Free Republic

Did you get your free season tickets to the new Sonics and NASCAR stadiums? Well if all goes as planned in the legislature this year, you should. That’s right folks, looks like the NBA and NASCAR aren’t making enough to pay for their own facilities so lawmakers are asking taxpayers to foot the bill...Public funding for private sports facilities is all the rage in Olympia these days. The millions of dollars taxpayers put into Qwest and Safeco fields are already forgotten and have taken a back seat to new private sports facility proposals. Lawmakers are considering two major bills this...

Documents of “no legitimate concern to the public.” OLYMPIA—On February 8, 2007, seven unions filed a complaint in King County Superior Court to prevent the state from releasing documents made and exchanged between the state and unions during collective bargaining agreement negotiations last year. The case has been assigned to Judge Hilyer, and has been noted for hearing on Friday, March 9, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. In 2006, the state’s Labor Relations Office (LRO) negotiated 22 contracts with unions representing state employees. These contracts will cost the state more than a half-billion dollars. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation filed a public...

Kitsap County has managed to survive without a NASCAR racetrack since – well, at least as far back as dinosaurs were munching on its greenery. So why is it suddenly an “emergency” to start creating a track there for stock cars festooned with Budweiser and Cheerios trademarks? Likewise, Washington’s initiative process hasn’t been notorious for fraud since it was adopted 95 years ago. Why is it an “emergency” to require signature gatherers to certify their petitions under oath? These are two instances – from the current legislative session – of lawmakers’ self-serving tendency to slap emergency clauses on measures that...

Have you ever notice the pleasure children receive when delving into one of the numerous “Where’s Waldo” books? Though attempts to find Waldo are good-hearted fun, taxpayer’s attempt to find leadership in the midst of hundreds of millions of dollars of state legal violations is a more troubling endeavor. When it comes to Governor Gregoire and the state’s seemingly perpetual Medicaid audit problems, the search for executive leadership evokes the frustrating question, “Where’s Gregoire?” Consider the fact that once again the state auditor has identified multiple problems with the state’s Medicaid program, yet to date, the governor has been silent...

OLYMPIA -- The state's largest teachers union is pushing legislation that would, in effect, allow unions to spend fees paid by nonmembers on political campaigns without first getting permission. The bills, drafted by the Washington Education Association (WEA) and other labor groups, were introduced Wednesday in the House and Senate by a handful of Democratic lawmakers. Union leaders say they are merely trying to clarify a confusing statute. But critics said the union is attempting an end-run on the U.S. Supreme Court, which is currently reviewing the constitutionality of a Washington law that required unions to get permission before spending...

Emergency clause again used to protect controversial bills By Jonathan Bechtle In the past, the legislature has used emergency clauses to avoid public votes on controversial bills, and this year is no exception. This week lawmakers attached emergency clauses to a bill that would fund a NASCAR racetrack in Kitsap County and a bill that would circumvent a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on teachers’ constitutional rights. Too bad if citizens don’t agree with the measures; if passed, the attached emergency clauses preclude a referendum vote. An emergency clause serves two purposes: 1) bills adopted take effect immediately, and 2)...

Bills dropped to circumvent pending U.S. Supreme Court decisionOLYMPIA—Apparently anticipating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the Washington Education Association (WEA), lawmakers in the House and Senate today introduced bills (House Bill 2079 and Senate Bill 5921) that would gut a section of Initiative 134, passed by 72 percent of voters in 1992. The sponsors attached an emergency clause to both bills, which would allow the bills to take effect immediately, while denying the people their constitutional right of referendum, due to the purported emergency. RCW 42.17.760, the section amended by these bills, requires unions to get permission from non-members...

By Jonathan Williams and Jason Mercier This column originally ran in the Columbian on February 2. It is reprinted with permission. Usually when lawmakers sponsor tax relief proposals, we’d be first in line to congratulate them. It’s not often, after all, government officials remember it’s not their money they’re spending; families should be given every opportunity to keep more of their hard-earned dollars. That said, Washingtonians would be wise to pay close attention to this year’s legislative support for a limited sales tax “holiday” each year around the beginning of the school year. According to Rep. Moeller, sponsor of the...

In December, Governor Christine Gregoire introduced her 2007-09 spending plan for the state. Her proposal serves as the template for the House budget proposal due later this month. Including the Operating, Capital and Transportation budgets, the governor proposes more than $70 billion in spending (all funds). The state's General Fund (GFS) accounts for $29.9 billion of this total, which represents a 9.7 percent increase over the current GFS budget (excluding proposed $332 million 2007 supplemental budget). This proposal exceeds the November revenue forecast by $409 million, resulting in projected deficits for future biennia. The proposal relies on one-time available funding...

Washington is continually implementing new measures to hold state government accountable. Independent performance audits, for example, were authorized by citizens in 2005 as a way to measure performance of state spending and activities. In addition, Governor Gregoire's Government Management, Accountability and Performance (GMAP) initiative and her recent sponsorship of a presentation on charter agencies demonstrates willingness on the executive's part to see a more accountable and effective state government. Implementing a state False Claims Act (FCA), which empowers private citizens with evidence of fraud against the government to sue on the government's behalf, is a logical next step toward more...

