Few people in Washington actually read the entire state budget cover-to-cover. Unfortunately that's also true for the very legislators who vote on it. Most rank-and-file members of the legislature just read the summaries and take their cues from caucus leadership. A shrinking capitol press corps means less people to cover the happenings in Olympia, and so I suspect you'd be hard pressed to find a reporter or editor who has read the budget front-to-back, at least not before the legislative session adjourns. For a variety of reasons there just isn't enough time.
But the devil is in the details.
After session gaveled to a close, lawmakers went home and told people the budget cuts they had to make will kill people. It is true they cut funding for human services, such as subsidized health insurance for lower income people, to solve a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall. Past overspending caught up with them, and there was little public enthusiasm for letting them off the hook via tax hikes. So we heard a lot about all that would be cut, but what about the items that did get funded? Someone has put together a list of tidbits:
- $460,000 for Asian affairs commission.
- $40,000 for Spanish TV.
- $300,000 is raided from the dedicated Auto Theft prevention account for CTED to “contract with a community group” for community building (organizing).
- $513,000 for Hispanic affairs commission.
- $487,000 for African American affairs commission.
- $3,622,000 for Office of Minority and Women Business.
- $209,323,000 for Liquor Control Board.
- $9,548,000 for Public Employment Relations Commission.
- $4,465,000 for Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation.
- $117,122,000 for state trade and convention center.
- $6,915,000 for Human Rights Commission.
- $50,000 for OSPI is “provided solely for developing and disseminating curriculum and other materials documenting women's role in World War II.”
- “At least” $200,000 for the Labor Center at Evergreen State College.
- $6,736,000 for state Arts Commission.
- $5,228,000 for state Historical Society.
- $3,267,000 for Eastern Washington Historical Society.
House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) has said the state budget is a book of Washington's values. Taking him at his word, what are we to make of the list above? Why did lawmakers fund these items but make cuts to the Basic Health Plan, adult day care, etc (cuts they say will kill people)? Why did they fund these items but make cuts to public schools? While it's true that eliminating all of these lower-priority items wouldn't have filled the budget shortfall entirely, they would have lessened the impact of the cuts. For example, if it costs the state a few hundred dollars per month to put someone on the Basic Health Plan, wouldn't the $6,736,000 for the state Arts Commission have been better spent on the Basic Health Plan?
Those are questions every citizen in the state should be asking his/her legislators right now.
By making these funding decisions, lawmakers revealed that their real priorities are more about pleasing the hordes of special interest groups that descend on the capitol than they are about maximizing available resources to help people.
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