U.S. 2 study clears last hurdle

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire affixed her signature on Friday to the last batch of laws sent to her by the 2006 Legislature.

Wielding a black pen, she signed supplemental budgets for state spending on transportation, construction and day-to-day operations through June 30, 2007.

Imbedded in these are millions of dollars for remediation courses for high school students failing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests, installing equipment to make biofuels, and building prisons for an expected increase in sex offenders.

For Snohomish County, there’s millions of dollars in undertakings, including a safety study on U.S. 2, adding buses for I-5 commuters, teaching upper-division classes through Everett Community College and fixing up Memorial Stadium, where the Everett AquaSox play.

“We are about one Washington,” Gregoire said before signing the budgets. “There is no Cascade Curtain. We are about ensuring that economic development is happening literally everywhere in the state.”

Much of the legislative attention this year has been on the supplemental operating budget, which details how the state’s $1.6 billion surplus will be spent. This is money in excess of the $26 billion, two-year budget that lawmakers adopted in 2005.

What Gregoire signed earmarks $520 million for existing and new programs and sets aside $941 million for future costs of pension, education, health care and state operations.

“This is one of the most responsible spending plans this state has ever seen,” she said.

The ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee chafed at that depiction.

Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, said what Gregoire signed represents “the largest spending increase in state history,” and in spite of the savings may not avert a deficit in the next budget cycle.

“I don’t see how you can say it’s not frugal when you save 940-plus million dollars. This has never been done,” Gregoire told reporters.

Friday marked the end of a busy season of bill signings. The governor penned “Christine Gregoire” in black ink on the bottom line of 370 bills passed by the Legislature.

She has signed most of those since March 8, when the Legislature adjourned. She vetoed six bills.

State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island and chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, attended Friday’s signings.

“One of the best things people don’t acknowledge in the transportation budget is that we’re putting 18 state troopers back on the road,” she said.

The Washington State Patrol shifted that number to ferry security duties to meet demands of the Department of Homeland Security. Restoring those patrol positions should improve safety on highways, Haugen said.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

Pending tax appeal

In a related development on Friday, state Attorney General Rob McKenna announced that he will appeal a Snohomish County Superior Court judge’s ruling that last year’s hikes in cigarette and liquor taxes are invalid because they were not approved by voters.

Judge James Allendoerfer also ruled that the Democrat-controlled Legislature in 2005 exploited a legislative loophole to spend more money than they were legally allowed.

Gregoire said she “wholeheartedly” supports an appeal.

The lawsuit was brought by several organizations led by the Washington State Farm Bureau and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

No appeal can be filed until a formal order is drawn up by lawyers for the state and the plaintiffs and signed by the judge.

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