http://www.seattlep-i.com/opinion/leged.shtml

Proof positive that a little thing like democracy will never stand in the way of the Seattle PI.

Westin

Have you emailed Rep. Fisher (fisher_ru@leg.wa.gov) to resign today?

-- Westin (jimwestin@netscape.net), January 08, 2000

Answers

Westin-

Pathetic as this editorial was, it is entirely in charachter for the PI.

Have you e-mailed your representative ant told them no means no yet? Time to privatize ferries and transit.

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), January 09, 2000.

You think calling for reasonable action to deal with 695 "pathetic"? You should read this again:

First, figure how to fill I-695 gaps

Sunday, January 9, 2000

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

One legendary teenage prank was to put a paper bag full of gooey old garbage on an unsuspecting homeowner's front porch, set the bag on fire, ring the doorbell, then hide in the bushes to watch the resident's reflexive attempt to stamp out the fire.

The voters have left a similar package smoldering on the Legislature's front porch in the form of Initiative 695. The results may be humorous but quite messy.

The 60-day "short session" of the Legislature begins tomorrow. It is an off-year session, routinely limited to minor mid-course corrections in the two-year state budget. But legislators are faced with the anything-but-routine business of trying to patch a $1.2 billion hole in that budget.

Other pressing matters of state business must be dealt with during the session, but I-695 will dominate. This is an election year. Half the seats in the Senate and all the seats in the House are up for grabs in November.

So legislators will be tempted to meekly nod to the "will of the people" supposedly represented by I-695, at the cost of the economic and constitutional stability of the state. It is there we begin our session-eve advice to elected representatives.

First, mount the necessary legal challenge to the initiative's constitutionality. I-695 didn't just strip the state's coffers. By requiring that all tax and fee increases be subject to public vote, it also stripped the Legislature of its constitutional power to raise revenue.

Both houses should approve some token tax increase -- say, a hike in the B&O tax on lawyers -- and let it become law without a public vote. Let the challenges come, and put the issue to the expedited review of the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Legislature should do what little it can to mitigate the initiative's impact on transportation, transit and local government funding for criminal justice,police and fire and public health.

Mitigation begins with equitable treatment for the state ferry system. The proposed drastic reductions in service on what is an extension of the state highway system are unacceptable.

Public health may be the easiest fix. While we have condemned suggestions to spend proceeds from the state's share of the national tobacco settlement in unrelated areas, using some of that money to shore up local public health departments is a logical move.

But there is no such easy source to tap for the other revenue losses. The I-695 fixes can come from only three sources: higher taxes, general fund reserves or cuts in general-fund expenditures in such areas as education, corrections and social services.

The Legislature should move this session to index the gasoline tax to inflation, ending erosion of the most fair and productive source of transportation revenue. Beyond that, I-695 leaves little hope of revenue increases.

Use of the budget reserves is restricted by Initiative 601's general fund spending limits. Amendments to I-601 are required before the state's savings account can be used.

Backfill the I-695 losses with spending cuts? Making up the I-695 Motor Vehicle Excise Tax revenue loss for the remaining 15 months of the biennium would take a 9 percent across-the-board cut in the state general fund, according to legislative researchers. But an across-the-board cut isn't realistic.

For example, the state can't reduce the payments on its existing debt (5 percent of general fund costs). And it's simply unacceptable to cut education spending just as K-12 reform is in full swing and when we need to produce high-quality graduates from universities and community colleges.

So avoiding cuts in debt service, K-12 and higher education, the rest of the general fund budget would have to be cut more than 24 percent.

Such drastic cuts would be foolhardy.

The Republican legislative leadership calls the passage of I-695 an "opportunity" to reopen the entire 1999-2001 budget and search for the "efficiencies" and "new priorities" necessary to plug the gaping hole that I-695 blew in state spending plans.

But from whom would these efficiencies be drawn and to whom would a lower priority be given -- the working poor, the disabled, the elderly, abused children, single mothers struggling to get off and stay off welfare?

This session can at best produce a tentative short-term attempt to repairing the longterm damage inflicted by I-695.

And there is other pressing business for the session:

Untangling the health care mess could begin with passage of a patient's bill of rights and regulatory changes to help resuscitate the individual health care insurance market. But the bill of rights must include the right to sue insurers over denied and inappropriate care. And any regulatory reform -- such as extending the waiting period for pre-existing conditions -- should be contingent on industry assurance that the individual markets in 30 counties will be reopened.

Habitual drunken drivers continue to wreak havoc, due in part to inadequate and inconsistent laws. The Legislature needs to jam the revolving door that puts repeat drunken drivers back on the roads.

All that said, the greatest -- and all too likely -- risk is that the session will dissolve into 60 days of politicking and posturing, with all the attention focused on the November election. What's at stake is the state's longterm future.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), January 09, 2000.

"All that said, the greatest -- and all too likely -- risk is that the session will dissolve into 60 days of politicking and posturing, with all the attention focused on the November election."

An excellent suggestion! Don't change anything until after the November election.

Mike

-- Mike Alworth (m_alworth@olympusnet.com), January 09, 2000.

open letter to the seattle p.i. and it's sheep.

dear p.i. and sheep

have every department in every branch of government, from the smallest library to the biggest road project, trim their budget by 2.5%. then move the funds appropriately to fill in the (minor) gaps.

richard

i know this sounds simplistic and expect considerable ridicule from the sheep that buy into the tripe spewed by the p.i. (and other liars) but rants from the ignorant don't bother me much.

does anyone have ruth fischers address? the e-mails i send to this pathetic hypocrate are simply bumped backed to me. and i am curious as to when she will resign. or is she just another pathetic liar happy to be on the public dole?

richard

-- richard (ragman88@yahoo.com), January 11, 2000.

"i am curious as to when she will resign" I note it as an oddity in the English venacular that the expressions, "FAT CHANCE," and "SLIM CHANCE," MEAN PRECISELY THE SAME THING. ;-)

ZOWIE

-- (zowie@hotmail.com), January 11, 2000.