Sen. Rodney Tom, a Bellevue Democrat and vice chairman of the budget writing Ways and Means Committee, says the operating budget signed by the governor yesterday to close a $9 billion shortfall without raising taxes was the product of many lawmakers offering suggestions about their area of expertise.

“It was really a group process, a group effort,” he said. “(It was) everybody pitching in saying ‘you know, this might be my little pet area but we can probably save $50 million here or $25 million there.’ And by adding up all those savings we really made government more efficient.