Senator Schoesler's Perspective

July 27, 2011 – There are times when the language we hear in news reports about the president and Congress sounds very familiar.

The debt-ceiling debate, for instance, has people talking about the debt limit and more revenue versus spending cuts and “shared sacrifice.”

All those words and concepts were in abundance during the 2011 legislative session; even the idea of taxing private jet owners, floated by members of Olympia’s majority party in late February, has been brought up lately in Washington, D.C.

Fortunately, all those discussions were put on hold about two months ago, when the Legislature wrapped up its work. Since then I’ve been able to stick pretty close to the farm, as my citizen-legislator work typically slows during the interim between sessions.

Still, there are still times to add the senator hat to the farmer hat.

Last month that included the WSU Field Day in Lind and the opening of the new Monsanto corn breeding station in Othello; earlier this month I ventured to Pullman, for an annual favorite: Field Day at WSU’s Spillman Agronomy Farm.

Also, the first week of this month brought a follow-up interview with the reporter from The New York Times I’d spoken with at the Capitol in May.

This time, at my suggestion, we met at Casuela’s Grill in downtown Ritzville; the interviews served as the foundation for his report on rural lawmakers.

Last week I was back in Olympia for the first time since the Legislature adjourned, for a meeting of the Select Committee on Pension Policy that I head. But as a member of the leadership team and budget team for the Senate Republican Caucus, I make sure to keep up on other happenings here. Several things are worth sharing, so please keep reading.

The calendar says it’s summer, but only lately did I start thinking we might be back on track for harvest. I hope your summer is going well!

Latest revenue forecast not encouraging

The state’s chief economist submits a revenue forecast each quarter. The forecasts are closely watched because of what they portend for the state budget. It’s similar to the projections of sales or earnings we see in the private sector.

The second forecast of each year always comes out in June; this year it was June 16, the day after the governor signed the new two-year operating budget. I didn’t expect the new forecast to be positive considering the state’s March, April and May revenue collections came in way below what was expected. It wasn’t.

Here’s what the forecast means in bottom-line terms, The budget we passed in May for the next two years left a reserve of $735 million between the unrestricted ending fund balance and the rainy-day fund. The June 16 forecast has revenue falling enough to knock that reserve down to $163 million.

It isn’t time to hit the panic button, but unless the revenue picture improves later this year (as indicated in the September and November forecasts) the Legislature will need to enter the 2012 session with an eye on more belt-tightening.

New operating budget takes effect

The operating budget signed by the governor June 16 took effect July 1. It allocates funding for most state agencies over the next two years.

Governors can veto parts of a budget, and I’ve seen that many times in 19 years. This year was no different.

Curiously, the governor’s statement doesn’t mention how this is the first budget since 1997 to spend less than anticipated revenue – which to me was among its most important qualities. And in light of the state’s continuing economic uncertainty, as reflected in the June revenue forecast, it’s a good thing I and others insisted (successfully) that the budget package contain policy reforms that will save money going forward.

Stormwater tax/fee update

Rep. Fagan, Rep. Schmick and I recently stepped up our action related to how the Department of Ecology’s interpretation of the federal Clean Water Act is affecting taxpayers in Clarkston, Asotin, Pullman and Asotin County.

So long, unnecessary initiative

Two months ago, during the first part of the 2011 special session, Governor Gregoire signed my bill concerning new hen-housing standards for egg producers – which, as I explained at the time, also was the subject of an initiative being pushed by the Humane Society of the United States.

Earlier this month the group behind that initiative announced it would not submit its signature petitions for certification, which is the final step in qualifying an initiative for the ballot. Considering it costs money to have the secretary of state’s office to check the validity of petition signatures, and more money for the printing of the initiative text in the state voters’ pamphlet this fall, the decision to drop Initiative 1130 will benefit taxpayers.

According to an Associated Press report, that decision was driven by a “national agreement between the industry and animal welfare groups.”

We’ll never know whether enough signatures were collected to place the measure on the ballot. But I have to wonder if the organizers didn’t also recognize they might have trouble responding to suggestions – for instance, from those in charge of election endorsements at our state’s newspapers – that the Legislature’s passage of my bill had made their initiative unnecessary.

No grand opening for data center – too much ‘controversy’

Last week state employees were moving into a new state office building right smack along the main road between Interstate 5 and the Capitol. Along with what the local paper calls a “sleek, stone-clad” six-story building is a new data center complex that will house state government’s Internet servers and other technology equipment.

The cost of this project is widely reported as $255 million, but that’s only the state’s share of the 30-year lease-to-own deal. Throw in other costs like the cost of financing and the higher cost to rent space in the building ($44/sq.ft.) and the figure balloons to at least $305 million.

Beyond the exorbitant cost of the buildings themselves are the very valid questions about the data center’s location – when Microsoft needed a new data center, it chose Quincy – and its size. Because of how the project was developed, the state is prohibited from renting out more than 10 percent of the space for private, for-profit use, so we’ll see just how many square feet will be used for their intended purpose.

Then there’s the fact that the developer agreed, voluntarily, to go along with the state’s art-in-public-places law, which requires one-half of one percent of a public construction project’s budget to be spent on artwork for that project. Because it’s a lease-to-own deal, the public-art law doesn’t apply to the new data center complex – yet by my math, $1.2 million will be spent on artwork for these buildings. Does anyone believe the developer will pick up that cost rather than let the taxpayers cover it over the next 30 years?

It will, according to the state Department of Information Services’ legislative liaison, take a couple of months to get everyone moved into the new building. He also noted in an e-mail to one of my colleagues (as the heading of this section indicates) that “there will not be a grand opening nor ribbon cutting because of the controversy around the new office building and data center.”

That may be the first smart decision made about this project!

Majority of new laws took effect Friday

New laws typically go into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session during which they were adopted. The exception is bills that contain an emergency clause (they take effect as soon as they’re signed by the governor; one of this year’s examples is the legislation that tightens up the state’s “disability lifeline” welfare program).

Because the regular session ended April 22, the majority of the 444 measures adopted during the regular session took effect this past Friday.

They range from a change to the law concerning the use of firearm noise suppressors and what amounts to a ban on television viewing by drivers to the bill that accelerates the demise of the state’s only coal-fired power plant and a measure concerning use of Columbia Basin Project water (I’d introduced identical legislation in the Senate, but the House bill ultimately moved ahead in the lawmaking process).