Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed a $2 billion all-cuts rewrite of the ailing state budget, along with a plan to ask the voters to OK a three-year state sales tax hike of a half-cent to head off some of the cuts. The Democratic governor said the Legislature already has slashed the state budget by $10 billion in the past three years, “shredding” the state safety net and whacking K-12, higher education and other areas. She said her latest list of…
The state Revenue Forecast Council had some more bad news for Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature: The latest forecast is down another $122 million. The governor already has called an emergency session of the Legislature, beginning Nov. 28, to begin the difficult task of dealing with a budget shortfall now in the $2 billion range, including a deficit now projected at $1.4 billion plus sufficient reserves to tap if the spiral continues. Gregoire’s budget director, Marty Brown, said:…
Temple of Justice, home of the State Supreme Court Gov. Chris Gregoire has chosen a successor to retiring Justice Gerry Alexander: veteran King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who came from an immigrant family with Mexican and Eastern European roots and was first named to the King County bench by Gov. Gary Locke, becomes the high court’s lone minority justice. Gregoire, who praised his intellect and broad legal skills, also noted his gift for learning foreign languages and…
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, responding to the state’s continuing economic woes and a huge state budget deficit, is proposing a laundry list of deep spending cuts across all areas of state government. At a televised news conference at the Capitol, she laid out ideas totaling over $3.8 billion and endorsed nearly $1.7 billion of those for the budget rewrite she’ll release in November. The governor officially issued a call for an unusual November-December emergency session of the Legislature to adopt…
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has called the Legislature into emergency special session, beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving, to deal with a gaping $2 billion hole in the two-year state operating budget. The decision, which will trigger a session that can last for up to 30 days, was expected, following a dire new revenue projection that knocked another $1.4 billion hole in the budget. If the Legislature doesn’t raid the “rainy day” fund and provide additional reserves, the problem becomes about…
Economic recovery seems “like a mirage in the desert” and Washington’s economic forecast has been chopped by another $1.4 billion. Will there be a special session of the Legislature? The grim news came at a meeting at the Capitol of the bipartisan Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. House budget chief Ross Hunter said lawmakers now face the the prospect of slicing perhaps $2 billion out of a $30 billion budget that has been repeatedly “scrubbed” during the Great Recession. State…
Washington’s chief economist, Arun Raha, had hoped we’d be pulling out of our economic doldrums by now, but he says tax collections are sliding backward and he has a “sinking feeling of pessimism” about a possible new recession. In a grim economic and revenue update released Thursday, Raha said the national outlook has “weakened significantly” in the weeks since his June forecast. He said that forecast assumed improvement would begin in July and then accelerate. But in Washington state, taxes…
Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives For Seahawks fans in Secretary Reed’s office and elsewhere, news spread quickly that longtime quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is leaving the Seattle Seahawks after 10 seasons. Sounds like he’ll play with the Tennessee Titans this year. Hasselbeck’s crowning moment with the Seahawks came in 2005 when he helped lead the team to a franchise-best 13-3 record and a Super Bowl appearance against the Steelers. Of course, we won’t mention (terrible) how that game (calls) turned…
Less than 24 hours after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a budget that fixed a $5 billion spending gap by cutting salaries and the budgets of nearly every state agency, a new revenue update brought more bad news. A new projection of a $183 million downturn in the next two years, combined with the Legislature’s reliance on one-time fixes like a tax-amnesty windfall and fund grabs, leaves the state roughly $572 million lower than previously expected, state budget Director Marty Brown…
Washington lawmakers are heading back to their home districts after completing a brutal recession-era 135-day session. Budget cutbacks, including salaries of state employees and teachers and budgets of virtually every area of government, were the rule of the day as lawmakers grappled with a budget gap of billions. Cuts and freezes totaling $4.6 billion will affect K-12, higher education, “safety net” programs, and a variety of state services, from parks to prisons. The $32 billion two-year budget takes effect July…