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Schoesler: Fiscal reforms needed in spite of positive revenue forecast

The Senate spent Monday and Tuesday wrapping up the voting on bills forwarded by Senate committees. As Senate Republican floor leader, and a member of the Senate Rules Committee (which has final say over which bills land on the voting calendar), I was right in the thick of that, which forced a lighter-than-usual appointment calendar.

Still, there was time this week to meet with community and business leaders from the Tri-Cities (a good amount of the Pasco area is moving into our legislative district) and a few other folks from back home. On Wednesday, the Senate committees began work on bills passed by the House of Representatives; we’ll be continuing that for the next week (plus a few more days for fiscal bills).

With 20 days to go in the regular 60-day session the perennial question – will the Legislature finish on schedule? – Is being heard more frequently. In an interview Thursday, the Senate majority budget chairman expressed an unexpected degree of confidence that it will. Whether he truly believes that, or was trying to give the House of Representatives a prod, I can’t say.

However, I do know that we won’t be working in the Senate chamber the next two days, unlike last weekend, so I’m seizing the opportunity to hit the road and get some time in on the farm. Besides, Mrs. Schoesler has been busy with calving, and I’m looking forward to seeing the latest additions to the herd!

New revenue forecast doesn’t diminish need for reforms

Thursday the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council adopted its first quarterly state revenue forecast for 2012, which predicts the state will see $96 million more revenue for 2011-13 than was anticipated in the previous forecast (in November).

Because these forecasts are quarterly we always receive a new one during a regular legislative session; that forecast is particularly important because it helps determine the size of the budget “box” we have to fill.

As a budget negotiator, I view Thursday’s forecast as a wash – although, if we’re being technical, it is the first positive forecast in about four years. I was more interested in what the state’s chief economist had to say about unemployment continuing to run high in our state, and the lack of sign that an economic recovery is on the horizon. After all, 45 percent of the additional anticipated revenue is due to a bill the Legislature passed in December, during our special session, that changes how the state liquidates unclaimed property.

To me, this only amplifies the need to pursue reforms that will make the most of the anticipated revenue, even if that irritates some of Olympia’s “sacred cows” in the process.

Washington makes the top five…when it comes to sales tax

Before the special session that began in late November, the governor proposed a tax package that would include asking voters to increase the state sales tax. While the majority hasn’t acted on that yet, last week the Senate majority budget chairman proposed a different tax package. It would also include a similar sales-tax hike along with a new capital-gains tax.

The tax talk has cooled a bit, due to the combination of Thursday’s neutral revenue forecast and a predicted savings of $340 million due to an anticipated drop in the state’s “caseload” forecast (caseloads include K-12 enrollment, the number of people on state assistance and Washington’s prison population, for example). However, the appetite for new revenue remains strong among many here at the Capitol.

Courtesy of the non-partisan, non-profit Tax Foundation, here’s something I hope the majority party reads before deciding whether to put a sales-tax hike on the ballot. Our state is mentioned, and not in a way that is good news for consumers and merchants:

Washington, D.C., February 14, 2012 – Tennessee, Arizona, Louisiana, Washington, and Oklahoma have the highest combined state and average local sales tax rates, according to a new report released today by the Tax Foundation. On the other end of the scale, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Oregon all have no state or local sales taxes, thus scoring combined rates of zero.

The states with the highest combined state and local rates are Tennessee (9.45 percent), Arizona (9.12 percent), Louisiana (8.85 percent), Washington (8.80 percent), and Oklahoma (8.66 percent). Among the states with a statewide sales tax, the lowest average combined rates are found in Hawaii (4.35 percent), Maine (5.00 percent), Virginia (5.00 percent), Wyoming, (5.34.percent), and South Dakota (5.39 percent).

Bipartisan teacher/principal evaluation bill moves forward

On Tuesday, the Senate approved a bill aimed at improving student achievement through a four-tiered teacher/principal evaluation and professional development process. It builds on an existing teacher/principal evaluation program that is being tested in one-way or another in many school districts statewide (including Othello, Pullman and Ritzville in our legislative district).

Senate Bill 5895 would make student performance data a substantial factor in evaluations. Individual school districts would determine how to use evaluations in personnel decisions, including school assignments and layoffs. Districts may make the process for using these evaluations as part of collective bargaining negotiations, but the evaluations must be a factor.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction would be responsible for developing a comprehensive training program to support implementation of the system. Professional development prior to implementing evaluations would be required of principals and administrators. (A vote by the House Education Committee on this bill was scheduled Friday).

