Legislative Commentary: Schoesler weighs in on new financial figures, redistricting

Sept. 16, 2011 – For nearly all of my 19 years as your legislator, September has brought what are called “assembly days.” That’s when legislative committees assemble at the Capitol, usually over two or three days, to discuss actions they’ve taken and actions that are on the horizon. It’s a “preview-review” sort of meeting that is productive but not what I would call essential. The September assembly days were canceled last year to save money, and again this year – a sensible move.

Even so, there’s no shortage of news coming out of Olympia, including a story that is updated one every three months (the revenue forecast) and another story that we only see once every decade (redistricting plans). Please keep reading for the details.

Here on the farm we’re in post-harvest mode. The planting of fall canola and winter wheat is complete – we’ve got only a small patch of irrigated wheat left to plant. I spent yesterday morning on the tractor chopping canola stalks, while Mrs. Schoesler and our son Cody are starting to wean calves. Fall chores!

A(nother) negative

revenue forecast

Those of us who were involved in negotiating the state’s new two-year operating budget had to have a number to put on the revenue side of the ledger, and that number came from an independent state agency: the Office of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, headed by the state’s chief economist (a WSU graduate, Dr. Arun Raha).

Each quarter, Raha and his team put together two projections for approval by a council of statewide officials, including four legislative budget leaders. One projection has to do with the state’s economic activity, and the second – which gets far more attention – predicts how much tax revenue the state should expect to collect, based on things like monthly reports to the state revenue department.

If the revenue forecast number is higher than what we used to write the budget, it means the state is (on paper) in the black. If it’s lower, it means the amount of money going out of the treasury is on track to be more than the amount coming in, and the state is effectively in the red.

Thursday brought the third of the four quarterly revenue forecasts, and to no one’s surprise the revenue projection has fallen. The news is the size of the drop: $1.4 billion since the June forecast, which in turn was down from the March forecast used to write the new budget.

The June forecast left the state with less than $200 million in reserve, so factor in Thursday’s revenue drop and the new budget is now in the red to the tune of $1.3 billion. That’s the difference between the level of revenue anticipated and the level of spending that was adopted.

Last week, in anticipation of a negative forecast, my budget-writing colleague Sen. Joe Zarelli issued a policy paper in which he proposes an innovative approach to coming up with a response. Last month, in anticipation of a negative forecast, Gov. Gregoire directed state agencies to make plans showing how they would cut their spending by 10 percent (as reported by Washington State Wire).

Whether Sen. Zarelli’s call for a bipartisan budget-blueprint group gains support from the legislature’s majority-party leaders or not, the governor will need to decide whether to call the Legislature into a special session before January. If she does, I’m ready.

New lines for legislative, congressional districts proposed

It’s been a few months since I last reported on the effort to come up with uniformly sized legislative and congressional districts based on the 2010 census data. That’s because the state Redistricting Commission spent the summer hosting public forums across Washington.

This week the four commissioners took the next step: Each put forth a map of how he would redraw the districts, based on public input and other considerations. Their task included proposing the location of our state’s new 10th Congressional District – Washington gets to add a member of Congress because enough of the national population has shifted our way in the decade since the previous U.S. Census.

Each of the legislative caucuses chose someone to serve on the commission, as provided by our state constitution, and the Senate Republican choice was former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton. I’ve looked at his proposed legislative map and believe it does a good job of reflecting the public input with which I’m familiar.

I can’t say the same for the legislative map proposed by former House chief clerk Dean Foster, who was chosen to the redistricting commission by House Democrats. Foster’s map mysteriously shifts – about 70 miles to the north – lines that now separate the 9th Legislative District from our southern neighbor, the 16th Legislative District. As the graphic shows, the effect is to toss most of Adams County into the 16th District – “most” meaning the line is carefully drawn around Othello on the north, keeping that city in the 9th. (Whitman, Garfield, Asotin and part of Spokane County also would join the 16th District under the Foster map.)

Bouncing Ritzville into a different district seems a bit on the partisan side to me, because I would have to either leave the Senate or change my address – neither of which is an appealing option. But as I’ve told people since the maps were made public Tuesday, they are far from the final word. Foster’s map, at least, is like the numbers you see on the windshields on a car dealer’s lot – an opening position from which the real negotiations begin.

The Gorton maps won’t win out, nor will the Foster maps, nor the maps from the two House designees. In the end, three of the four commissioners must agree on one map for legislative districts and one for Congressional districts; those go to the Legislature for its approval in 2012. Experience tells us the final maps will be a blend of the proposals that are now public.

Also, the commission is meeting in Olympia on the second Tuesday of each month through Dec. 13. The meetings start at 10:30 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 of the John A. Cherberg Building on the Capitol Campus.

Labor survey is way off the mark

Last month the farm mailbox received a survey form from the state Employment Security Department – specifically, an “Apple Thinning Peak Employment Wage Survey.” For 2011, here’s what the state wants to find out from apple growers to help establish what it calls the “foreign worker minimum wage rate:”

• Orchard density type

• Rate of pay

• Paid per tree or per hour

• Number of domestic workers

• Total trees thinned

• Thinning – light, moderate or heavy

• Size of trees

• Trellised or non-trellised

• Total hours worked

• Total wages

That’s a lot of information to compile, and even if apples were one of my farm’s crops (they’re not) did the state think I had time before the Sept. 1 survey deadline to gather and ship it? But wait, it gets better. What is portrayed as a wage survey suddenly drifts away from wages into territory that doesn’t seem to be any of government’s business.

• Do you require a minimum production standard in tree thinning?

• If yes, what is it?

• Did you terminate any workers for failing to meet the standard?

• If yes, how many?

• Does your company have a dispute resolution policy for all workers?

The survey is voluntary, but as the letter notes, “responding promptly reduces follow-up costs.” That suggests I might hear from the agency again. And under this heading, which seems to acknowledge the inaccuracy of their mailing list – “What if my business doesn’t grow apples?” – is the request that I complete page 1, which simply asks for my contact information, and return it to the state using the postage-paid envelope. “It is important to hear back from all businesses, even those that do not grow apples.”

Thanks for your support

This year’s harvest wrapped up on Aug. 19, and it wasn’t a minute too soon. As focused as I was on getting the crop in, I was more concerned about my mother, Dorothy. For more than four years she had bravely battled what began as breast cancer, and then became bone cancer, but her condition worsened shortly before harvest started.

Mom knew how badly I wanted to spend more time with her, but she also knew from having farmed with my dad that the wheat couldn’t wait.

Fortunately, the weather and machinery cooperated enough for us to finish up three full days before Mom peacefully passed just as the sun was rising Aug. 23.

On the following Saturday, we laid to rest this incredible person who had such an influence on my life. Many of you have expressed your sympathy, and for that I am very grateful.