A thirst for water, trust and compromise at state Capitol
Washingtonians have many reasons to be glad this isn’t a state election year. But if it were, at least there would be a silver lining: Legislators would be busy doorbelling and raising campaign cash, not continuing to butt heads week after week in Olympia.
The record-length 2017 Legislature is like an errant winter patch of gray hanging over our glorious midsummer days. But the cloud might finally disappear Thursday when the clock runs out on special session No. 3.
We hope goodwill prevails and they get the last pieces of business done, even if they must work night and day. That’s what they did before Gov. Jay Inslee signed a two-year, $43.7 billion operating budget just ahead of a midnight July 1 deadline.
Word came down Wednesday that they’ve reached tentative agreement on a $4 billion capital budget, which pays for school buildings, state park repairs, community mental health beds and scores of other infrastructure projects.
It’s about time. Democrats and Republicans in the House overwhelmingly passed the capital budget already. Republicans who control the Senate should stop holding it hostage and do the same.
What’s taking so long? Rural property owners have replaced school children as the cause celebre for negotiators locked behind closed doors.
In both cases, legislators were compelled to act by state Supreme Court rulings. They finally settled on a way to fix unconstitutional school-funding inequities highlighted in the 2012 McCleary decision. But they can’t agree how to help small landowners left high and dry by a water ruling the court issued last year, known as the Hirst (sounds like “thirst”) decision.
Nobody gets a free pass for this impasse.
Senate Republicans aim to do right by rural folks who want to develop their land but can’t drill wells. That’s because the court, in deference to the state Growth Management Act, threw the permitting responsibility to individual counties.
Before the court’s 6-3 ruling, the state Department of Ecology had an orderly way of managing competing water rights and instream flows. Now counties are stuck doing studies they don’t have money or expertise to do.
Property rights are well worth upholding. Owners deprived of a water source have watched their land values sink, which also affects county tax collections. They’re justifiably demanding a solution.
But the GOP’s use of the capital budget as leverage causes too much collateral damage all over the state — urban, rural and everywhere between. In Pierce County alone, the budget includes money for Western State Hospital security measures, the Mount Rainier lahar early-warning system, McChord Airfield clear zone expansion, and much more. A Tacoma Community College administrator says funds are on hold for “leaking roofs, plumbing repairs, structural fixes, new lighting.”
It took five years for legislators to deal with the McCleary school order in a meaningful way. The notion that they could resolve the Hirst mess, and navigate the complexities of century-old water law, in a session dominated by school funding seems overly ambitious.
Democrats also deserve some blame for diminished trust that has stymied action in Olympia. Republicans point to Inslee’s veto of a manufacturing tax break for rural and other job-hungry communities, who sought a benefit on par with what Boeing already receives.
We get why Inslee killed the B&O tax relief; it was negotiated in secret with little public accountability. It’s fair for the executive branch to use its checks and balances at such times.
But an unsportsmanlike conduct foul could be called on 23 House Democrats who wrote a letter urging Inslee to veto that section of the budget deal. End-of session agreements rely on give-and-take. That means swallowing unpalatable compromises, like the GOP did by agreeing to tax more online retail sales and repeal some tax exemptions.
Small wonder they’re feeling burned now.
We’d like to see all sides come together by Thursday and set the contours of a Hirst compromise, then come back next year and pass it. They could take the McCleary approach, asking a bipartisan team to work in the off-session. Meeting with tribes and other stakeholders would be wise. Taking public input at town hall meetings also could prove helpful.
But for now, they should pass the capital budget, go home and enjoy what’s left of this glorious summer.
This story was originally published July 19, 2017 at 3:54 PM with the headline "A thirst for water, trust and compromise at state Capitol."