House in last dash to complete budget

DAVID AMMONS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published April 9

OLYMPIA -- As the Washington Legislature enters its endgame this week, all eyes are on the House of Representatives, where members are struggling under a dead-even split of Republicans and Democrats.

The Senate, which operates under a tiny Democratic majority, has already done most of its heavy lifting for the session, producing a $22.8 billion operating budget, a $2.5 billion construction budget and a $3.4 billion transportation budget.

The upper house also has adopted a package of transportation efficiency measures and is set to follow up this week with a regional plan for financing big-ticket highway projects in Puget Sound country and other congested regions. That is to be followed by a statewide plan for financing roads and mass transit.

But the real question is what will the House do with all these issues -- and how long will it take.

Today opens the last two weeks of the 15-week regular session. The 105-day sitting must end by Sunday night, April 22, although a special session is considered likely.

On separate tracks, separate bipartisan committees in the House are working behind the scenes to devise their own budgets and transportation packages to offer the Senate as counterproposals.

House-Senate negotiators, with advice from Gov. Gary Locke, then will iron out the kinks.

"We're on track to get something done, but the devil's always in the details, with the greatest uncertainty being the transportation package," says Rep. John Pennington, R-Carrolls, co-speaker pro tempore.

Appropriations Co-Chairmen Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor, and Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, still are trying to patch together a bipartisan operating budget. Sehlin and other Republicans have expressed reservations about the overall spending level of the Senate budget and its use of $250 million in pension reserves.

Otherwise, House reaction to the Senate budget has been rather muted.

House Co-Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, says there's nothing to the persistent rumors that House Democrats want to pull a repeat of two years ago, when they snagged the Senate Democrats' version of the budget and secured the backing of GOP mavericks and "rolled" the Republicans by passing it intact to the governor.

"It's a different budget year, with some new actors and so we're trying to pull people together," he says.

House budget leaders plan to work with Senate negotiators even while putting together a House proposal, Chopp says.

Meanwhile, House Transportation Co-Chairs Maryann Mitchell, R-Federal Way, and Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma, are trying to find common ground on the entire transportation package -- numerous efficiency bills recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation, a budget, and both regional and statewide financing packages.

"I want to dispel the notion that we are stuck," Mitchell says. "It is our normal end-of-the-session work. We're working and negotiating and making progress."

The deals may not be ready for public view until next week -- or possibly even until the new special session, Mitchell says.

Both sides will have to give, she says. Republicans will have to be willing to provide many votes to place transportation tax measures on the ballot and Democrats need to show some give on labor issues, she says.

GOP lawmakers want more projects given to private companies, want to tinker with the state's prevailing wage law, at least in rural areas, and want to avoid the use of "project labor agreements" on big-ticket projects. The labor agreements unfairly freeze out some non-union bidders, Republicans say.

One bill caught in the tug-of-war is a Senate-passed bill to give the governor direct authority over the Department of Transportation and its director. The agency now is controlled by a citizen commission, and the blue-ribbon panel said putting the department under an elected official would provide more accountability.

Other issues still pending include retooling of the state's "blanket" primary, energy bills, water legislation and an education accountability measure.

Both houses will conduct marathon floor sessions this week, since it is the final week for the House and Senate to act on each other's bills. Exceptions will be made for the budgets, transportation measures, the primary and bills that have a fiscal impact.

On the web:

Legislature (www.leg.wa.gov)

Governor Gary Locke (www.gov.wa.gov)

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