We’re still three months away from the 2010 legislative session, but it already looks as though the biggest story from 2009 will carry over into the new year: how to deal with the gap between the cost of services and the revenue need to pay for them.

Last session, the Legislature faced a $9 billion budget shortfall that we closed with $2 billion in one-time fixes, $3 billion in federal stimulus, and $4 billion in very difficult cuts. It was a brutal exercise that none of us in Olympia signed up for, and few wish to repeat.

But since then, due to the ongoing national recession, revenues have only continued to decline. The problem facing the state in 2010, according the most recent analysis by the Senate Ways & Means Committee, looks to be around $1.2 billion.

Gov. Gregoire made news this week when she did not rule out taxes as a partial budget fix in 2010. And the Governor is right: we already cut too much from critical health services, education and public health to balance the budget last session. Making more cuts risks real and lasting damage to our families and communities. The Governor also pointed out that, this year, there will be no federal stimulus help.

While that puts a revenue increase squarely on the table for the Legislature and Governor to consider, any revenue package needs public understanding of the problem – and public support of the solution – in order to succeed.

As we saw last year, that’s no easy feat. To get to that point will require a lot of dialogue and involvement on the part of the public, a lot of effort and leadership on the part of elected officials.

Readers of this blog know where I personally stand on the issue. But since this is a job bigger than just one person, I’m not going to presuppose what a possible revenue proposal might look like at this point.

I will, however, start the discussion this year where I ended it last year – by directing attention to our state’s tax structure. Click here to read more.