OLYMPIA – After 105 days and almost an hour past midnight, the 2009 legislative session adjourned early Monday morning in Olympia capping an arduous journey through the worst fiscal crisis in state history. Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, noted the difficulties that the Legislature faced and the path forward from here.
“We came to Olympia and we knew that getting out of the worst budget shortfall wouldn’t be easy,” Hargrove said. “The budget situation overshadowed everything we planned to do but we were still able to reform government and do a better job for the people of Washington.”
The state’s $31 billion budget closed a shortfall of nearly $9 billion without raising taxes. The $3 billion the state received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act combined with almost $4 billion in cuts to government spending and nearly $2 billion in fund transfers to help bridge the budget gap.
“Let’s face it. These are difficult cuts. Everyone is going to feel the pain,” Hargrove said. “We focused our efforts on programs that have been proven to work, which will prevent future unnecessary expenses to the taxpayers of Washington.”
Included in those preventative cost cutting measures was adjusting the way the State handles monitoring low risk offenders, a move that will save tens of millions in the years to come.
Hargrove noted that two of the biggest changes in state government were focused on children. Reforms to the Child Welfare Service and an overhaul of the state’s K-12 education system cap some of the changes made to state government.
“We didn’t waste this crisis. The child welfare reforms are some of the biggest changes to DSHS in 20 years and our basic education changes will keep our kids competitive for decades to come,” Hargrove said.
The DSHS reforms, as passed in House Bill 2106, will transition the state’s Child Welfare Service to use performance-based contracts for services such as foster care, adoption, family preservation and group care living. The overhaul of the system is designed to address the increasing number of complaints and fatalities of children in state care.
Washington’s basic education reform changes the legal definition of basic education, expanding the formula used by the state to determine education funding. HB 2261 lays out a long term strategy for education reform, including all-day kindergarten and programs for gifted students.
“This session wasn’t just about major overhauls. We spent a lot of time fine-tuning programs to take advantage of things that were already working,” Hargrove said.
Another Hargrove bill, Senate Bill 5809, funds new worker retraining programs at local community and technical colleges across the state to get some of the more than 300,000 unemployed workers across Washington back to work.
“We’ve had a number of mills go down in Grays Harbor. Not only is this an opportunity for some of our workers to change their career but they also will be able to retool their skills for the careers they’re already in,” Hargrove said.
Besides reforming state government, Hargrove said a lot of effort was made to invest locally in the 24th District with construction projects and infrastructure investments.
In the state’s $3.3 billion long-term construction budget, major investments include $33 million at the Peninsula College and $2.75 million for Fort Warden state park. Another $3 million will invest in projects at the Port of Grays Harbor.
Hargrove said one of the biggest investments for the district would be for a transportation project 100 miles to the northeast, the 520 bridge project. Despite all the finicky details, he noted the construction efforts would benefit Grays Harbor.
“I don’t care if it goes north to south, east to west. I don’t care if it’s eight lanes, or six lanes, or one lane. We just want to build those pontoons,” Hargrove said Friday on the Senate floor.
Other transportation projects in the district include the purchase of two new ferries for the Port Townsend ferry run, the completion of the Hood Canal Bridge project and the construction of a new rest area along Highway 101 near Sequim. Hargrove noted the investments would help the local economy.
“This is a time where every penny counts. These projects are going to help get the local economies moving again, help get people back to work by creating jobs and help move us forward,” Hargrove said.