• More affordable health-care insurance options: I voted for Senate Bill 6440, which would allow some health-insurance plans to be sold across state lines to increase choice and competition and lower costs while still keeping important consumer protections in place. The federal health-care reform act allows two or more states to enter into interstate compacts under which individual market plans can be offered. Creating this option will help small employers who are often forced to drop health-care coverage or lay off employees because of costs. The state insurance commissioner must approve all plans through interstate agreements before they can be sold in Washington. (A public hearing on SB 6440 was held on February 16 in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee.)

• Require higher-education employees to report child abuse: I was shocked by the allegations late last year that the head football coach and athletic director at Pennsylvania State University had failed to report incidences of child sexual abuse by an assistant coach. It was no surprise, then, that a bipartisan group of senators introduced Senate Bill 5991, which passed the Senate this week with my support. SB 5991 would specifically require administrative, academic, and athletic department employees, including student employees, of state and private institutions of higher education to report child abuse. Washington law already requires professionals like teachers, child-care providers and doctors to report abuse or neglect. (ESSB 5991 is now before the House of Representatives for consideration.)

• Transitional-housing pilot program for offenders: Our legislative district includes a state prison, so bills having to do with corrections tend to catch my eye. The Senate approved one this week: Senate Bill 6407, which would authorize a pilot project under the Department of Corrections to continuously provide no fewer than 50 beds in transitional re-entry housing. Studies show that offenders released from prison with access to stable transitional housing are less likely to reoffend, and it’s expected the data-tracking mechanism in the bill will help shape how the state deals with released offenders in the future. (SB 6407 is now before the House of Representatives for consideration.)

Farm-related Senate bills move forward

• Protect farmlands: I introduced legislation this year to make a practical change in the Open Spaces Taxation Act, which allows qualifying resource land to be valued at its current use rather than market value. The purpose of the program is to encourage retention of land in agricultural, forestry, or other approved open-space uses. Multiple contiguous parcels that are managed as part of a single operation and owned by members of the same family may be added together to meet certain requirements. Family farms can be handed down for generations and operated by family members other than children.

Senate Bill 5996, which was unanimously approved by the Senate, would expand the definition of family to include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, great-grandchildren, and any other relative that is a lineal descendent of an individual who has held title to the property. (I testified in support of my bill Friday before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.)

• Expand farm-internship program: In 2010, the Senate agriculture committee heard testimony that Washington is facing a crisis of aging farmers. The average age is 56, and 70 percent of farmland is expected to change hands in the next 20 years. To help bring young people into farming as a career, the Legislature established a farm-internship pilot program for San Juan and Skagit counties in 2011. This on-the-job training opportunity is exempt from minimum-wage requirements and unemployment insurance. The state Department of Labor and Industries was directed to create a special industrial-insurance risk class for farm interns.

Senate Bill 6392 would expand the farm-internship pilot program to Whatcom, Kitsap, Pierce, Jefferson, Spokane, Yakima, Chelan, Grant, Kittitas, Lincoln, and Thurston counties. (A public hearing on ESSB 6392 was scheduled Friday in the House Labor and Workforce Development Committee.)

• Make it clear that CDL not needed to haul products from farm to storage: Farmers are exempt from commercial driver’s license (CDL) requirements when they use farm vehicles to transport agricultural products, farm machinery, farm supplies, or any combination of those materials to or from a farm. The definition of a farm vehicle, applicable throughout the broader state motor-vehicle code, is limited to those vehicles only incidentally operated on public highways for the purpose of going from one farm to another.

Senate Bill 6423, approved unanimously by the Senate, would harmonize the definition of farm vehicles in the state motor-vehicle code with exemptions under the CDL. This will allow farmers to move their products to a storage facility without having to obtain a CDL. (SB 6423 was approved Thursday by the House Transportation Committee.)

Another CDL-related bill appears to have fallen short this session, however. Our state requires applicants to complete a training course that costs $5,000 and must be completed in a four-week span. A bill that would have eliminated this course requirement did not receive committee approval, apparently because the federal government is poised to require all states to add this training as a condition of obtaining a CDL.

 

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