Chairwoman Sommers, committee members, good afternoon. My name is Jason Mercier and I am Director of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Economic Policy Center. I'd like to thank Rep. Alexander for the invitation to appear before you today concerning the proposed emergency reserve bills. It is very encouraging to see the legislature seriously considering constitutional protections for a much needed "rainy-day" reserve. There are many similarities between the proposals before you. They all require that a set amount be deposited each year into the account. Each also grants legislators the ability to access the account with a simple-majority vote if economic...

Intent Section—The Legislature finds that public participation in the legislative process improves the quality of proposed legislation by allowing the opportunity for its detailed review by interested parties. The opportunity for a detailed review by the public prior to hearings or votes on legislation helps increase public trust in government and enhances respect for the Legislature by ensuring that its operation is conducted with the openness, order, and dignity befitting Washington state. It is the intent of the Legislature, therefore, to prohibit hearings or votes on appropriation and/or revenue related bills until 72 hours after the bill’s public introduction ....

A critical element in establishing accountability for any government agency is to allow an outside entity with no stake in the outcome to independently evaluate agency activities. In Washington, one of those entities is the State Auditor's Office (SAO). If, however, the SAO or other oversight entity, such as the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee (JLARC), is not allowed access to information, they are inhibited from exercising the oversight taxpayers expect. This is exactly what happened to the State Auditor's Office (SAO) in 2004, when the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) deliberately withheld or delayed information needed to...

Parents, wake up. Your children need you to act. Grandparents, listen closely. Your legacy is in jeopardy. Like a malevolent birthright, each child and young person alive today will see dramatically higher taxes coupled with massive cuts in services in order to fund programs for which they did not vote or have representation. Today, our federal debt and future unfunded commitments for things such as Social Security and Medicare breaks down to $435,000 per American household, while the average income tops out at $46,000 - a 9-to-1 debt to income ratio. Taxes at all levels of government already consume a...

Intent Section—The Legislature finds that taxpayers should be able to easily access the details on how the state is spending their tax dollars and what performance results are achieved for those expenditures. It is the intent of the Legislature, therefore, to direct the Office of Financial Management to create and maintain a searchable budget database website detailing where, for what purpose and what results are achieved for all taxpayer investments in state government. additional details: http://www.effwa.org/pdfs/googlebudget.PDF

Local jurisdictions in Washington have dabbled in the past with public financing for campaigns, but now Governor Gregoire is proposing to implement such a program on a statewide scale, in supreme and appellate court races. She’s set aside $4.4 million in her 2007-09 budget for a pilot program of public financing, citing concerns over public perception of the judiciary’s integrity. Several bills have already been introduced in the legislature to implement her plan. Public financing, however, puts the government in the role of running campaigns—deciding who is a viable candidate and what campaign speech is acceptable. In a free-market economy,...

Only a week into the 2007 legislative session and already taxpayers are facing conflicting budget information. On the one hand we hear from Governor Gregoire that Olympia is sitting on nearly a $2 billion surplus and years of pent-up spending priorities to fund. On the other hand fiscal conservatives and the Governor's own budget office project that if adopted, Gregoire's budget would throw the state back into deficits as soon as next biennium. Who is right? Unsurprisingly, the answer depends on your worldview. These conflicting worldviews, however, could easily by harmonized if lawmakers would commit to getting the state off...

It is very encouraging to see Governor Christine Gregoire embrace Sen. Joe Zarelli's proposal for a constitutional amendment creating a protected "rainy-day" account. There are many similarities between the governor's proposal and Zarelli's. Both build towards a ten percent emergency reserve by requiring "an amount equal to one percent" of general-state revenues be transferred to the protected account each year. Both allow the rainy-day account to be accessed with a simple-majority vote of legislators if economic growth is forecasted to be less than one percent. Both also allow the account to be accessed at any time with a three-fifths vote...

It's baaaack!!!! For over a decade, the Washington State Legislature has discussed changing the state constitution to allow school levies and bonds to be approved by a simple majority of votes (over 50 percent). The existing law requires a supermajority - 60 percent approval, along with a 40 percent turn-out of votes in the previous general election. Such a change requires that 2/3 of both houses of the State Legislature approve it, followed by a majority of the vote of the people. Discussions are underway to pass a bill through the legislature to achieve this. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown,...

With Gov. Chris Gregoire introducing her 2007-09 spending plan for the state last month, taxpayers may be wondering what $70 billion in government spending will buy. For the curious, you’ll need to read through the hundred-plus pages of the state operating, capital and transportation budgets while wading through numerous state Web sites and publications to learn the details. There is, however, an easier, more transparent way: a searchable budget database modeled after a recent federal reform. Recognizing the need to be accountable to Americans for the nearly $1 trillion in discretionary spending the federal government allocates each year, President Bush...