Being on the minority side in the state Senate means playing defense against a lot of bad pieces of legislation, but there are times when we can still take satisfaction in a job well done.
One way or another, and at one stage or another in the lawmaking process, Senate Republicans managed to keep hundreds of bad Senate bills from advancing during the first 59 days of this year’s session. I’m proud of our members for that.
Sometimes the minority also finds opportunities to go on the offense, and that can be even more satisfying. On day 57, Senate Republicans did something no one but us thought was possible by putting a complete operating budget on the table – a ready-for-passage proposal that would fund the shared priorities of Washingtonians without new taxes or slashing services.
Because it would effectively erase the budget shortfall while saving the people of our state from the harm of either huge tax increases or devastating spending cuts, we’re calling it the “$ave Washington” budget.
Through countless hours of work with Republican and non-partisan staff, Sen. Chris Gildon of Puyallup and Sen. Nikki Torres of Pasco – our Senate Republican operating-budget team – produced a very real, reasonable proposal that should disrupt the budget conversation on many levels.
To start with, there are no new taxes or fees. Not one. On the other hand, Democrats are looking at many increases, even hiking base fees for hunting and fishing licenses by 38% (SB 5583), presumably to go with the budget they will release later this month. That is definitely not in line with their “tax the wealthy few” approach.
The $ave Washington budget would spend $75.6 billion, which is a 5% increase from the current budget. Because state revenue is expected to increase by 7.6%, our budget lives within the state’s means – a concept that seems foreign to our Democratic colleagues.
In contrast, Democrats have hiked spending by an average of nearly 17% from one budget cycle to the next since 2018, leading to the self-inflicted shortfall we now face.
On top of being affordable, the Senate Republican budget reflects priorities all Washingtonians can support.
K-12 education is state government’s paramount duty, yet after Democrats regained full control of Olympia in 2018, its share of the budget sank even though overall spending soared. Our budget would reverse that trend, adding $2 billion in funding and bringing our public schools up to 44% of the general fund.
While the final budget submitted to legislators by the former governor calls for $13 billion in tax increases, there’s nothing in it specifically for special education – even though we all know special ed is underfunded. The same goes for school materials, supplies and operating costs. Our budget would appropriate $200 million to each over four years.
Then there are the bonuses for teachers who earn national board certification, which are a valuable recruiting and retention tool, especially in rural and low-income districts. The former governor’s budget would cut those completely, and Democrats would slash them in half through Senate Bill 5737. The Republican budget maintains them.
One of my best days as a legislator was when we passed the first-ever tuition cut at the state’s public colleges and universities. It was real, tangible economic relief for middle-income families. That was in 2015, and the cap we also put on tuition then has been safe ever since. Until now.
Through Senate Bill 5785, Democrats would lift the cap and allow tuition to increase by hundreds of dollars per year. Again, you wonder why they’re picking on college kids and their families when we heard so much about taxing the wealthy.
Our $ave Washington budget will leave the tuition cap alone.
While House Democrats claim social services will suffer devastating cuts unless taxes are raised, our no-new-taxes budget would preserve eligibility or hours of care for seniors, people with developmental disabilities, those needing behavioral-health treatment, and others.
The Republican approach freezes spending in several areas. But a freeze is not a cut, so no one goes backwards –– anyone who receives social services from the state today would continue to receive them.
Public safety also has a prominent place in our budget. The investments range from $100 million to help communities hire law-enforcement officers, an idea publicly endorsed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, to funding that will address the backlog at the state toxicology lab, and support for a strategy to bolster the number of prosecutors and public defenders across Washington.
There’s much more detail online: just search for $aveWashington or visit the senaterepublicans.wa.gov website. That’s why our budget team unveiled the plan when it did – so the public, the news media and our Democratic colleagues would have plenty of time to check the math and know the budget is for real.
The initial Democratic reaction to our plan has been predictable. Their strongest criticism is aimed at how we would give each state employee a $5,000 bonus but not fund the $4 billion worth of pay raises negotiated by the former governor.
While Democratic leaders don’t like our approach, providing a flat bonus reduces the pay gap that is produced by percentage-based increases. About half of state employees make $80,000 or less – and for them, a $5,000 bonus is more than they would get from the percentage-based pay raises after two years.
The majority also is critical of how our budget would use money generated by the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) – the cap-and-tax law that raised gas prices in our state – as the primary source of funding for the working families tax credit.
However, having written the law, the Democrats should know the CCA not only allows that particular use of the funding; it prioritizes the tax credit by putting it at the top of a very long list of allowable uses.
There’s one thing Democrats can’t dispute: We don’t need spending cuts or higher taxes to have a balanced, sustainable, responsible budget. The $ave Washington plan confirms it.
A recent poll showed 98% of Washingtonians feel taxes in our state are too high or about right – and 78% think taxes are too high. For them, the no-new-taxes Republican budget is the right thing.
The year’s first state-revenue forecast is coming in less than a week. We should expect to see the Democrats’ budget proposals emerge soon after that.
If they include tax increases, it’s because the majority wants more taxes, not because they’re necessary to have a balanced budget. We know that because we have the $ave Washington budget. Higher taxes won’t be better for our state.
John Braun, Republican Senate Minority Leader
Senator John Braun was first elected to the Washington State Senate in 2012 to represent Southwest Washington’s 20th Legislative District, which includes most of Cowlitz and Lewis counties along with parts of Clark and Thurston.
John is leader of the Senate Republican Caucus and a member of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, the Labor & Commerce Committee, and the Housing Committee.
Prior to his business career, John served on active duty in the U.S. Navy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and master’s degrees in business administration and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan.
He and his family reside on a small farm in rural Lewis County, outside Centralia.
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Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor
