WASHINGTON’S FUTURE: BUST
OR BOOM?
By
Dr. Jimmie R.
Applegate
The
Washington State Legislature was gaveled to order on January 9, 2012 to begin a
60 calendar day session that is scheduled to end March 8, 2012. As I write this 23 days, or more than one-third,
of the session has passed without overt consideration given to the major
problems facing the legislators. To be
fair, perhaps more is going on behind closed doors than I am aware of. I certainly hope so.
The
first third of the session has been devoted to general “legislating”. The 9th and 10th
Congressional Districts were gerrymandered by racial profile to create a
majority-minority district. And the 15th
Legislative District likewise was racially gerrymandered to create a majority-minority
district. The Legislature had an
opportunity to correct such profiling but did not do so. Instead Hearings have been convened on HB2612
and SB6318 to “push” cities, counties and school districts to switch from at
large to district elections in areas of large minority groups. HB2568 to prohibit the mandatory use of
E-Verify to verify the immigration status of potential employees is under
consideration. And Hearings, discussions
and negotiations of HB2516 and SB6239 are underway to permit same sex marriage
vows in Washington.
As
important as these issues are to some, one third of the session has been
completed without public action taken on the major problems confronting the
state. Among them are those caused
primarily by gang members or “gang wannabes”.
Drive by shootings, street shootings, car-jackings and home invasions
are out-of-control in many cities and other parts of the state. The drug cartel warfare in Mexico is the
Godfather of the gang warfare in Washington.
Law abiding citizens are purchasing concealed weapons permits in ever increasing
numbers. Legislative action must be
taken on critical issues sooner rather than later.
The
Washington State Supreme Court recently ruled that Washington is not meeting
the challenge of funding education as a primary responsibility of the state as
written in Article lX, Section 1 Preamble, of the Washington State Constitution
thus: “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the
education of all children residing within its borders….”. Two professors from the University of
Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education recently described the status of
higher education in Washington as suffering from a “leadership vacuum”. (Finney, Joan and Perna, Laura, “State Policy
Leadership Vacuum Performance and Policy in Washington Higher Education”,
Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, January, 2012). In a later interview with the Associated
Press, Finney said, “The citizens really should demand better from their
elected officials”. For example, 10
years ago higher education students paid 20% of tuition costs. Now they pay 70% and it is climbing.
Instead
of acting on these, and other critical problems, legislators have received I-502
to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for consideration. However they also are considering an
anti-gang bill (HB2594) with the provision to allow courts to appoint an
attorney for those suspected of being gang members who want to contest the
charges against them. HB2432 provides $6
million for gang prevention grants. If
suspected gang members are provided court appointed attorneys, consider the
potential log jam in the courts. You saw
it here first, but I won’t say I told you so.
I
saved the worst example of apparent legislative dereliction of responsibility
for last. The economies of the United
States and Washington are struggling to recover from the Great Recession. As of January 27, 2012 the total debt per US
citizen was $180,634 and the total debt per family was $683,692 while savings
per family amounted to a mere $4,608.
Not to be outdone, the Washington State Debt Clock shows a total debt of
$67,804,087,250 with a total revenue of $57,456,932,000. As a result of the state’s economic problems Fitch,
one of three major companies that rate debt, changed Washington’s rating from
“stable” to “negative”. Washington is
facing a shortfall of $1.5 billion in the 2011-13 budget. Washington has had a budget shortfall four
years in a row and the state’s debt according to Fitch is “well above average”
debt levels for individual states. But
wait, there is more! Two public
employees and teacher’s pension plans (PERS and TRS1) are closed but
underfunded with an actuarial liability of $4.7 billion.
And
the legislators continue twiddling their thumbs as they have for one-third of
the session in Olympia. Should this
“twiddling” continue until March 8, the next step will be for the governor to
call a special session because primary legislative responsibilities were not
met during the regular session.
Washington
is long past the point where playing financial games and using slight of hand
maneuvers to correct budget problems is acceptable. Legislators must reduce expenditures by meaningful
real time action. No more fudging by
shuffling funds around, delaying payments by the month or year or calling funds
not appropriated or spent by delaying the implementation of programs “dollars
saved” as is common practice in Olympia speak.
Legislators must handle the state’s budget the way most citizens handle
their personal family budgets by not spending more than they have available. They must recognize that Washington has a
spending problem and they must cut spending, as distasteful as that may be,
until the revenue picture improves. As
Finney said, “The citizens really should demand better from their elected
officials”.
I
can empathize with the Oysters in “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis
Carroll. The Oysters put their trust in
the glad and glorious greetings comments of “all is well” by the Walrus and the
Carpenter who convinced them that life was good. But here is what happened to those Oysters
who believed that all is well.
"I weep for you," the
Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.
"O Oysters," said the
Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.
We can gnash our teeth and wail all we want, but if action is not taken, and
taken now, to reduce the debt by controlling spending due to the deceit of
desires, we will have consumed the economic future of our children and
grandchildren to satisfy our unbridled indulgence in and demand for ever more governmental
largesse. Wailing, gnashing of teeth and
running for the proverbial pitchforks be damned!
