representing children and family interests. But many of the cuts that were proposed are unacceptable, Dawson added.
"We’re very distressed that instead of reducing administration, the emphasis is on cutting services to the mentally ill," he said.
Counties and cities are also worried about lost state funding for criminal justice needs. Educators, public employees unions and health care advocates all sent out press releases airing their complaints Tuesday.
But Locke expected the criticism, saying the cuts would clearly cause some pain, but "we live in a different world" following the terrorist attacks, Boeing layoffs and recession.
"We had to make hard choices that affect real people," he said. "I can’t think of a single choice that was easy."
More information about the budget proposal is available online at www.governor.wa.gov.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 425-339-3439
or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
