The state House passed a supplemental budget Wednesday that relies on $400 million in delayed payments and reduced support for local governments while largely protecting basic education from further cuts.
The bill passed on a 53-45 vote and now heads to the Senate, which unveiled its own budget plan Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, said that the budget strikes “a balance between protecting basic education, protecting public safety, protecting the safety net to the best of our ability. Let’s be clear, there are cuts in this budget, substantial cuts that will affect communities across our state.
In total, the House plan saves some $890 million without asking voters for a temporary sales tax increase originally suggested by Gov. Chris Gregoire. The Democrats propose to leave $504 million in reserves.
The biggest savings come from delaying $405 million in some payments to schools until the next budget cycle that begins in July 2013. The proposal also calls for $65 million in cuts to higher education and $224 million in cuts to health care and human service programs.
Democrats suggest reducing distributions to local governments by $82 million, including support for criminal justice programs and the elimination of a sales tax credit for rural counties. To offset that, the state would give local governments authority to make some increases in local taxes — essentially tax increases without a public vote.
Republicans criticized what they said was the lack of reform in the budget, as well as the delay of payments to the next budget cycle.
“It continues to trouble me that we can’t just come together to work in a collaborative way to solve these problems,” said Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor. “We need real reform, where we restructure, reshape the size and scope of government.”
The House passed several amendments a day earlier, including restoring some cuts that had been made to environmental programs and supervision of violent offenders. They also approved an amendment that would prevent the deferred payment to schools if the next state revenue forecast is better than expected.
The House Democrats’ plan also counts on $18.1 million from the elimination of a tax break that out-of-state banks are able to claim on interest earned on first mortgages. The plan also accounts for nearly $54 million in fund transfers, including more than $37 million in unspent agency money being returned to the state’s general fund.
Lawmakers initially had been looking at a $2 billion budget problem but addressed some of it during a special legislative session in December. They were helped, in part, by a forecast in February that showed a slight uptick in revenue.
That came in addition to about $340 million in savings because of a drop in demand for state services, or caseloads, reducing a roughly $900 million shortfall to about $500 million.
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