The following newsletter was sent to subscribers to Sen. Padden’s newsletter Dec. 16, 2016. To subscribe to Sen. Padden’s newsletters, click here.
Dear friends and neighbors,
We’re getting ready again for another legislative session in Olympia, and it is looking like this will be one of the hardest-fought sessions in years. Gov. Jay Inslee set the tone this week with a proposal for the biggest tax increase in Washington history – a staggering $8 billion by the time it is fully implemented. The best that might be said for it is that it proves our governor isn’t shy. Those of us who favor fiscal conservatism and responsible budgeting will have our work cut out for us.
Meanwhile, our Senate majority is working on matters that strike closer to home. They include property crime — a big issue for the Spokane Valley area. Other important topics next year will be reforms to the way drivers’ licenses are issued, a legislative correction to a court decision that threatens to strangle the development of private property, and our continuing concern with the way the Department of Corrections carries out sentences handed down by the courts. We will have more to say about those topics in coming weeks.
In our office, we are packing up and preparing to move to Olympia for the 2017 session, which begins Jan. 9. This year we have some staffing changes to report. But there are no changes in the responsibility we owe to you, the people of the Spokane Valley and the 4th Legislative District. I am here to address your concerns and be of assistance in your dealings with state government. Merry Christmas to all, and I look forward to serving you in January.
Governor proposes a record-breaking tax increase
We’ve never seen anything like the $8.7 billion tax increase proposed by Gov. Jay Inslee this week. That’s the full impact every two years once all his proposed taxes are phased in. To put it in perspective, the biggest biennial tax increase in Washington history was $1.7 billion, passed by the Legislature in 2010. That one was never fully implemented, because angry voters forced a partial rollback.
The governor says the taxes are required to meet the urgent needs of K-12 education – also to satisfy a Supreme Court ruling that the state should spend more on basic education. But things in Olympia are never as simple as they seem. The bulk of the spending would not be used for basic education and reforms to our school-financing system, but rather for unnecessary budget-busting items that could be put off if we faced a genuine emergency. They include pay increases for unionized state employees, and dramatic raises for teachers to satisfy long-term salary goals. There seems to be very little effort to end waste and fraud in the budget.
Normally proposals from the governor are disregarded by the Legislature, which has final say over the budget. But we can expect Inslee’s proposal to put pressure on his fellow Democrats in the state House to seek some sort of a tax increase this year. The Senate’s Majority Coalition Caucus has proven over the last four years that significant additional funding for K-12 schools can be provided by maintaining a balanced and disciplined approach to spending. We have increased funding for K-12 education by $4.6 billion over the last four years, without a general tax increase. We can continue doing right by schools without devastating our economy.
Last year I had strong misgivings about spending increases in our supplemental budget, and I voted no. Others likely will recoil at the far-greater increases the governor has proposed. Seldom have we seen such a clear difference in the approaches of the two parties.
A Christmas tree in the Capitol rotunda marks the holiday season.
Committee assignments
Every two years the Legislature takes a moment to rethink the way it does business, reorganizing committees and giving members new assignments. I am pleased to report that I remain chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, the panel that considers legislation regarding courts, public safety, civil law, law enforcement and corrections. Other assignments for the coming session are the Human Services, Mental Health and Housing Committee, and the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the budget.
Changes in our office
This year I will have a new legislative assistant, Janet Voye, who served in that role from 1981 to 1984 when I was a junior member of the state House. Mike McCliment, who has managed the office since my return to the Legislature in 2011, retired Dec. 15 – and he is looking forward to many fruitful afternoons on the golf course. Thanks for a job well done, Mike!
Our session aide will be John “Jack” Grimm. And our session intern will be Irina Dolbinina, a student at the Washington State University/Vancouver campus.
We are preparing to move operations from our district office at Spokane Valley City Hall to our legislative office in Olympia. The address is 105 Newhouse Building, Olympia, WA, 98504. Our office telephone number is (360) 786-7606. Until Christmas we can be reached at (509) 921-2460. My email address remains Mike.Padden@leg.wa.gov.
For those of you interested in following our work in the Legislature this year, our official website is https://mikepadden.src.wastateleg.org/. Another good resource is the Legislature’s official website at www.leg.wa.gov, which offers the full text of bills and other information about the session.
Openings for Senate pages
We still have a number of openings for legislative pages. The page program, operated by the Washington State Senate, offers youths between the ages of 14 and 16 the opportunity to work within the Legislature, carrying messages between offices, distributing information on the Senate floor and performing other tasks. This valuable program gives teen-agers a chance to see our Legislature in action, and many who participate move on to careers in the public arena. For information on the program, click here.