Casting his first vote in the Legislature, new State Sen. Steve Litzow (R-Mercer Island) was one of the few dissenting votes on an emergency reduction package to address the state’s $1.1 billion budget shortfall in 2010.

“I was disappointed in the fact that we’ve known about a $1.1 billion deficit, we could only get half of that solved and the first place we turned was education,” he said.

The emergency session, called Friday by Gov. Christine Gregoire and held Saturday, ended with cuts and alterations of $590 million (scroll through to see full text of the bill). The bipartisan plan cuts state spending, pilfers accounts for general fund help and counts on stepped-up collection of existing taxes to trim the deficit through June.

The Legislature must make final cuts to the budget before the end of the biennium, June 30, 2011.

Primary cuts in the Legislature’s plan resulted in the highest impacts to education and social service programs, with each category reduced by about $100 million. Cuts to schools were split nearly even with half coming out of higher education and the rest from the K-12 programs, including suspension of a payment meant to reduce K-4 class sizes. A reduction of more than $25 million in Basic Health Plan spending was approved as well.

“I did not want my first vote to be to cut education further than we’ve cut in the last few years,” Litzow said.

The House voted 86 to 6, and the Senate 30 to 9, on the key budget measure, House Bill 3225.

Among local legislators from the 41st and 48th districts, Litzow was the only member to vote no.

Others voting for the bill cited it as a necessity given the economic climate and recent election results.

“I don’t really see a whole lot of options at this point,” said House Finance Committee Chairman Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina). “We’re going to make substantive changes in the budget for the state because that seems to be what the voters wanted us to do.”

The biggest chunk of the $590 million comes from diverting more than $200 million in federal aid that was supposed to go to Washington school districts to help boost jobs with expected budget cut backs in the 2011-13 biennium. That money will now be shifted into the state’s general fund in accordance with provisions that the money could be moved if needed.

Hunter said this will not affect schools this year as the money came in after districts finished their budgets for the coming year. However, the impacts of the diverted funds will have to be accounted for during the 2011-13 session.

For the governor, and many state legislators, this exercise represented a small preview of the amount of reductions that are going to be needed to balance out 2010 and move into the next biennium.

“It was just a mish-mash,” said 48th District Rep. Deb Eddy (D-Kirkland) of Saturday’s result. “I don’t have a strong opinion of it because it only solves half of the shortfall. It was clearly the low-hanging fruit. Was it the right stuff, I don’t know.”

Gregoire has already begun planning for the next session, rolling out a plan to “modernize” pension plans, which her office claims will narrow the next deficit by $368 million. The plan involves stopping annual cost-of-living benefit adjustments for PERS members hired before 1977 and cutting an early retirement bonus.

Gregoire is also aiming to consolidate many of the state’s natural resources agencies from 21 down to nine. This plan would drop 125 jobs and reduce the potential deficit by $30 million.

State Sen. Rodney Tom (D-Medina), who was excused from the Saturday proceedings, said controlling spending on state employees will be a crucial factor in the next biennium.

“The people are still the kings,” he said. “We can’t have it where the voters are servants of the government workers. Under the current program that’s the direction it’s headed. You’ll continue to see services cut to pay for a lot of these overgenerous benefit packages that have been a part of state government for quite some time.”

Legislators acknowledged that this year’s cuts have been tough, but next year will be a much greater struggle. With a gap of more than $4.6 billion to close for 2011-13, everything will have to be examined. In this next biennium the public will likely learn what exactly these cuts mean to them, they said.

“I’m not sure that the general public understands that real programs are going to be cut,” said Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island). “There will be cuts people experience on a day-to-day basis.”

If anything positive can be taken away from this experience, it’s the cooperation. The bill passed with near unanimous bipartisan support. Electeds from both sides of the aisle said they hope this becomes the norm, but as the program cuts become more controversial and reflect greater on the values of individual politicians, some anticipate the fight returning.

For Litzow, the lone Republican from the 41st and 48th districts, the next biennium will come down to both parties putting their collective heads together to rebuild state government to a point where it doesn’t need multiple emergency cost-shedding exercises when times get tough.

“Both sides, Democrats and Republicans, realize that we need to fundamentally look at how we deliver service as a government,” he said. “Playing around the edges is not going to work anymore. That’s the glimmer of hope within this dire situation.”

How local legislators voted

41st District

Marcie Maxwell Yea

Judy Clibborn Yea

Steve Litzow Nay

48th District

Rodney Tom Excused

Ross Hunter Yea

Deb Eddy Yea

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