November’s general election is less than two weeks away, which is causing some Washington legislative hopefuls to ramp up their campaigns while others in the 41st and 48th districts appear to be candidates in-ballot only.
House Position 1, 41st District
Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, will defend her House seat for the first time, having been appointed last year to fill the 41st District seat vacated by Marcie Maxwell.
Her opponent is University of Washington student Bill Stinson, a 21-year-old Republican from Bellevue whose platform includes more government accountability and transparency, mending the generational workforce gap and environmental policies that reduce greenhouse gas emission.
Senn remained on the Mercer Island City Council following her appointment as a state representative to finish city projects, but said she is considering stepping down if voters grant her a full term in the House.
“I didn’t want to abandon those ideas without getting them off the ground,” she said. “Looking forward, I think it is going to be a much more difficult balance.”
Barring any special sessions next year, the Legislature will have 105 days starting Jan. 12 to fill an education funding gap under threat of sanctions by the state Supreme Court, readdress passing a transportation package — last year’s House plan having died in Senate and finding new and old ways to balance a 2015-17 biennium budget.
Senn and Stinson say they both support a levy swap proposal by Rep. Ross Hunter, which would raise the state property tax from $2.03 to $3.20 per $1,000 of assessed property value for an added $1 billion in revenue. Schools would then reduce their levies by the amount of new revenue received from the state.
“Right now, the levy swap is the best idea I’ve heard but, of course, the devil’s in the details,” Senn said, adding there are concerns communities with higher property values will end up paying more. “We are going to make sure that there is some balance there.”
Senn also supports increasing the gas tax to support major projects in a state transportation project, but new revenue streams will need to be created as more fuel-efficient vehicles are hitting Washington roads every day.
Stinson said he’s concerned past transportation packages haven’t effectively addressed congestion problems on the Eastside. While a gas tax is an effective way of raising funds, he said transportation spending needs to be adjusted before looking at new revenue options.
As Washington looks at furthering its economic recovery following the recession of 2008, both Senn and Stinson say they want to encourage small business growth and entrepreneurship.
Senn supports raising the threshold for exemption from the business and occupation tax for all business classifications to allow small business owners more opportunity to succeed and grow.
Stinson said he’d like to see the B&O tax scrapped for small business owners and manufacturers and a 1-percent reduction in the sales tax. A revenue replacement Stinson favors that is expected to come up in the 2015 session is a revenue-neutral carbon tax.
House Position 2, 41st District
Incumbent Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, is confident she is running without opposition from Alex O’Neil, an Independent candidate who has neither been seen nor heard at any political forums in the 41st this year.
“I have no opponent, I can assure you,” said Clibborn.
The six-term representative plans to continue chairing the House Transportation Committee, where in January she said the debate over a long-delayed transportation package will focus on raising the gas tax. Whether it is raised enough for maintenance and preservation or substantially to tackle bigger projects like completion of the State Route 520 replacement bridge project is yet to be determined.
Motorists crossing I-90 to Seattle, Mercer Island or Bellevue should no longer worry about whether a toll will be placed on the interstate to pay for the 520 bridge, added Clibborn.
“There are not the votes to put it through, and I’m certainly not going to put any tolls on I-90 during my time in the Legislature,” she said.
O’Neil did not return a call for comment for this article.
House Position 1, 48th District
Medina Democrat Ross Hunter isn’t concerned about losing his House position, and has been balancing this year’s campaign with ideas on how to balance the state’s budget.
He is challenged by Bill Hirt, R-Bellevue, who has campaigned solely on an anti-light rail platform. Hirt could not be reached for comment by press time.
The 2015-17 biennium represents the final two years under the state’s four-year balanced budget law to be approved next year. Under the four-year plan, new revenue projections for the state have already been allocated, said Hunter, who expects to remain chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
“I think this year that balance is going to require more revenue,” Hunter said.
Hunter said he’s open to raising the gas tax to support transportation, but feels there will be more legislative support next year for state and regional transportation packages that place the cost of improvements on those state residents who benefit most.
While his levy swap proposal will allow the state to commit more money to education rather than placing the burden on local levies, Hunter admitted voters in more affluent communities will pay more, but still less than the income disparities of those areas with lower property values.
“It is a state responsibility to do this,” Hunter said of filling the education gap that is currently about $1,300 less per student than the national average. “I’m willing to make the state tax system more progressive.”
House Position 2, 48th District
Rep. Cyrus Habib’s vie for state Senate left open a race to fill his seat in the House, which has Redmond Democrat Joan McBride facing Tim Turner, a Libertarian candidate from Bellevue, for Position 2 in the 48th District.
McBride served on the Kirkland City Council for 16 years, with two terms as mayor. She is endorsed by Hunter and Habib. She said if elected she will focus on transportation, public health and economic development, with an emphasis on research and development.
Turner, a software engineer in Redmond, said he is focused on job creation and wage increases, however, he does not support having a minimum wage. He favors reducing regulations and taxes, especially those he says negatively impact people’s ability to run their businesses within the state. He also favors cutting out tax breaks for major companies like Boeing.
“I’ve spent some time being unemployed, so I know it’s hard to find a job,” Turner said. “That’s what really affects people.”
He said of satisfying a state constitutional requirement to increase Washington’s contribution to public education that he would look at taking funds from existing sources before considering tax increases.
“I’m not going to cut something that has someone on life support,” he said, but didn’t immediately know where those cuts should occur. “I would have to go through the whole budget and look at the place where it would be taken from.”
“I think the levy swap is a complicated, but very good idea,” said McBride, adding “It may not satisfy the McCleary demands,” so more efficiencies in education should be looked at.
Turner said if elected he would like to begin a conversation about weaning the state off of its dependence on taxes by establishing a state endowment fund that would grow through periodic investments in the Washington economy. That would be a 100-year plan, he added.
Senate, 48th District
Rep. Cyrus Habib, D-Kirkland, is seeking to fill retiring Rodney Tom’s Senate seat in the Nov. 4 election, and faces Republican challenger Michelle Darnell, also of Kirkland.
“I think we need to go through the budget with a fine-toothed comb,” Darnell said of balancing a biennium budget that requires filling a funding gap and rolling out a transportation package.
A paralegal and borrower advocate, Darnell said she is passionate about making it easier for people to get help avoiding foreclosures on their homes, which are still too high despite the current economic recovery.
Habib said the state has to resolve education funding, but will need to do so in a way that doesn’t cause crippling cuts to social services.
“I think that’s going to be the big-picture challenge,” he said, adding he does favor a levy swap. “Wealthier districts, by virtue of higher property assessment, will pay more — that’s one of the things that makes property tax a little more progressive than sales tax.”
Darnell said there has been too much emphasis on spending and not enough focus on the state’s educational system and best uses of existing resources.
The House provided a transportation package last year that never saw a counterpart in the Senate, which Habib said the state can’t afford again this year.
“I think I’ll be better positioned to do that if the Democrats are in control of the Senate,” he said.
Darnell said she could support some increase in the state gas tax, but transportation spending needs to be reprioritized. She said too much money is being spent on public transit and not enough on fixing the state’s aging infrastructure. She also favors making alternative transportation options like Uber and Lift easier to start in Washington cities, considering the issues that cropped up in Seattle recently on regulating the services.
