Legislative Commentary

The 2013 legislative session wrapped up – finally – on Saturday evening. It took a lot longer than it should have to negotiate a new two-year state operating budget; then again, we (in the Senate majority) were dealing with a majority in the House of Representatives and a governor who were obsessed with the idea of raising taxes. Obsessions like that don’t go away quickly. Fortunately for taxpayers in the Ninth District and across Washington, our coalition held firm and produced a budget that has a lot to like.

As someone who believes “temporary” means just that and came out strongly in 2011 against Democrat-majority efforts to extend stadium-related taxes, I’m particularly pleased that the Senate majority helped the Legislature uphold a vow from 2010: that some $630 million in temporary taxes (a business tax on many services, and a beer tax) would expire on schedule. That happened Sunday, and while some view it as a tax cut – which it is, technically – I see it as a promise kept.

Although we have reached what’s known as the “interim” –

the period between legislative sessions – my legislative office will be open as ever.

For the first time in 27 years: no college tuition increases!

We all knew the new state budget would include a whole lot more money for basic education. What makes the new budget a real winner in my book is what it means for our state-run higher-education institutions – the community and technical colleges and Washington’s six public baccalaureate institutions.

Our Senate majority showed it would be possible to reduce tuition by three percent and still have a good, sustainable budget. The House majority and governor wanted to keep the tuition-increase trend going and had pushed for increases of up to 10 percent. I’d still have liked to see a drop in tuition, but I can live just fine with the final outcome, which is: tuition will not increase at state-run colleges and universities for the first time since 1986.

To put this in perspective, here’s what the world looked like the last time there was no tuition increase at these state higher-ed institutions. My son, who is married and became a father just before this session began, was all of 28 days old. My daughter, who is married and the mother of a three-year-old, was not quite six years old.

My mom and dad turned 50; Halley’s Comet returned for the first time since 1910; the town of Carmel, Calif., elected Clint Eastwood as mayor; the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred; the space shuttle Challenger exploded; the movie “Top Gun” premiered; and a gallon of gas cost 89 cents.

Reaction to the new no-tuition-increase budget (which is also a no-new-general-taxes budget) was quick and positive. Elson Floyd, Washington State University president and a voice of reason when it came to the debate over higher-ed funding, said the new spending plan had been “worth the wait.” Here’s part of his response:

“There are many positive aspects to the higher education budget for the next two years. By far, the most encouraging part is the recognition that we cannot continue to fund higher education on the backs of our students. Moving into the biennium with absolutely no increase in student tuition – and just as importantly, replacing the revenue that an increase would have generated with state dollars – marks a renewed commitment to keeping higher education affordable and accessible. It provides welcomed relief to students and their families.”

President Floyd also announced the WSU regents would meet Monday to rescind the two percent tuition hike that had already been authorized for the 2013-14 academic year – and that the university would “seek no further increase in tuition funding at this time.”

Marty Brown, the former state budget-office director who is now executive director of our state’s community and technical colleges, offered this praise:

“The Legislature took a great step forward for Washington’s economy by protecting students from tuition increases through investments in public colleges and universities. Our 34 community and technical colleges will pay back this investment many times over by providing the real-world training and education students need and employers demand. As the economy continues to rebound, we urge lawmakers to continue this positive momentum. All Washingtonians benefit when graduates bring their skills and purchasing power to our shared economy.”

Back in 2007 I’d managed to get the Legislature to agree on a seven percent cap on tuition increases. That felt pretty good, so naturally it stung when the next Legislature jettisoned the cap in 2009, enabling big double-digit jumps in tuition. The fact that this Legislature held the line on tuition costs, at the insistence of those of us in the Senate majority, has put things right again.

New budget good for education, bad for those wanting big tax hikes

Just days before the 2012 legislative session began, the state Supreme Court ruled –

in the case of McCleary v. State of Washington – that state government wasn’t upholding its constitutional duty to provide for our public-school system. Because the state budgets cover two years at a time, last year’s Legislature was in no position to suddenly pour more money into K-12 education, so it was clear the task of responding to the McCleary decision would fall to lawmakers in 2013.

Sure enough, our Senate majority responded. The new operating budget I helped negotiate over many weeks (and helped pass Friday) includes a billion dollars extra for K-12 education, just to address the McCleary ruling. Even better, it didn’t take some corresponding billion-dollar tax increase to do that – contrary to what the House majority and governor had argued.

Here, then are the final numbers:

$15.2 billion: Total state K-12 investment level in 2013-15 budget

$1.6 billion: Increase in state K-12 funding over 2011-13 biennium

$1 billion: New investments in K-12 directly applicable to McCleary decision

11%: Increase in state K-12 support over current budget

The fact that we could boost K-12 funding without big tax increases is something to keep in mind in coming years, should anyone ever try to claim this or that proposed tax increase is “for the kids.” If providing for basic education is the state’s top priority under Washington’s constitution (and it is) then there should never be reason to hitch education funding to a tax hike.

Last-minute effort to raise gas tax falls flat in Senate

It took the House majority all of the regular legislative session (105 days) plus a special session (30 days) plus more than half of another special session (16 days) to push a proposed gas-tax hike through. Even then it squeaked through with just 51 votes of support – one more than the simple majority required now that the law requiring a two-thirds majority for tax increases is no more.


I like good, safe roads as much as everyone else, but that’s not what the gas-tax hike and associated transportation project list were all about. Out in our part of Washington we’re not going to see much benefit from bicycle paths or pedestrian paths or, in particular, an extension of light rail from Portland across the Columbia into Vancouver. The state Department of Transportation – and by that I mean the bureaucrats in Olympia, not the men and women who handle all the vital maintenance duties – would be wise to first regain the public trust lost by sloppy work on new concrete bridge pontoons, for instance.


The Legislature had already adopted a new transportation budget for 2013-15, back on April 28, and we did so without any change in the gas tax. This package, with its 10 ½-cent hike in the gas tax (which would be in two installments, across a little more than a year!) would have been on top of that, meaning voting on it was optional from the get-go. There are times that no plan is preferable to a bad plan, which is why the Senate chose not to even consider the plan that came from the House majority with the governor’s blessing.