OLYMPIA UPDATE

OLYMPIA–This past week was an important one in the Senate, as the majority Democrats released their operating budget, capital budget and transportation budget proposals for 2021-23.

As its name implies, the operating budget covers the daily operations of our state, including early learning, K-12 education, higher education, health and human services, criminal justice, natural resources, and other areas.

Unfortunately, the Senate Democrats' operating-budget plan relies on the creation of a state income tax on capital gains. For me, that is reason enough to oppose this budget. Another strike against this budget is its size: At $59.5 billion, it is $7 billion more than the current budget – a 13% increase in spending! If enacted, that also would be a jump of more than $20 billion, or over 50%, in just six years. It's more proof that government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

The state transportation budget funds the construction and maintenance of Washington's transportation system, including highways, bridges and ferries. It also funds transportation-related agencies, including the Washington State Patrol, Department of Licensing and Department of Transportation.

My initial take on the Senate transportation budget plan, as introduced, is positive. It does not raise the state gas tax, which is good news for drivers and sectors of our state's economy, such as agriculture and shipping, that rely on our roads and highways.

One key reason this plan can avoid a gas-tax hike is its use of more than $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, recently passed by Congress. That includes $600 million to partially backfill transportation-revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic and $400 million for fish barrier-removal projects as required by federal court orders.

But I'm concerned that by the time a final two-year transportation budget is negotiated with the House of Representatives, it might include two Democrat-sponsored proposals that I strongly dislike and would be very bad for our district – House Bill 1091, the high-cost fuel standard bill that would cause fuel prices to skyrocket (it's like another gas tax, without any benefit to our roads and highways), and Senate Bill 5126, the "cap-and-tax" proposal that also would increase fuel prices for consumers and businesses.

Then there's the Senate capital budget, which funds the construction and maintenance of state buildings, public schools, higher-education facilities, public lands and parks.

During this legislative session, I've served as assistant ranking Republican for the Senate capital budget. That has meant working with other senators to decide which projects will be included.

One of the main highlights of the Senate capital-budget proposal is $490 million to increase access to broadband in rural parts of Washington. Many rural parts of Washington lack decent broadband, if they have access at all. Having better broadband in rural Washington will help students who need to connect to the Internet and help small businesses that want to engage in e-commerce. It is also important to precision farming! This will help put rural and unserved areas of our state on more equal footing with more populated areas of Washington.

This capital-budget plan also provides money for the Odessa groundwater project, which is good news for the western part of the 9th District. Another highlight is fair health and safety grants for our agricultural fairs. The Senate capital-budget proposal also funds other important areas, including fish hatcheries, public safety, community projects and infrastructure projects.

These budget proposals will likely evolve before the Senate passes them and negotiations proceed with the House. To track the Senate or House operating, capital or transportation budget plans, go to http://fiscal.wa.gov/AllBudgetsBillsDocsLegProposals.aspx to see the documents related to them.

-Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, has served the 9th Legislative District since 1993.