OLYMPIA — With the threat of a special session looming, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate and Gov. Chris Gregoire focused Tuesday on finding common ground on where to cut spending and which taxes to increase to balance the state budget.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, but I am very optimistic we can get it done,” Gregoire said Tuesday.
The constitutionally mandated end of session arrives at midnight Thursday.
For the Legislature to avoid its first major overtime session since 2003 will require the governor and majority party leaders to find the sweet spot among their differing approaches to erase the $2.8 billion deficit.
“We’re working as if we’re getting done on time,” said House Speaker Frank Chopp. “Our caucus has the best record getting done on time.”
Tuesday afternoon, Gregoire met in her office with Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown for another in their ongoing conversations on what cuts to make, taxes to raise and dollars to set aside in reserve.
This was their first conversation since House Democrats, ending days of internal tumult, approved a $680 million tax package much earlier in the day.
On a 52-45 vote cast at nearly 1:30 a.m., the House approved the 162-page bill that would end a slew of exemptions and charge sales tax on candy, bottled water and elective cosmetic surgery. It also would levy an excise tax on airplanes, boost the business tax paid by lawyers and other professionals, and tack another $1 on each pack of cigarettes.
Nine Democrats crossed over to join 36 Republicans in opposing the bill.
The House package doesn’t contain an increase in the sales tax, which is the centerpiece of the $890 million revenue package passed by the Senate. That proposed three-tenths-of-a-penny boost in the sales tax would generate roughly $313 million of the total.
Gregoire dislikes a sales tax increase because she said she’s concerned it will be a drag on the state’s economic recovery. It’s a point she made in her meetings Tuesday with Democratic leaders.
Plenty of Democrats in both chambers don’t want to mess with the sales tax, which has not been increased in 27 years. Instead, they want to focus on repealing and reducing tax exemptions and extending sales tax to several items.
There are plenty of other Democrats who prefer the sales tax and worry without it, not enough money will be raised for schools, human services and health care for the poor.
The challenge is building a majority in the Senate — or 25 votes — and the House — with 50 — and the governor for the same package.
Monday night and early Tuesday, the deepest differences were among partisans in the House as Democrats and Republicans engaged in a passionate debate on the costs and benefits of raising taxes that lasted 5 1/2 hours.
Democrats said last year the Legislature cut deeply into the budgets of schools, colleges and human service programs, and while more cuts are planned, they could not erase the state’s entire $2.8 billion deficit solely by spending less on those programs.
“We could not do an all-cuts budget again and go home and face our constituents,” said Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park. “It is not a vote any of us wanted to take, but it is certainly a vote I am proud to take.”
Republicans criticized Democrats for not working hard enough to reduce the cost of government before pursuing this course. Raising taxes, they said, would hurt families, force companies to lay off workers to survive and deter new companies from coming to Washington.
“We are sending a very negative message that will have very serious consequences,” said Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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