Responding to the real needs of citizens

The Legislature made increased investments over the years because both the needs and the numbers of Washingtonians have increased. 

The Seattle Times editorialized recently that state spending should match the revenues at hand.  And during the years that Senate Democrats have been in the majority, we’ve agreed.

That’s why we invested in the kind of outcomes Washington families want and expect in their communities in critical areas such as schools, health care and safe neighborhoods. It’s worth noting that these investments included restoring funding cut significantly in previous budgets, reflecting population growth and inflation costs, and backfilling federal funds cut by the Bush administration.

It’s also worth noting that our state’s population has increased by nearly a million people over the past 10 years.

Even still, state spending per capita declined during that period, and so did revenues per capita, as did state spending relative to the state’s economy. In other words, we didn’t spend any more money per person than we did 10 years ago; we spent more money overall because we have more people.

There are plenty who say, despite these facts, that the state’s continuing budget shorftfall after the nearly $4 billion in cuts made to services last year proves that Legislature has a spending problem.

They say it despite the fact that revenues actually went down in fiscal year 2009 for the first time in years, and despite the fact that Washington's three largest quarterly declines in taxable retail sales on record all came in calendar year 2009 (before data for the fourth quarter is even available).

It could be that this is evidence of a revenue problem, not a spending problem. In either event, those who say we’ve overspent have yet to specify which investments they’d cut.

Here’s a look at the kind of investments we made starting in 2005 that we believe we cannot afford to keep cutting:

Nearly half of increased investments have gone toward education and higher education – including smaller class sizes, learning assistance for low-income schools, levy equalization for property-poor districts, special education programs, free and reduced breakfast and lunch, extra assistance for kids not on track to graduate, early learning programs, all day kindergarten, more than 20,000 additional slots at our colleges and universities, broader eligibility for state financial aid, more college scholarships, and fair and adequate teacher pay. Does this mean Washington is too educated?

Would kids and parents, teachers and administrators say that we’ve overspent on education and that they have all they need? Or would they say there’s still much more we should do – especially in the light of the 20,000 more Washington kids in school this year than in 2004-2005?

Nearly twenty percent of increased investments have gone toward health care – including covering more adults on the Basic Health Plan, adult dental care, public health clinics, Medicare prescription drug co-pays, Apple Health for Kids to cover all children by 2010, childhood immunizations, adult family homes and home care, nursing home support, the WIC Farmers’ Market nutrition program, and mental health treatment, prevention and integration programs. Does this mean Washington is too healthy?  

Would public health officials, community doctors, and families struggling to get a handle on health care costs say we’ve overspent on health care and that they have all they need? Would seniors, or adults and children with disabilities? Or would they say there’s still much more we should do – especially in light of 121,000 more per month who currently rely on the state for medical assistance than did in 2004, and the 350,000 more people who became uninsured in our state since then?

Nearly ten percent of increased investments have gone toward keeping our neighborhoods safe – including sex offender address verification, additional law enforcement  academies, meth prevention efforts, juvenile rehabilitation, domestic violence grants, crime victim services, intergrated mental health and substance abuse treatment, offender re-entry protections, and parole services. Does this mean Washington is too safe?

Would local sheriffs, police officers, judges and prosecutors say we’ve overspent on criminal justice and that they have all they need? Or would they say there’s still much more we should do –especially in light of the 2,500 more inmates currently confined each month than were confined in 2004, at an average cost of $9,600 more per inmate a year?

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt recently said: “The policy that’s implemented, we don’t have a problem with that policy at all. Very, very good policy. We believe in the quality of life, we believe in educating kids, we believe in people going to school-- it’s only a matter of how do you pay for it.”

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown recently said: “Whether state government is larger than it once was or smaller, or whether it is bigger than Idaho or smaller than Wisconsin, the ultimate question is one of democracy, not economics.”

Good budgeting and good governing reflect and respond to the real needs of the citizens we represent, which grow and develop and change over time.

That’s what majority lawmakers have done and that’s what we’ll continue to do.